Doug Baker promoted to Chief Strategy Officer as Shift Active Media strengthens media team

Thursday, 22 December 2022 Simon Cox

Shift Active Media has announced the promotion of Doug Baker to Chief Strategy Officer, and the expansion of its award-winning team with the appointment of Sam Bradshaw as Media Planning Director.

Doug Baker as Chief Strategy Officer

Doug steps up from his previous role in recognition of his huge and continued contribution to Shift.
Doug has been at the heart of so many important projects at Shift over the past three years.

He has strategically led a wide range of projects including the successful UCI Track Champions League creation and launch, the rebranding and repositioning of Chain Reaction Cycles, the global launch of GCN+, and more recently the creation of the Rider Research Hub.

Having successfully transitioned some of his day-to-day management responsibilities, in his new role, Doug will work even more closely with Wayne Brown (CEO), Phil Smith (CFO) and Simon Wear (Founder & Chairman) to propel the future direction of the business.

A core part of Doug’s new future-facing role will be further developing Shift’s consultancy offering, looking at new markets for Shift, and the Rider Research Hub which launched earlier this year. The Rider Research Hub is a category leading research platform that allows users to join a community and give back to cycling – sharing their voice, experiences and opinions. In turn, cycling industries, brands and businesses can access this first-hand data, insights and information which can be utilised in the creation of new products, movement into new categories, tracking brand performance and developing new campaigns.

Following his promotion, Doug commented: “It’s been a brilliant 3 years at Shift; being able to collaborate with some of the best brands and people in the industry. With more data, complexity and opportunity than ever before in our sector, I’m looking forward to being part of shaping Shift’s future.”

Sam Bradshaw as Media Planning Director

Shift also continues to invest in its media team, appointing a new Media Planning Director to further strengthen the services provided by the department. Sam is an exciting addition to the Media Team with a brilliant track record in media planning and content partnerships at network agencies.

Sam has nearly 10 years of experience, and joins Shift from Wavemaker US, working in media planning and content partnerships for clients in a range of industries in the UK and most recently in the US. He’s worked with brands from the automotive, to entertainment space; these include Volvo, Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon. At Shift, he will be able to combine his extensive industry experience with his enthusiasm for cycling.

Upon joining Shift, Sam commented: “Joining Shift is a fantastic opportunity for me as it enables me to combine my love of cycling with the skills and experience that I’ve built up over the past 10 years. I’m passionate about brand communication in media and I’m looking forward to applying that to some of the industry’s biggest names. It’s an incredible opportunity to do some of the best work of my career with an experienced and knowledgeable team.”

Wayne Brown, CEO at Shift Active Media said: “Doug has done amazing things in his time at Shift so far – his incisive strategy, commercial creativity and brilliance around insights and data, has been at the centre of many of Shift’s recent successes. I am really excited to see where this can take us in the future. We’re also pleased that someone with Sam’s experience and pedigree has chosen to join us at this time, he’ll make a big difference here.”