- Facebook-backed blockchain payment initiative Calibra has posted two new marketing job openings that suggest the product may be gearing up to roll out.
- Calibra is hiring heads of brand and media and looking for advertising talent with at least 15 years of experience. The head of brand role requires candidates to “champion and build the company.”
- Calibra has faced criticism and concern from major players like Visa and MasterCard as well as leaders like Swiss president and finance minister Ueli Maurer.
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While Facebook has faced a storm of criticism over its move into financial services, it’s seeking an advertising vet to run the program’s marketing.
The company is seeking a head of brand and a head of media for Calibra, Facebook’s digital wallet that will let people send money through Messenger and WhatsApp, including Facebook’s own cryptocurrency Libra. The idea is to create an open set of standards for sending money that Facebook and other financial services firms can use to build products.
Both positions require people to have at least 15 years of advertising and marketing experience and 10 years of leadership experience. Ideal candidates will also have experience in financial services and fintech, say postings on Calibra.
For the head of brand, Calibra is seeking a person to “champion and build the company and product brand to support the growing needs of the product portfolio and target audiences,” reads the listing. The person will also focus on marketing Calibra through Facebook’s platforms and traditional media.
“As well as having the opportunity to create a brand from inception to launch and beyond, you will define the expected outcomes for all consumer and brand programs and campaigns — making it clear what the expected impact will be on company metrics and ROI,” reads the posting.
The head of media will be responsible for running all of Calibra’s campaigns and work with external agencies in addition to teams within Facebook, according to the listing.
A Calibra spokesperson declined to comment further about the role other than to say that the company is growing the existing team. At least two other Calibra employees share the “head of brand” title, according to LinkedIn profiles.
Calibra is hiring for about 30 positions across all departments, according to its careers page.
Facebook more broadly has hired a handful of agencies including Wieden + Kennedy and Ogilvy to create platform-specific work that aims to restore trust in its corporate brand that has been dented by events like Cambridge Analytica. In August, Facebook rebranded Instagram and WhatsApp to include Facebook’s name, and Facebook plans to run its first Super Bowl campaign during next month’s game.
Facebook has faced backlash to its move into payments
Libra has had a tough start. Major partners like Visa, PayPal, Mastercard and Stripe have pulled out of the program. Last month, Switzerland’s president and finance minister Ueli Maurer said that “the project, in this form, has thus failed,” while Facebook executives have stressed that Calibra is part of a long-term initiative that could take years to get off the ground. In November, Kevin Weil, Calibra VP of product, told attendees at the tech conference Web Summit that he had a prototype of Calibra on his phone.
“At Calibra, what drives us is to make financial services available to more people around the world and make them dramatically cheaper,” Weil said at the event. “People at Facebook are inspired by the ability to help people all over the world.”
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