TheRoot.com Hires Dedicated Sales Manager

TheRoot.com, the black targeted online news magazine owned by the Washington Post, has hired Michael Clark to serve as their dedicated sales manager. Clark’s previous roles included top manager at Black Planet, where he secured advertisers including Volvo, Ford, State Farm, Coca-Cola, New Balance and GlaxoSmithKline. Prior to joining Black Planet, Clark served as Director of Sales with JET Magazine. Michael will be working closely with publisher Donna Byrd to help grow the TheRoot’s advertising business.

According to a spokesperson at TheRoot:

The sales team at Washington Post Digital will continue to sell advertising on TheRoot.com. We hired Michael Clark because of his strong background and proven track record working in the African-American market and digital space. As The Root’s dedicated sales manager, he will be able to leverage his expertise across the entire sales team.

When asked what plans they have to monetize the site outside of display and sponsorship the spokesperson responded:

We [TheRoot] are always exploring innovative ways to create custom solutions for our advertisers but do not have specific plans to share at this time.

Does this mean that selling black targeted websites to advertiser is different than selling mainstream ads? I believe so, but lets see if this trend continues within majority owned corporations with black targeted websites.