Digital Advertising Innovator Chris Batty Joins Team Launching Atlantic Media's New Global Business Brand


WASHINGTON, D.C., March 20, 2012 - Atlantic Media Company President Justin B. Smith announced today that digital advertising and media pioneer Chris Batty is teaming up with former Wall Street Journal Online managing editor Kevin J. Delaney to launch the company's new business news brand. Delaney was named Editor-in-Chief of the new brand in January. Batty will design the commercial functions of the venture, including advertising sales, marketing, and e-commerce. He will lead the launch-marketing of the new brand to advertisers and consumers.
Batty spent six-and-a-half years as the business lead at Gawker Media, where he was Publisher and Vice President of Sales and Marketing. During that time, he turned a fledgling sales operation into a team of twenty-five working across sales, marketing, creative services, and ad operations and technology. He developed industry-influencing digital advertising initiatives and activated hundreds of brand advertisers in almost every category. Under his leadership, Gawker's advertising revenues grew twenty-five-fold.
Prior to his time at Gawker, Batty was in Corporate Business Development at CNET, packaging and marketing unique programs across the company's business lines. He began his advertising career in 1998 with the leading digital agency Left Field, which was later acquired by J. Walter Thompson. For the last year, Batty has been advising digital media enterprises large and small, including Atlantic Media Company.
"Chris represents that rare form of pure, unadulterated disruptive digital talent," said Smith. "He's the type of person who jumps out of bed every morning with a burning passion to shatter the media status quo and replace it with a new, more accountable order. He is exactly the kind of talent we want at Atlantic Media, especially as we enter the competitive global business media landscape."
The new digital-first global business brand will provide high-quality content and services to business executives navigating the increasingly complex global economy.
"I'm thrilled to work with Atlantic Media Company, whose reputation for producing the highest quality content and advertising programs is now rivaled only by its success in creating a first-rate technology architecture, delivering large gains in the digital market," said Batty. "Providing business influentials with the intelligence they need to navigate the global economy is an exciting challenge for today's media. This is a story that sorely needs a fresh approach, less encumbered by legacy, with substantial yield on offer – to readers and advertisers alike."
Batty will be working at the global business brand's New York office. The enterprise will launch later this year and will open additional offices in Europe and Asia.
About Atlantic Media Company
ATLANTIC MEDIA COMPANY is a global media company with a diverse array of media brands and services aimed at an influential audience across all sectors – consumer, business, media, and government. Its properties engage audiences across multiple platforms – online, mobile, print, video, and live events. Atlantic Media Company has been recognized nationally as a leader in transforming all of its products into digital-first brands.

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Media Inquiries:
Linda Douglass
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Atlantic Media Company
202-266-7730