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Tag: Convonix

  • Srikant Sastri stepping down from his role as a country chair

    Srikant Sastri stepping down from his role as a country chair

    MUMBAI: In his more than two and a half decades of experience Vivaki country chair Srikant Sastri will be stepping down from his position on 1 July.

    Vivaki CEO Frank Voris said, “Sastri will continue to serve in a consulting capacity for Publicis Groupe in the near term, while also nurturing start-up companies in India and Asia-Pacific as an independent investor and operating partner as it is his desire to work with a new companies. But, he agreed to help the organisation on-board Neev, Resultrix and Convonix.”

    “Srikant has successfully orchestrated three acquisitions and integrations that have simultaneously fortified the founding Vivaki agencies, while also solidifying Publicis Groupe‘s position as the leading digital marketing operation in India,” added Voris

    For the foreseeable future, Sastri will continue to work closely with VivaKi and also with Razorfish & DigitasLBi in a consulting capacity. For the former, he will surface and evaluate emerging opportunities, exploring tech start-ups who can benefit the agencies of Publicis Groupe and their clients. For Razorfish and Digitas-LBi India.

    VivaKi Country Chair Srikant Sastri: “I‘ve successfully completed a big mandate as VCC in India and I am absolutely thrilled that we achieved the goal we set for ourselves 18 months ago—driving digital dominance in India through organic growth and three key acquisitions. We are now twice the size of our largest competitor. With this mission accomplished, I‘d like to focus more on three areas that I am passionate about. In addition to working with start-ups, I intend to foster the Indian start-up eco-system by actively leading key initiatives at professional and trade bodies, including The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE) and Indian Angel Network. I will also help drive the growth of ventures that are focused on social enterprises and other Indian development issues.”

    Sastri has started his career from Ponds India as a regional sales manager than he has also worked with Tara Sinha Associates, TSME, McCann Erickson, Team4U, Solutions Integrated Marketing Services and Growth-For-All.

  • Publicis acquires Indian digital agency Convonix

    MUMBAI: Marking its first acquisition in India this year, the Publicis Groupe has taken over full service digital marketing agency and consulting firm Convonix.

    The company will align with Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) in India to provide search engine optimisation, paid search marketing, social media marketing and online reputation management to an extensive roster of clients. This news follows a number of recent acquisitions announced by Publicis Groupe in India and fortifies its position as India‘s largest digital marketing operation.

    The three founding members – CEO Vishal Sampat, co-COO Sarfaraz Khimani and co-COO Pallav Jain – will continue to lead the agency. Convonix will sit within SMG and will operate as SMG Convonix, with two market-facing brands: SMG Digital, and Convonix.

    Founded in 2003, Convonix was the first Search Engine Optimisation organisation in India, and currently employs over 200 digital advertising specialists serving clients such as Taj Hotels, Reliance Industries, Kotak Mahindra Group, Club Mahindra, Kodak, Aditya Birla Group among others. Convonix has a strong international footprint with over 60 per cent of its business coming from overseas. Convonix has also recently developed a proprietary in-house brand monitoring and social listening platform called IrisTrack which enables clients to gather market insight on their products and competitors and also engage customers online to improve their customer service.

    Starcom MediaVest Group global chief executive officer Laura Desmond said, “As the first SEO organisation in India, Convonix has continued to innovate and build the very best digital capability whilst being highly respected for its ability to recruit the best talent from universities each year, and transform them into digital advertising experts through a rigorous training program. combined with our existing talent in the market, this deal strengthens our offering to ensure we are the market leaders in digital.”

    Year on year, Convonix has increased revenues on average 66 per cent since 2008. According to the latest ZenithOptimedia ad spend forecast, Search Marketing continues to expand rapidly in India and is forecast to increase 35 per cent in the region during 2013, and more than 70 per cent in the next two years.

    Sampat said, “We have built our reputation by focusing on talent, training, technology and performance, and doing so has enabled us to rapidly evolve with the consumer. Aligning with SMG gives us global scale and a more powerful face to the market which we can leverage to constantly improve our offering and give our clients the best tools and solutions available.”

    The acquisition of Convonix is a testament to Publicis Groupe‘s strategic commitment to expanding its operations across India, with the ambitious goal of doubling its size in India between 2010 and 2015. The Groupe has been working to increase its profile in the country, including recent acquisitions of Indigo Consulting (April 2012), Resultrix (August 2012), iStrat (December 2012) and MarketGate (December 2012).

    VivaKi India country chair Srikant Sastri, who is presiding over the acquisition and transition of Convonix, added: “First Resultrix, and now Convonix. We are now clearly the digital marketing leaders in India, ahead of any other global network. We are positive that this acquisition will set the tone for our next phase of digital pre-eminence both in terms of expertise and revenue and we are continuing to explore other agencies that can help us capitalize on the outstanding potential of the digital marketplace in India.”