Olive bulks up with media pros

Less than a year after its launch, Olive Canada Network has doubled its ops.
By Staff 
April 5, 2007

Olive Canada Network, the one-stop shop for online media buys owned by Torstar Digital, is beefing up its Toronto and Montreal offices with new hires. The company is citing sustained growth and advancements in Canada’s online media industry for the boost in resources, which bolsters the network’s sales force.

The operation has doubled since its June 2006 launch. Heading into 2007, the network was reporting a reach of about 60% of online Canadians, with more than 10 million unique monthly visitors visiting its sites (which include TheStar.com, iVillage.com, cyberpresse.ca, CNET.com, Maxim Online, Toronto.com, tetesaclaques.tv, TheStar.com and LiveDeal.ca). With this latest announcement, Olive Canada Network says it has 14.8 million unique monthly visitors to its sites, verified by comScore Media Metrix. Click here for a list of MiC‘s previous coverage of the network.

In Toronto, hires include several media and sales pros. Rosemary Botero is the new national account manager, having spent seven years in online media with Yahoo! Canada, UpTrend Media and AOL Canada. Adriana Fleming is Olive’s new strategic account executive, bringing 15 years of media sales experience, including previous stints as a director of national sales with Pattison Outdoor and a national account exec with AOL Canada.

Darren Melanson is strategic account executive, bringing 16 years of experience in sales for Metroland, CanWest and most recently Sun Media. Celeste Mussio is national account manager, coming to the network from media sales at Toronto.com. Barbara Rowell is strategic account executive, having spent seven years in media planning for JWT and in ad sales at mags such as TV Guide, Canadian Living and Elm Street.

Erin Thomson is national account manager, having worked as a traffic coordinator for the NHL Network and as a marketing and communications coordinator with Executive Fitness Leaders. Kiersten Trafford is strategic account executive, joining the network from the sales exec team at Toronto.com.

In Montreal, Daniel Lavoie is national account manager with four years experience in media, including two with Branchez-Vous! and two as a national sales coordinator La Presse. Caroline Saey is a new account manager, having most recently worked at La Presse.