PRESS RELEASE: Unruly Continues Global Expansion With New Offices In Chicago and Berlin

Unruly, the award-winning global technology platform for social video advertising, today announced it is expanding its global footprint by opening two new offices in Chicago and Berlin.

Unruly is also building its executive team with the hiring of Tim Bierman as Midwest Sales Director and Olaf Kroll as Managing Director, Germany. They will be overseeing Unruly’s new Chicago and Berlin offices respectively.

This expansion comes only a month after the company announced a $25 million Series A investment from Amadeus Capital Partners, Van den Ende & Deitmers and Business Growth Fund - the largest financing ever for a private company in the social video space.

“All trend lines point to a huge increase in the share of media budgets that will be allocated to digital video campaigns in the coming years,” said Scott Button, Unruly’s CEO and co-founder.  

“Tim and Olaf both possess the deep digital media expertise and senior leadership that will enable Unruly to deliver awesome social video campaigns to all of the agencies and brands embracing this powerful media channel. Extending our global footprint will give us even closer relationships with local media partners, operational capabilities across time zones and the capacity to deliver even stronger campaigns for our global clients."

Tim Bierman brings 16 years of digital media sales and management experience to Unruly. Tim has held key positions at JP Morgan Chase & Company, Rivals.com, Excite@Home and Orbis Broadcast Group, and most recently at Microsoft Advertising, where he was a 2011 Gold Star recipient for exceptional performance.

“The U.S. domestic market for online ad spend is projected to grow from $40 billion in 2012 to over $62 billion in 2016. Social video will continue to be a major influence on these numbers as more brands realize the benefits of engaging audiences through branded content across multiple devices and platforms,” said Bierman.

“Now with a Chicago office and team, Unruly can work even more closely with the leading CPG, automotive and other major brands that are firmly established here in the Midwest.”

Olaf Kroll comes to Unruly with more than 14 years of experience in digital media sales and business development. Olaf has held executive level positions at Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Pictures Entertainment, Pixelpark and Bertlesmann. 

Recently, he was Vice President of Business Development & Mobile for Fox Interactive/Myspace, where he oversaw Myspace Mobile Europe and built Pan-European strategic partnerships to monetize the Myspace portal.

“Over the past few years we have seen social video evolve into a proven method for brands to reach the right customers with the right messages. Unruly’s technology, experience and innovation positions us as the industry leader, now and in the future,” said Kroll.  “The Berlin office now gives Unruly a home base in a city that is a leading European centre for advertising and design.”

Bierman and Kroll have already begun building their teams and expect to have staffs totaling five and ten respectively by the end of 2012.

For more information about Unruly’s global social video platform and how it benefits brands and advertisers, please visit http://www.unrulymedia.com.