VivaKi appointment
The VivaKi board of directors has announced the appointment of Jeffrey Seah to the role of country chairman for VivaKi Southeast Asia.
VivaKi is a communications group specialising in digital media. Currently the chief executive officer of Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) in Southeast Asia, Seah will report to both VivaKi CEO Jack Klues and Laura Desmond, CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group.
Seah, who will retain his CEO role, will work with the regional and local leadership of Digitas, Razorfish, Starcom MediaVest Group and ZenithOptimedia (ZO) to strengthen the service offering and clout of all agencies in the region. Country chairs support the brand leaders to drive cross-brand growth initiatives for VivaKi in the market, and meet operational and financial goals.
Seah has spent more than a decade at SMG, and his leadership has paved the way for Starcom to become an established entity in Southeast Asia, the firm said.
Initially he was responsible for launching the Starcom brand in Asia and setting up its first office in Singapore in 1999. He also helped launch the Starcom IP Digital Marketing Unit across Asia in 2002, at a time when digital was still a pariah in the advertising fraternity. He then spent three years with Group M before rejoining Starcom MediaVest Group in 2009 as CEO to helm the operations across the region.
“Jeffrey has a formidable track record of delivering growth and new thinking in this important region,” Klues said. “With agencies and experts throughout Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines, we have a powerful opportunity to have a stronger and more unified voice in the marketplace by combining forces, restructuring around VivaKi and aligning behind Jeffrey’s leadership.”
Seah said the introduction of the VivaKi structure in Southeast Asia would help consolidate scale in the marketplace, allowing ZenithOptimedia and Starcom MediaVest Group to align their focus and resources to proof operations.
