Sprint has appointed Bell Media veteran Kevin Crull as chief marketing officer.
Crull, who will report to President and CEO Marcelo Claure, will be responsible for all products and services, brand and advertising, customer acquisition and retention, and all digital and social efforts.
Most recently, Crull served nearly five years as chief operating officer and then president of Bell Media, Canada’s largest media and broadcasting company.
Media reports in Canada suggested that BCE has asked Bell Media president Kevin Crull to step down three weeks after he intervened in news coverage at the company’s television stations.
The report said Crull was angered by the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission)’s March 19 decision to introduce pick-and-pay options for TV channels. The Globe and Mail reported that Crull called CTV News president Wendy Freeman less than an hour after the decision and ordered her to exclude CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais from coverage on Bell-owned networks.
At Bell, Crull led the acquisition of CTV Globemedia in 2010, creating the foundation for Bell Media. He led the acquisition and integration of Astral Media in 2012 and 2013. CTV, the broadcast network of Bell Media, was four of the top five Canadian-produced television programs and 14 of the top 20 programs over all, delivering consistent ratings growth.
At Bell Media, Crull developed and launched several TV Everywhere digital products as well as CraveTV, an on-demand video streaming service.
Prior to Bell Media, Crull served as president of the Bell Residential Services organization, Canada’s largest consumer telecommunications company.
Before Bell, Crull led consumer and small-business sales and marketing at AT&T as senior vice president and general manager of AT&T’s wireless initiatives. He also worked at US West/Qwest Communications and Nestle USA.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
