Whatever company handles Twitter’s business cards should soon be tasked with printing a lot more batches. Twitter’s hired two people away from Facebook and Yelp, and these individuals will act as sales execs, establishing teams and presumably "meeting and greeting" lots of potential advertisers.
Dan Coughlin, who spent more than a couple years at Facebook, will be responsible for handling the east half of the U.S., and Amanda Levy, who was Yelp’s first salesperson, will take care of the west. Both will then report to Twitter COO Dick Costolo, according to Michael Learmonth.
Otherwise, Learmonth reported, "Both will be charged with building out a team to move what Twitter is calling its Promoted Suite, or Twitter ads that today consist of promoted tweets and promoted trends."
The execs are sure to handle other advertising concepts, too, as soon as Twitter conceives and/or unveils them.
It’s significant that Twitter was able to lure Coughlin and Levy away from their old employers, in any event. Yelp’s sales department has perhaps had to endure some negative PR in recent months, but Levy predates that mess, and Facebook isn’t exactly a dying company.
It should be interesting to see what Coughlin and Levy can achieve as they settle into their roles and expand their teams.
