Hanley King appointed Chairman of SMG India

King will oversee strategic operations, new business and key clients for SMG India and SMG Convonix. Malli CR, CEO of SMG India, and Vishal Sampat, CEO of SMG Convonix, will both report to King

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | February 18, 2014

Hanley King

Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) today announced the appointment of Hanley King as Chairman, SMG India. King will report to John Sheehy, President, Global Operations, and will be based in SMG's Mumbai office. King will be focused on key client relationships, and new business and commercial operations for the agency.

Malli CR, CEO of SMG India, and Vishal Sampat, CEO of SMG Convonix, will both report to King and will continue to lead daily operations for their respective organizations.

“Hanley is a consummate professional with a proven track record of delivering results across our globally networked clients,” said Sheehy. “Our recent acquisition of Convonix and our robust digital and analytics practice prove that our operations in India are among our most future-focused. I look to Hanley to work hand in hand with Malli and Vishal to continue to build upon our momentum in India.”

King was most recently SMG Global Client Lead for APAC, based in Singapore. In this role he managed multifaceted SMG client teams for Samsung, Mars Wrigley, Kellogg's, Novartis and Bank of America and others across the APAC region. Prior to joining SMG, King was CEE President for Universal McCann, where he was responsible for 22 markets across the Central European region with 500 plus staff and billings of close to $1 billion. Prior to that, he was UM CEO, Czech Republic, and previous to this he spent seven years working for media independents and full service communications agencies in his native New Zealand.

In his career Hanley has worked on many global accounts in Asia, Europe and New Zealand spanning FMCG, auto, financial, breweries and telcos.

"India is a fascinating, fast-paced and constantly evolving market," King said. "And that's why it's such an honour to be joining SMG India and working with Malli and Vishal – a team that is so relentlessly focused on the future."

SMG India is one of the youngest, most vibrant and most diversified media networks in the country. SMG India is leading the industry with its robust digital and analytics practice, as well as it best-in-class consumer insights work led by its Human Experience Strategist Network. SMG India's client list includes Dabur, Axis Bank, Aircel and Ranbaxy.

In 2013, Publicis Groupe acquired Convonix, which aligned with SMG India. Founded in 2003, Convonix today employs more than 400 digital marketing specialists, making it the largest digital agency in India, serving such clients domestically as well as internationally as Tata Motors, Reliance Industries, Budweiser, Taj Hotels, DBS, Mahindra Holidays, Tata Global Beverages among others.

SMG is part of Publicis Groupe, one of the world's leading communications groups.

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