As part of its strategy to build the BBC brand internationally, BBC Worldwide, the BBC’s main commercial arm, announced on May 1 the appointment of Sara Holt to a newly created role, Head of Brand and Global Campaigns reporting to Tom Lucas, Director of BBC Brand and Branded Services.

Holt, who was named on May 1 by Marketing Week as one of the inaugural vision 100 of the most visionary client-side marketers in the UK at the moment, has joined BBC Worldwide to manage the global launch strategy for the company’s three new genre brands BBC First, BBC Brit and BBC Earth, and oversee the global brand strategy for the BBC masterbrand.

Holt joins from Hailo where as Head of Marketing for the UK she led the development of marketing and communications for the start-up technology company. In this role Holt was responsible for building a team of marketers and agency partners to deliver marketing for this new technology brand and the brand is currently nominated for the brand launch of the year in the Marketing Society Awards.

Prior to Hailo, Holt’s track record has seen her create award winning campaigns as Marketing Manager for UKTV where she led the factual portfolio rebrands launching Eden and Yesterday. Following UKTV Holt further built her media brand experience leading the marketing and brand strategy for some of the UK’s biggest commercial radio brands as Head of Marketing for Global Radio. In this role she managed the launch of Capital FM as a national radio station and oversaw the transformation of Capital FM into a multi-platform superbrand with the development of Capital TV and integration of Capital FM’s events with its social media platforms to drive deep social engagement, gaining one of the biggest social footprints for a UK brand.

Holt’s work has been recognised with several awards including today Broadcast Magazine’s Hotshot in Business, a Media Week Gold Award for best use of small budget and an IPA effectiveness award for the launches of the Eden and Blighty channels for UKTV.

Tom Lucas, Director of BBC Brand and Branded Services for BBC Worldwide said: “Sara is a world-class marketer with an excellent track record in brand-building and a sackful of prestigious awards to her name. She joins BBC Worldwide at an incredibly exciting time as we seek to grow our consumer-facing brands around the world and Sara’s innovative brand-building experience will be invaluable in helping us to inspire global audiences.”

Sara Holt said: “I’m thrilled to be joining BBC Worldwide at such an exciting time, the chance to launch three new genre brands globally is a fantastic challenge offering huge scope for creativity and innovative marketing. I’ll be working with a global network of incredibly talented professionals whose enthusiasm for growing the BBC brand globally is both boundless and infectious.”