Bloomberg’s Smith setting priorities

Lucia Moses of Adweek reports that new Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith sent around Monday morning a memo announcing a “hundred-day strategy process” to chart the company’s course for growth for the next few years. The effort will involve 100-plus people at the company, including many top managers, working in 10 to 15 groups on ways to grow the company’s various platforms.

Moses writes, “Bloomberg LP’s terminal business pulls in an enviable billions of dollars, but it’s still trying to figure out how to make its media business a household name with consumers. In his memo, Smith, who gained notoriety for his digital results at Atlantic Media, also stressed the importance of making Bloomberg a leader in digital.

“To that end, he also announced his first big hire, Zazie Lucke, as head of global advertiser marketing. She’ll be responsible for generating marketing ideas across all platforms and is expected to be heavily involved in the 100-day strategy plan.

“Lucke goes back a long way with Smith. She last worked for him as vp of marketing for Atlantic Media, where she was key to developing its native advertising offerings, among other things; and earlier in her career at Dennis Publishing. It may look like a raid, but people familiar with the situation said she was already interviewing at Bloomberg when Smith’s hire was announced in July.

“She’ll start Oct. 14 and report to Paul Bascobert, COO of the Bloomberg Media Group. Her predecessor, Carl Fischer, will move into a corporate marketing post.”

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