Sam Hamilton

There were no media schools when Sam Hamilton fell in love with the media, so he studied psychology and film, and during breaks, covered hard news stories from Europe, USA and Ireland as a free-lance journalist. Following a year of post-graduate brand management training he returned to London as Features Editor of the UK's leading music industry monthly. His new course was set: - Two years as Label (brand) Manager for the prestigious Decca Record Company followed before moving to, respectively,...See more

There were no media schools when Sam Hamilton fell in love with the media, so he studied psychology and film, and during breaks, covered hard news stories from Europe, USA and Ireland as a free-lance journalist. Following a year of post-graduate brand management training he returned to London as Features Editor of the UK's leading music industry monthly. His new course was set: - Two years as Label (brand) Manager for the prestigious Decca Record Company followed before moving to, respectively, United Artists and California. At the end of 1977, he moved again, this time to become the inaugural National Promotions Manager for the Philips/Siemens owned Phonogram Records in Australia (subsequently PolyGram and then Universal). Within months of arrival he led his new team to national sales records, a feat they repeated many times. PolyGram was Australia's most successful music company throughout the 1980's, and Sam, first as Head of Marketing and then as General Manager of Music and Video Operations, travelled the world creating launch strategies for, amongst others, Bon Jovi, Demis Roussos Dire Straits, Kiss, John Mellencamp and Elton John. Declining Vice Presidency and return to London in favour of raising his young family in Australia, he joined the Ten Television Network as Director of Corporate Affairs, and in 1996 he capitalised on his previous success with Chariots of Fire, Grease, Saturday Night Fever and La Bamba by joining United International Pictures, where, as head of marketing, he launched more than 200 films for Universal, Paramount & MGM Studios - particularly significant because Australia was frequently the debut territory for UIP releases and his campaigns were to become critical templates for the rest of the ex-USA world. Sam has twenty three marketing awards, written and/or produced more than a hundred Commercials and music videos, Executive Produced in excess of twenty-four hours of prime-time TV and promoted some of biggest albums and tours in Australian pop history. He has published numerous articles and white papers on market profiling, media, and customer service; written a light drama series and game-show for TV and is a tireless mentor and charity worker. He now combines consulting assignments for tourism, broadcast, technology, automotive, political, recruitment, and consumer goods clients with a demanding public speaking itinerary. See less