Paramount Pictures has promoted veteran executive Peter Giannascoli to the post of co-president of domestic marketing to lead creative marketing and advertising efforts.
The move comes a month after the studio tapped Google executive Rebecca Mall as co-president of domestic marketing and launched its first-ever brand strategy division and moved Steve Siskind out of the domestic marketing post and into home entertainment. Giannascoli will jointly run the department with Mall.
As part of the executive shuffle, Erik Counter is leaving his post as president of worldwide creative marketing.
Giannascoli will report to Paramount Vice Chairman Rob Moore and oversee all creative marketing efforts including creative content, digital creative and creative advertising. The research teams will also report into him.
“As a longtime member of the Paramount family, Peter is a gifted marketer and a well-respected veteran who has led numerous successful marketing campaigns for our studio,” said Paramount Pictures Chairman & CEO Brad Grey. “With Peter at the helm of all creative, we are positioned to develop impactful and compelling campaigns for our robust slate of upcoming films.”
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Paramount has been attempting ramp up the number of movies it releases. The studio’s had a tepid year so far with disappointing performances from “Ben-Hur,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows,” “Zoolander 2” and “Star Trek Beyond.”
Upcoming releases include “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” on Oct. 21, horror-thriller “Rings” on Oct. 28 and Amy Adams’ sci-fi thriller “Arrival” on Nov. 11.
The studio has also been at the center of protracted battle for control between CEO Philippe Dauman (who wanted to sell a stake in Paramount) and majority stakeholder Sumner Redstone — a fight that appeared to conclude Thursday night with a preliminary legal settlement that ousted Dauman.
“Peter’s new role at Paramount Pictures furthers our commitment to grow and strengthen our creative marketing and digital teams,” said Moore. “Working alongside Rebecca Mall, and with the new teams under Megan Colligan, Peter is part of a strong, experienced team dedicated to expanding our audience reach through innovative marketing initiatives across all platforms.”
Giannascoli has been at Paramount for more than a decade, most recently as executive VP of worldwide marketing for home media. He worked on marketing campaigns for Paramount’s physical and digital releases worldwide, worked on the SuperTicket program (which combined buying a movie ticket and digital download, helped to advance the studio’s efforts in virtual reality and led Paramount’s partnership with Google on their new Jump camera system.
He was responsible for the ad campaigns for films in the Transformers and Star Trek franchises along with “Jackass 3D,” “The Fighter” and Jack Reacher.”
