Photo editing and sharing app VSCO tapped former Nike executive Tesa Aragones to lead its marketing efforts as CMO, as the company looks to build on rapid growth of its paid subscription service.

VSCO CEO Joel Flory announced the addition in a LinkedIn post, where he stated Aragones’ credentials included time as senior global brand marketing director for Nike Women’s Training and the creator of Nike’s first iOS app.

The new CMO also previously led campaigns for brands including Apple, Xbox, Volkswagen and Bacardi.

Aragones is the second high-profile executive to join VSCO in recent months, following the recruitment of Allison Swope as VP of product in April. Swope formerly served as a product manager at Facebook, where she was responsible for the creation of Facebook Live and helped grow the social media site’s Messenger platform to 1.3 billion users.

VSCO is also seeking additional Android and iOS engineers, a senior programme manager for machine learning and a VP of product design.

Rapid growth
The hiring spree comes as the company looks to capitalise on the early success of its paid subscription service, VSCO X, which offers users enhanced filters and editing tools, along with hints and tips on photography for an annual $20 fee. Launched in Q1 2017, Flory announced in April VSCO X gained more than 1 million users in its first year.

Flory said at the time the rapid growth was an “exciting indicator that our community finds value in what we’re building”.

Unlike its juggernaut rival Instagram, VSCO’s platform has no adverts and doesn’t display content based on popularity metrics, a setup which appears to have resonated with people born between the mid-1990s and early 2000s, who make up 75 per cent of VSCO users.