FREMANTLEMEDIA HIRES OLIVER RAWLINS AS GROUP COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

FremantleMedia, the creator, producer and distributor of some of the best known and loved content in the world, has hired Oliver Rawlins to become its Group Director of Communications, spearheading its PR and Communications operations around the world. Currently Group Director of Communications at Guardian Media Group, Rawlins will join FremantleMedia on March 27.

Reporting to FremantleMedia Group CEO, Cecile Frot-Coutaz, Rawlins will be responsible for enhancing and protecting the organisation's global corporate profile amongst customers, shareholders, media, opinion formers and regulators. He will also oversee all communications around FremantleMedia's global distribution, global entertainment and global drama functions, as well as its digital and branded entertainment portfolio. In addition to the central corporate unit, Rawlins will collaborate with the teams across the FremantleMedia network of offices to ensure seamless and coordinated publicity for its companies and brands on a regional and global scale. He will be the central communications contact between FremantleMedia and its parent company RTL Group.

Cecile Frot-Coutaz said: 'Oliver is one of the UK's most impressive communications professionals: a dynamic and engaging communicator, with a track record in delivering compelling stories in a media landscape that is constantly shifting. I'm delighted to be welcoming him back to the company and look forward to working with him to tell the FremantleMedia story.'

Rawlins joins FremantleMedia from Guardian Media Group (GMG) where he was Group Communications Director for all divisions of the company, overseeing communications and public affairs teams based in London, New York and Sydney. During his five-year tenure, Rawlins led communications and policy activities underpinning some of the biggest global news stories of recent years - including phone hacking, the Panama Papers and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Snowden revelations - as well as the £1.75bn sale of GMG's interest in Trader Media Group, the £800m Ascential IPO, and the international growth of theguardian.com, now the largest quality newspaper website in the world.

Rawlins said: 'FremantleMedia is a TV production and distribution giant - a global powerhouse brimming with creative talent and ambition. I really look forward to working closely with Cecile Frot-Coutaz and the whole team at a time of exciting growth and enormous opportunity. It has been a privilege to work at the Guardian at a time of huge change in the news industry, and to work with so many brilliant colleagues.'

Before joining GMG, Rawlins was VP, Global Communications at FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME), where he developed and delivered PR campaigns that asserted the company as a global leader in brand extension, content creation and rights exploitation. Prior to that he was Director of Communications at the UK Film Council, driving communications strategies to shape the public policy and media agendas for film throughout the UK. He has worked in the corporate affairs unit at BBC Worldwide and in the BBC press office and was also a member of the Strategic Media Group at Weber Shandwick.

A graduate of Oxford University, Rawlins is a Trustee of Action for Stammering Children, the leading UK charity of its kind; the Shakespeare Schools Festival, the world's largest youth drama festival; and the Bristol Old Vic, the longest continuously-running theatre in the UK.