SEEK appoints new Marketing Director

SEEK Ltd is pleased to announce that the companyís executive team will be bolstered by the appointment of Tony Balfour as Marketing Director.

Tony joins SEEK from a strong branding background with Nike Inc., a company he joined as General Manager of Australia in 1996. Tony was responsible for overseeing Nikeís operations including business strategy, marketing and sales, product, logistics, human resources and finance. In 1998, Tony was appointed as General Manager of Nike in the Asia Pacific region.

In addition to general management experience, Tony brings strong credentials built in several competitive industry sectors. He held the position of National Marketing Director at Lion Nathan in both Australia and New Zealand, as well as Marketing Director roles at Mainland Products Limited and New Zealand Breweries. Tony will be responsible for all marketing and product management activities at SEEK.

Announcing the appointment, Paul Bassat, CEO of SEEK Ltd said: ìTonyís robust business background and the valuable experience he has gained in highly competitive markets will prove a great asset for SEEK.

ìOur brand is extremely important for our positioning, and through innovative marketing SEEK has become one of the best-known internet brands in Australia and New Zealand. Brand recognition and positioning plays a key role in attracting over 1.5 million individual job seekers to our website each month to view advertised roles.

ìThis has been a year of enormous growth for SEEK, with revenue growth of 75% to $70m for the year ended June 30, 2005. As a young and fast growing company, the development and marketing of new products and services remains a key area of focus for SEEK.

ìWe are pleased to have someone with Tonyís depth of experience join what is already a strong management team, and we are looking forward to working together to further strengthen our leadership position in the online employment marketî, he said.