Staying true to its commitment to India, Starcom IP, full service digital marketing practice of Starcom MediaVest Group, today announced relocation of Suyesh Shankar from Singapore to India as National Strategy Director. Based in Mumbai, he will work with Starcom client management teams and spearhead digital strategy for all clients. He will continue to work on key regional digital clients.
Shankar moves from Starcom IP Singapore’s office, where he led digital strategy across key clients including Oracle, Samsung and Singapore Tourism Board. He has been actively engaged with the digital space since its inception in India and has over eleven years of experience across Internet Marketing and Technology Implementation. He previously worked at digitally focused clients like DELL and Samsung in India.
Commenting on Shankar’s relocation, Pushkar Sane, Chief Digital Officer North & South Asia for Starcom MediaVest Group said: “We are upscaling and upskilling our team in India this year. That involves more than tripling our team size, as well as moving in people with international experience. Suyesh is one of the strongest digital strategists I have met and worked with and when we got an opportunity to bring someone from the region to India, he emerged as a natural choice. His specific strengths in Search and Web Analytics will give our clients an edge in the marketplace.”
Added Suyesh Shankar, National Strategy Director, “I’m happy to be back in India. I have been fortunate to have worked with some of the smartest digital marketers when I was in Singapore, and I am glad to get an opportunity to put that experience to use for our clients here.”
Shankar has already relocated to Mumbai effective April 6, 2009.
Starcom IP
Starcom IP is the digital marketing practice of Starcom MediaVest Group. It was formed in recognition of the reality that Internet calls for a new Protocol in approaching Marketing, Communications & Media. Starcom IP provides end to end services in the Digital Marketing space with a focus on key platforms like Search, Video, Social, and Mobile. It leverages several proprietary SMG tools like IntenTrack, Brand Sirens, Contact Destinations and VivaKi Nerve Center tools like Click2Sales, Marketing Navigator, Benchtools, and Listening Studio.
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Some of the key Starcom IP clients in the region include Aircel, General Motors, Procter & Gamble, Oracle, Samsung, Singapore Tourism Board, and Western Union.
Starcom MediaVest Group
Ranked one of the largest brand communications groups in the world, Starcom MediaVest Group (www.smvgroup.com) encompasses an integrated network of highly specialized consumer contact companies. SMG's global organization includes strategic marketing communication architects who are highly specialized in media management, response media, internet and digital communications, as well as multicultural, entertainment, gaming, sports, sponsorship, event marketing and media. With nearly 6,000 employees in 110 offices worldwide, SMG delivers brand-building results for many of the world's leading companies. It is part of ViVaKi, the newly formed global entity within Paris-based Publicis Groupe.
Starcom MediaVest Group in India
Ranked consistently as one of India’s most admired media networks by Brand Equity, Starcom is one of the youngest, largest and most diversified media networks in the country. It has over 180 contact architects across its four full service offices and twenty other offices where its specialist units have an operation. It prides itself on its ‘people first’ approach at workplace and is known in the industry and in campuses as one of the best places to work in. It has one of the best retention rates amongst media agencies in India.
Using proprietary planning frameworks such as Passion Group Marketing, internationally proven tools such as TARDIIS, local research and superior analytical skills, the agency attempts to build lasting connections between its clients’ brands and their customers.
In February, 2007, the network announced a strategic merger of its mainstream media negotiation volume with that of sister network ZenithOptimedia, to form dedicated investment unit India Media Exchange, arguably the second largest buyer of media in the market.
In addition to communication strategy development and mainstream media negotiation, the network offers solutions in the area of out-of-home and ambient media [Navia], entertainment and embedded marketing [The Bridge], digital and wireless marketing [Starcom IP], sports and cause enabled marketing [Relay Worldwide], activation and media supported amplification [ACE] and small town and rural marketing [Xpanse], ambient assets, navigational signage, and retail branding [Enhance] and lifestyle marketing and communication [C].
Prominent Starcom Worldwide full service clients in India include Aircel, Bayer Healthcare, Bharat Matrimony, Cadila Healthcare, Color Plus Fashions, Continental Airlines, Diageo Radico, General Mills, Hatsun Agro, Heinz, Himalaya Healthcare, ING Vysya Life, Jet Airways, JetLite, Kotak Mahindra, Make My Trip, Oracle, SAB Miller, Samsung Electronics, Samsung Mobile, Singapore Tourism Board, Sun Microsystems, Tata Housing, Western Union, Wipro Consumer Care, World Gold Council, and WorldSpace Satellite Radio. Associate network FutureWorks manages the media needs of companies belonging to the retail and consumer brands major Future Group.