Nick Hynes And Ross Sleight Join Line Up Of Industry Greats

London, 6th June 2012: Somo (www.somoglobal.com), the largest independent global mobile marketing company, is the only business to have two of its team nominated for the British Interactive Media Association’s Digital Hall of Fame which celebrates Britain’s digital champions. CEO, Nick Hynes and Chief Strategy Officer, Ross Sleight have made the shortlist of 50 leading industry figures, compiled through peer recommendation. Voting is now open until 15th June and the 20 winners will be announced at the ad:tech London exhibition and conference in September.

Nick, one of the industry's original pioneers, has established some of the most successful fast-growth digital businesses of the last two decades and launched several of the world’s first loyalty and data marketing schemes, including the Air Miles electronic points system. He was CEO and President of Overture Europe which he led from a start-up to a $1.6 billion business bought by Yahoo!. As CEO of The IMW Group he expanded the business across Europe and Asia, growing The Search Works to be Europe’s largest paid search agency before the group was acquired by TradeDoubler AB for £56 million in 2007. Nick founded Somo with Carl Uminski in 2009 to help brands make sense of the emerging opportunities in mobile marketing and technology. Last month, Somo was named as the fastest growing mobile company in Europe at the GP Bullhound Media Momentum Awards.

Ross has more than 20 years of experience in digital media, on both client and agency side. He was one of the founders of Virgin Games and worked as their Strategy and Marketing Director for five years. Before joining Somo, Ross developed mobile strategies, sites and applications for clients including The Independent, Dennis Publishing and Macmillan. He directed Number 10 and the Department for Culture Media and Sport on interactive media development, and created award-winning digital strategies for Reuters, Sony and BA. At Somo, Ross advises global brands including Audi and easyJet on mobile strategy. He is an expert in consumer behaviour, mobile usage and changes in the market, has judged all the major creative and effectiveness awards in digital media and speaks regularly on digital issues.

BIMA launched the Digital Hall of Fame in 2010 to celebrate the creative and technical innovators who’ve helped create digital Britain over the past 25 years. The awards are in association with The Drum, Microsoft, Adobe, ad:tech, Results International and Propel. Other nominees include Tim Berners-Lee, Apple’s Sir Jonny Ive, Alan Rusbridger, Editor of the Guardian, and the BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones.