• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, January 5, 2011

Publicis Groupe's Starcom MediaVest Group on Monday named Lisa Weinstein as president of global digital and search. Weinstein replaces Sean Finnegan who announced his departure as president and chief digital officer of SMG late last year.

Based in Chicago, Weinstein will focus on driving a digital agenda inspired by both marketer needs and the future state of the communications industry, and expand global search capabilities.

"Lisa has a vision for the future state of our industry which focuses on the intersection of marketing and technology," said Laura Desmond, global CEO of SMG.

Previously, Weinstein was with Mindshare, based in Chicago, and most recently was managing partner, where she worked on a number of assignments including BP, Kimberly-Clark, Motorola and Wrigley.

A rift between Finnegan and Starcom was reportedly at the root of his departure, although it was officially called a "mutual decision." Despite the issues with Finnegan, Starcom has recently shown little sign of weakness or lack of focus.

SMG, for example, recently announced a deal with production company BermanBraun to spend north of $100 million in advertising across various entertainment Web sites. The four-year deal is expected to include multiple BermanBraun properties, including celebrity gossip site Wonderwall.com and health and beauty site Glo.com, as well as those still in their planning stages. Starcom clients -- including Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Wal-Mart -- will be able to help shape the sites that are still in development, Laura Desmond, global CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group, said at the time.

Perhaps tellingly, Publicis Groupe veteran Brian Terkelsen, president of Starcom's branded entertainment unit, LiquidThread, was pegged to manage the initiative, which will likely include a political portal for MSNBC.com; a site directed at Latinos, as well as movie and television portals.

Per the deal, SMG clients are getting "first look" privileges for all digital content produced by BermanBraun -- which, in turn, will be strategically designed to scale across VivaKi brands.