NATPE Names Palmer Chief Marketing Officer

NATPE President-CEO Rod Perth today named Matt Palmer to the newly created position of chief marketing officer, effective immediately.

Palmer, a former senior marketing and business development executive for companies including Disney, Viacom, Universal, Discovery Communications, Demand Media, Exclusive Resorts and Blue Man Group, will lead global strategy and creative for NATPE’s marketing, branding, digital, research, public relations and strategic planning initiatives.

Perth said: “Matt’s extensive industry background and strategic competencies both in traditional and digital sectors make him a perfect fit for this newly created role. We anticipate he will make many contributions to our marketing efforts as we approach our tent pole market and conference in Miami this January. I have also given him the responsibility of expanding our overall marketing efforts throughout the year, both domestically and internationally.”

Palmer commented: “Quality content has never been in greater demand across multiple platforms and I am thrilled to join the premier organization that recognized early the importance of putting content first.”

An award-winning senior executive, Palmer has served in numerous senior strategic/brand marketing and business development roles across the entertainment and hospitality industries for more than 25 years. He has worked on many award-winning hit TV shows including The Ren & Stimpy Show, Rugrats, SpongeBob SquarePants, Trading Spaces, Hannah Montana, Phineas and Ferb and High School Musical, the last for which he was named Ad Age’s “Entertainment Marketer of the Year.”

A few of his appointments have included SVP and general manager of Demand Media, where he led the development and launch of a new content solutions division; SVP, marketing, Disney Channel at the Disney/ABC Cable Networks Group; and VP, strategic marketing, at Discovery Communications. He also held executive marketing roles with Blue Man Group and Nickelodeon.

Most recently, he was an independent consultant with projects in live entertainment, theme parks, urban residential and entertainment, early-stage video ad tech, seed-stage transportation aggregation and a long-form TV animation property.