Vivaki announces new country chair for Southeast Asia

  Global ad agency Vivaki on Monday announced the appointment of new country chair for Southeast Asia, Vivaki said in a statement Friday.   Jeffery Seah, currently the CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group in Southeast Asia, will be filling the role.   “Jeffrey has a formidable track record of delivering growth and new thinking in this important region. 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,” says Vivaki Global CEO Jack Klues.   Jeffrey spent more than a decade at Starcom, during which Starcom became an established entity in South East Asia under his leadership. He launched the Starcom brand in Asia and set up its first office in Singapore in 1999. He also helped launch the Starcom IP Digital Marketing Unit across Asia in 2002, at an age when going digital was still unheard of in advertising. Jeffrey then spent three years with Group M before rejoining Starcom in 2009 as CEO to head its operations across the Southeast Asian region.   As country chair of Vivaki, he will collaborate  with the regional and local leaders of Vivaki's four autonomous brands, the digital marketing agencies Digitas and Razorfish and the word's largest media agencies Starcom MediaVest Group and ZenithOptimedia. He will help strengthen the services and clout of the brands in the region as well as support the cross-brand growth initiatives of VivaKi in the market.   On his new appointment, Jeffrey said, "The introduction of the VivaKi structure in Southeast Asia will help consolidate scale in the marketplace. It allows both ZenithOptimedia and Starcom MediaVest Group to align our focus and resources to future proof our operations.   Today, the search for real-time accountability is a key requirement for success for many businesses, and ZO's 'Live ROI' promise is well-positioned to fulfill that. Similarly, the respect and sensitivity for the human consumer has never been given greater prominence than now, and SMG's 'Human Experience' vision will capture that space in the market.   Together, with VivaKi's shared domain and functional expertise in digital, branded content, trading, and talent management, we will organize our set-up in SEA to become a future proofed entity."   Seah will dually report to Klues and Laura Desmond, the global CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group. —With Aileen Estoquia/VS, GMA News