MT Carney named head of Disney marketing

1:44 AM PDT 10/14/2010 by Gregg Kilday, AP

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Exec touted for new-media knowledge, building global teams

MT Carney has been formally named the new head of the Walt Disney Studios marketing team.

Disney Studios chairman Rich Ross announced her appointment to the post of president of marketing Wednesday.

She will oversee all aspects of worldwide marketing and distribution, including all creative, media, online development, publicity and promotions, for movies released under Disney's banners -- Walt Disney Pictures, Disney Animation, Pixar and Touchstone.

Carney was among the co-founders of communications planning firm Naked NY in 2006. Naked's clients have included Coca-Cola, Kraft, Johnson & Johnson, Google, Microsoft and Nokia.

Before that, she was worldwide planning director at Ogilvy & Mather, responsible for such accounts as American Express.

"MT represents a unique type of marketing executive -- she has built global teams, can market a product across multiple platforms and has firsthand knowledge of new media and its effectiveness in reaching consumers," Ross said. "Just as we have looked at ways to restructure how we create and distribute our movies, we also needed to hire someone like MT, who can lead our incredibly creative global marketing teams and ensure that our films reach audiences around the world."

Disney has been operating without a marketing head since Jim Gallagher was ousted as marketing president in the fall, and Ross had indicated that he was looking beyond the circle of established Hollywood marketers for a replacement.

With Carney's appointment, Ross will have completed an overhaul of the studio, having early on put Bob Chapek in charge of distribution and named Sean Bailey as head of production.