Genie global role goes to AMV telecoms man

Genie, BT Cellnet's mobile ISP, has appointed Will Harris, its former board account director at Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, as its global marketing director.

Harris, who will be responsible for building Genie's reputation within the UK and developing the brand worldwide, has considerable experience in telecoms marketing and advertising.

During his time at AMV, he directed campaigns for both Genie and BT Internet.

He previously worked at WCRS, where he played a key part in the birth of the Orange brand.

Harris replaces Roger Vigilance, who has moved to a senior marketing role at BT Openworld, BT's broadband service.

Genie, the mobile internet division of BT Openworld, delivers mobile internet access solutions to network operators around the world. It launched the UK's first free access mobile ISP, called Genie Internet and developed the UK's first commercial WAP pre-pay service, in conjunction with BT Cellnet.

Now one of the UK's top ten ISPs, with more than one million registrations, Genie is developing a mass-market global portal and pursuing an aggressive roll-out policy into Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.

The portal has been developed with technology partners Microsoft, Phone.com and LookSmart. Content partners include Sports.com, TheStreet.com, BBC News, Lastminute.com and Excite.

Marketing has so far been concentrated on PR and direct mail, with some print advertising.

Genie has also hired Jim Ryan as global portal director. Previously vice-president of Wireless at Sprint PCS in the US, he will head Genie's global business and product development.

Harris and Ryan join a Genie management team that includes managing director Kent Thexton, BT Cellnet's former marketing director.

Genie has recently linked up with a number of internet services to provide content to its customers.

Last month, it teamed up with news service Worldpop to deliver music news to WAP-enabled mobile phones. It also recently teamed with web- and WAP-based leisure service MyWapWorld.

This article was first published on Marketing