News Corp Australia lures Steve Emery as creative director – digital product & development

News Corp Australia today announced the appointment of Steve Emery as creative director – digital product & development.

In this role Emery will provide strategic creative direction across the company’s portfolio of digital products, including News Corp Australia’s metropolitan news websites.

Emery joins News Corp Australia from BSkyB in London where he held a similar role. He will report to group director – digital product & development Alisa Bowen.

Says Bowen: “Steve is a creative leader with an astute understanding of beautifully simple design, excellent user experience and effective commercial integrations.  We want these characteristics to become hallmarks of our digital product suite and Steve’s appointment is a terrific next step toward that vision. I look forward to working with him in enhancing the digital experience for our millions of users.”

Emery’s appointment is part of News’ significant and ongoing investment in creating superior experiences for its digital audiences; and creative solutions for advertisers.

Says Emery: “There is an amazing opportunity both with News Corp Australia’s huge audience and within the Australian market to create some new and truly exciting products which engage and impress. I can’t wait to join the team in creating these new experiences for News’ audience.”

Emery joined BSkyB in 2006 and in his role responsible for the 360 strategic creative direction of the company, he was instrumental in the development of projects such as Sky Living, Sky+ – Next Generation, Sky Sport’s ‘Be a sports hero’ digital campaign and Sky Poker. He also played a key role in Team Sky’s creative direction for online and app experiences.

Prior to BSkyB, Emery was senior art director for Crown Business Communications in the UK working on clients such as Renault, Marks&Spencer, Barclays and Fiat. He has also held senior design roles at Eleven11XY, Amassmedia, Razorfish UK & San Francisco and Futura Interactive.

His appointment follows the recent implementation of News Corp Australia’s new digital publishing platform which saw a major refresh of the company’s metropolitan sites creating a consistent suite of mobile and web products; and the launch of the News’ digital subscription model.

Mr Emery starts with News Corp Australia on 21 October.