• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, January 21, 2009

Branded video ad network BrightRoll has appointed former Heavy.com sales executive Tommy Pizzo as its new vice president of East Coast sales.

At entertainment site Heavy.com, Pizzo likewise served as vice president of East Coast sales. Prior to Heavy, Pizzo was the senior territory manager at MySpace, where he managed brand relationships with Sprint, Frito-Lay, Verizon Wireless and Pepsi.

This experience makes Pizzo well-suited to pursue BrightRoll's "big deals with big customers" strategy, according to BrightRoll CEO Tod Sacerdoti.

"His main responsibility will be to expand agency relationships in New York," said Sacerdoti. "Our goal is to manage an increasing share of agencies' video advertising budgets."

San Francisco-based BrightRoll has recently sought to expand its East Coast presence with the addition of two other sales managers. "This is a time to gain market share at a time when a lot of people are retreating," Sacerdoti said.

Since launching in mid 2006, BrightRoll has focused exclusively on matching brand advertisers with "quality" branded media properties.

Sacerdoti believes BrightRoll is therefore well-positioned to take advantage of advertisers' and consumers' "flight to quality," which can occur during uncertain economic times.

The privately held BrightRoll does not disclose financial information, but Sacerdoti assured that the number of agencies making "serious commitments" would only grow this year. "We did two deals worth over $1 million last year, and we'll definitely do more than three this year," he said.