Penguin Random House Children’s appoints new Commercial Director for Penguin Ventures to drive opportunities for growth and innovation

Monday 11th, 2021: David Sprei will be joining Penguin Random House Children’s as Commercial Director for Penguin Ventures, reporting into Francesca Dow, MD for Penguin Random House Children’s.

In this newly-created role David will lead the Penguin Ventures business to further growth, working in close partnership with Susan Bolsover, Global Licensing and Consumer Products Director, and the Penguin Ventures team. Susan Bolsover will report into David.

David joins from his previous role as Director International Business Development ViacomCBS Consumer Products, focusing on new innovative & non-traditional partnerships across the portfolio. Prior to this David has held commercial and partnership roles at Viacom Velocity (MTV Europe), Instrumental and TBWA\ Stream, London.

Penguin Ventures is a separate business within Penguin Random House Children’s, that manages and exploits a portfolio of literary brands and characters, most notably Peter Rabbit™, The Snowman™ and Spot focusing on licensing and consumer products, retail activations, theatrical, exhibitions and commercial partnership strategies to tell the world’s favourite stories.  In the UK Penguin Ventures most recent successes include a multi-year partnership with Cadburys as well as a global collection with Cath Kidston both for Classic Peter Rabbit. The team also created a fashion and digital collaboration with Barbour for The Snowman expanding upon Raymond Briggs’ timeless story through an innovative ad campaign and were responsible for the UK, Australian and Japanese licensing programme for global box office smash hit movies PETER RABBIT and PETER RABBIT 2: The Runaway.

Francesca Dow, Managing Director, Penguin Random House Children’s says:
“Penguin Ventures is a successful, multi-award winning and profitable global business, respected by our partners and licensees around the world. To date, Susan has brilliantly led and managed our strong licensing business and excellent team. Now that Ventures wholly manages the licensing for Classic Peter Rabbit in-house, we are excited about exploring new and uncharted opportunities. We believe we are at an early stage in Penguin Ventures’ potential and in his role David will help take us to the next stage of growth and commercial success. I’m impressed by David’s entrepreneurial mindset and look forward to working with him, together with Susan and our Ventures team, as we explore new UK and global opportunities for growth and innovation, explore new IP development and investment and ensure the long-term health and success of our incredible brands. Internally, David will in this new role act as a central commercial unifier for our owned brands, working in close partnership with our Brand and Publishing teams.”

David Sprei says:
“I am truly excited to work with the world class Penguin Random House Children’s portfolio to drive commercial growth across new and existing markets and lines of business. Working with Susan and the Ventures team we will continue to build on the success, exploring new ways to tell the story and continue to connect and engage our fans from yesterday, today and for tomorrow, helping to future proof our audiences for years to come.”

David Sprei joins Penguin Random House Children’s on 18th October.

For more information please contact:
Jen Cooper, Brand PR & Communications, Penguin Random House Children’s.
E: jcooper2@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk

About Penguin Ventures
Stories have always been at the heart of Penguin Random House.  Penguin Ventures was created to bring together the Licensing, Consumer Products, TV Production, Retail, Exhibitions and Live events strategies and to find new ways to tell the world’s favourite stories.   Penguin Ventures manages a portfolio of licensed literary brands and characters together with an archive of original art.  For many years, those characters lived mainly in books, but now they are providing the magic and wonder for all kinds of different consumer products, media and experiences, going beyond the book to tell the complete story.  Penguin Ventures is part of Penguin Random House Children’s UK

About Penguin Random House Children’s
Penguin Random House UK Children’s is a Penguin Random House company. Penguin Random House (http://global.penguinrandomhouse.com/) is the world’s most global trade book publisher. Penguin Random House comprises the adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction print and digital trade book publishing businesses of Penguin and Random House in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa, and Penguin’s trade publishing activity in Asia and Brazil; DK worldwide; and Penguin Random House Group Editorial’s Spanish-language companies in Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, and Chile. Penguin Random House employs more than 10,000 people globally across almost 250 editorially and creatively independent imprints and publishing houses that collectively publish more than 15,000 new titles annually. Its publishing lists include more than 70 Nobel Prize laureates and hundreds of the world’s most widely read authors.