Vivaki, the Publicis Groupe global strategic media unit, will today throw open the doors of its Australian operation headed by Starcom Australasia chairman Kevin Malloy.
The unit has been set up by Publicis Groupe as an umbrella brand to leverage the combined scale of its media and digital operations, including Starcom MediaVest Group, Zenith Optimedia and digital marketing agency Digitas, which will also launch in Australia today.
The local office of Digitas will be run by Mandy Henry, the former managing director of media agency Carat Sydney, who will report to Malloy. Nicolas Guillemot from Digitas Paris will be general manager of the US-based company that was acquired by the Publicis Groupe in 2007.
Vivaki was launched globally in June last year with the aim of driving growth and digital capabilities of the agency brands.
New Zealand-based Malloy has assumed the role of Vivaki Australasia chairman and will remain as Starcom’s global manager of the Coca-Cola Company media account.
“Vivaki is the first move on the part of a holding company to combine the assets of its media and digital operations. Digitas is the first tangible example of Vivaki's launch into the Australian market.
“We have recently launched VivaKi in New Zealand, the UK, Russia, India and Iberia to great success,” he said.
