Laurence Mellman, a WPP executive for over 24 years, has joined fast-growing family edutainment platform Kidadl.
When he left WPP at the end of 2020, Mellman was chief operating officer at the group’s International Specialist Communications division, running a portfolio of 35 WPP businesses across the marketing services spectrum and operating in 20 countries.
Mellman will join Kidadl as a board advisor alongside Matthew Crummack (former group CEO of GoCompare) and Nick Mercer (formal commercial director of Eurostar) and will assist Kidadl’s founders Hannah Feldman and Sophie Orman at a time of significant growth for the company.
Laurence Mellman has joined Kidadl
Feldman, a former Ogilvy graduate and solicitor who has worked at UBS and Linklaters, and Orman, a serial entrepreneur, launched Kidadl in London in 2018 as an app-based business showcasing family events and activities.
In the past 12 months Kidadl has grown more than 1100 per cent, with revenues up 40 per cent month-on-month, driven by expansion in North America. Kidadl now serves more than five million parents around the world with premium free content designed to entertain and educate their children.
Kidadl co-founder Hannah Feldman said: “Laurence’s blend of media, operational and financial acumen is already proving a great asset to Kidadl as we hyper-scale the business. We’re thrilled to have him onboard as we work together to build a global brand.”
Mellman added: “I am delighted to be joining such a ground-breaking business run by two really impressive individuals at such an important stage in its development. I’m excited to be using some of my accumulated experience to add significant value to what is fast becoming a massive success story.”
Since leaving WPP, Mellman has taken on a handful of non-executive roles in fast-growing and dynamic businesses within the media and marketing sectors.