Melina Cruickshank appointed to lead Australian Publishing Media division's Life Media publishing unit

Life Media is a recently created publishing unit within APM that allows Fairfax Media to put more focus on lifestyle content. It sits alongside News Media, led by Garry Linnell and Business Media, led by Brett Clegg.

Melina has more than 14 years’ experience in the digital industry. Her background covers content marketing and communications, online communities, display media, classifieds, mobile, transactions and social media.

Prior to Fairfax, Melina spent five years in the UK working in a media agency managing communications and online marketing for a wide variety of businesses including Rio Tinto, BP, L'Oreal, Boots and Harvey Nichols.

For the past eight years, she has been instrumental in building audiences and managing some of Fairfax’s fastest-growing online businesses including Domain, Essential Baby, Life & Style, Daily Life, Essential Kids and The Vine.

“Having led Fairfax’s online Lifestyle publishing division for the past few years, heading up the broader Life Media division feels like a natural evolution for me,” Ms Cruickshank said.

“I’ve been incredibly fortunate to work on the digital publishing side of Fairfax in a time of massive change and growth. We embraced and respected our online audiences early, which has put us in a very strong position for the future.

“Having achieved real growth with Essential Baby, Essential Kids, The Vine and Daily Life – which is now Australia’s fastest growing Lifestyle site – I’m looking forward to taking on broader verticals including Food and Travel and bringing the same focus to them,” she said.

Allen Williams, Managing Director of APM, said one of Melina’s key tasks is monetising the full portfolio of lifestyle-related assets.

He said: “I’m delighted that Melina will be leading Life Media. She will bring fresh energy and rigour to our expansive portfolio of life-related digital and print assets, backed by a strong digital experience and commercial rationale.”

Life Media sites reach a unique audience of 2.4 million each month and 1.7 million print readers each week via mastheads and digital brands including Life & Style, Traveller, Daily Life, The Vine, Good Food, Epicure, Essential Baby, Essential Kids, Find a Babysitter and Drive.

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About Fairfax Media

Fairfax Media is a leading multi-platform media company in Australia and New Zealand. The group comprises metropolitan, rural, regional and community mastheads that offer high-quality, independent journalism and dynamic venues for commerce and information. Fairfax operates five business divisions: Australian Publishing Media, Domain, Digital Ventures, Fairfax Radio and Fairfax New Zealand. Australian Publishing Media has four publishing units – News Media, Business Media, Life Media and Australian Community Media – that generate content across all media platforms for major mastheads The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Land, The Australian Financial Review, The Canberra Times, brisbanetimes.com.au, WAtoday.com.au, among many others, as well niche websites such as essentialbaby.com.au and thevine.com.au. The APM division also produces prestigious conferences and events that attract large-scale, highly-engaged audiences and community participation.