SU’s Newhouse School to host Optimedia President Antony Young Nov. 18

SU’s Newhouse School to host Optimedia President Antony Young Nov. 18October 29, 2008Wendy S. Loughlinwsloughl@syr.edu

Antony Young, president of the media agency Optimedia US, will visit Syracuse University on Tuesday, Nov. 18, as a guest of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. He will speak from 11 a.m.–12:20 p.m. in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium in Newhouse 3. His talk is titled “Profitable Marketing Communication: Strategies for Delivering Marketing Return on Investment.” The event is free and open to the public. Parking is available in SU pay lots.

“Antony Young has been an innovative leader in media across three continents,” says Brian Sheehan, Newhouse associate professor of advertising. “He has been at the forefront of the emergence of big, stand-alone media agencies. He has also co-written one of the definitive books on media return on investment.”

Young began his 20-year international advertising career in New Zealand and has held senior management roles in Asia/Pacific, Europe and the United States, including as CEO of ZenithOptimedia Asia, based in Hong Kong, and as CEO of ZenithOptimedia UK Group, based in London. Under his leadership, ZenithOptimedia Asia was twice named Media Agency of the Year by Media magazine, and won Asia’s first-ever Cannes Media Gold Lion. Antony was also a founding partner of a specialist digital marketing venture.

Young has developed strategy and executed media campaigns for brands across the globe, including Sony, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Nokia, Procter & Gamble and Toyota.

He is co-author of “Profitable Marketing Communications” (Kogan Page, 2007), a business marketing book that details the ways in which world-class companies deliver marketing return on investment.

In 2003, Mediaweek named Young one of the top 25 most influential people in the UK media industry.

Optimedia, which specializes in media and communications strategy, manages more than $2 billion in media billings with offices located in six cities.

For more information about the talk, contact Brian Sheehan at (315) 443-9247 or bjsheeha@syr.edu.