Marketing executive John Rood, who spent more than a decade at Disney, will return to the company as senior vice president, marketing, Disney Channels Worldwide.
He starts immediately, reporting to President and Chief Creative Officer Gary Marsh, and will take the reigns from Richard Loomis, who is stepping down next month to pursue other ventures.
“John Rood is a maker and a builder, with a rare combination of creative and strategic leadership skills and an innate understanding of the Disney brand,” Marsh said in a statement. “He has a unique capacity to transform how large teams address viewers’ evolving needs in a
complex, multi-platform portfolio.”
Loomis’ leadership has resulted in many awards for the Disney Channel Marketing team, including numerous Emmy Awards, PromaxBDA Award, CTAM Mark Awards and Telly Awards.
“Richard has made enormous contributions to Disney Channels Worldwide during his tenure,” Marsh said. “As an important and highly respected member of my senior team, his leadership, creativity and strategic expertise have been invaluable to me. Although I hoped to have the opportunity to work with him through the next phase of our growth, I respect his decision, will miss his wonderfully collegial approach and wish him every success in the future.”
Loomis said it’s time to move on, but he feels marketing is in good hands with his successor.
“From High School Musical 2 and Descendants to the launch of Disney XD and Disney Junior, it’s been an amazing ride covering a lot of ground in the U.S. and all around the world, and for that I feel very proud,” Loomis said in a statement. “I also feel that it’s the right time to explore the next chapter that awaits me and between now and the next four weeks, will transition with my good friend and successor John Rood who will have the support of a truly outstanding marketing and creative team.”
Rood has been consulting for Disney Channels Worldwide for the past 10 months, developing strategies for short-form content and social media.
In his new position, he will guide the creative marketing vision, on-channel promotion and off-channel marketing for Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Junior. He’ll also oversee creative marketing support for the Disney Media Sales and Marketing team, working closely with programming, franchise management, affiliate sales and marketing and research departments, as well as the Radio Disney national network. Rood will also lead off-air design, marketing strategy and analytics and marketing operations functions.
Rood worked at The Walt Disney Company from 2000 - 2010, ending his stint there as senior vice president, marketing, at ABC Family. He most recently served as executive vice president, DC Entertainment, from 2010-2014, where he worked to maximize DC Comics across Warner Bros, oversaw sales and marketing, and co-managed worldwide publishing and the launch into digital comics.
“I am honored to return to Disney Channel and Gary Marsh,” Rood said in a statement. “I have such confidence in these people and these properties and these partners. I’m grateful to my friend Richard Loomis, who has built three world-class channel brands and upon whom we’ll keep calling for sage marketing advice. These are exciting times for us; the platforms may be in flux, but the key to Kids TV engagement are the save as ever: quality storytelling franchise affinity and heart. Advantage us.”
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