Future, the Bath-based international media group and digital business, has appointed James Ranson as director of advertising sales for its UK arm.
James, pictured, was previously ad director of Future’s London sales unit but now takes on cross-company responsibility in the UK, including the sales team based in Bath.
James has been responsible for reshaping the London agency-facing team, delivering a string of innovative cross-platform digital campaigns for clients including O2, Samsung and – most recently – Carphone Warehouse. 
Future CEO Mark Wood said: “Jim has changed the way our London team operates and made impressive progress in securing larger-scale content marketing partnerships alongside traditional ad sales. It now makes sense to integrate our UK ad teams and apply this valuable experience to the whole of the Future portfolio.”
Future is best known for its magazines such as Total Film, Cycling Plus and the Official Xbox Magazine and websites techradar and gamesradar. It sold more than 24m magazines last year,
Sales director Bath Clare Coleman-Straw will continue to oversee the team there and will now report to James. Nick King, digital commercial director, Future UK, will continue to oversee Future’s Digital Agency Team, Data Trading Unit and Affiliates revenues. He will also drive Future’s commercial digital growth strategy across London and Bath. James and Nick report direct to Mark.
James said: “Future understands consumers, content and technology, and that remains a compelling proposition for our partners. We have a powerful sales force across the business, able to deliver best-in-class solutions which generate tangible return on investment. We have access to a significant ABC1 audience, typically turning to our trusted brands because they’re considering purchase – unlocking that potential for our commercial partners is our absolute priority.”
James joined Future in October 2009 after working across technology and auto brands at Haymarket and Incisive Media. At Future he was Ad Sales Director for T3 before taking on responsibility for the whole of Future's Technology Group. James increased revenues for T3, and successfully launched the T3 iPad edition into the commercial market – the first UK magazine in that space and still the leader. As Ad Sales Director for London, James restructured the business units, creating a new central agency team, focused on selling Future’s valuable and hard to reach ABC1 male audience.
