VivaKi Difference: Publicis Reorganizes Digital, Lang Replaces Kenny, McCann Will Oversee Talent

In the first major reorganization of Publicis' digital media assets since it acquired Digitas and made David Kenny its chief digital strategy officer, the Paris-based agency holding company this morning unveiled a new corporate-level unit that will be the central hub of digital media services, tools and partnerships spawned by its disparate media operations: Denuo, Starcom MediaVest, ZenithOptimedia and Digitas. The new unit, dubbed VivaKi, will be led jointly by Managing Partners Jack Klues and David Kenny.

As part of the reorganization, Laura Lang replaces Kenny as CEO of Digitas, and Renetta McCann, who recently stepped down as Global CEO of Starcom MediaVest, will lead a "talent development platform" that will be a key component of VivaKi.

Starcom MediaVest, ZenithOptimedia and Denuo will continue to be led by their current CEO's, Laura Desmond, Steve King, and Rishad Tobaccowala, respectively, who will report to Publicis Groupe Media CEO Jack Klues. Curt Hecht, executive vice president-chief digital officer at SMG, will lead VivaKi's "Nerve Center."

Singling out Publicis' acquisition of Digitas and its collaborative alliance with Google, Publicis Chairman-CEO Maurice Levy said the new unit is the next logical progression for the agency holding company.

"We are today taking a decisive and transformational step by profoundly modifying the group's organization, by redirecting investments toward digital and by instituting a significant change in our professional approach," he stated. "All these changes will make our agencies and networks even more competitive and will help our clients build better connections with their audiences by increasing the efficiency and productivity of their marketing investments."

Publicis said the VivaKi signals "a totally new and more integrated organization of the media, interactive, analog and digital universes is necessary in order to leverage scale and technological innovation," and outlined four of its operational goals: scale, innovation, technology and talent.

VivaKi's scale will come from leveraging the disparate resources and media buying clout of the individual Publicis media units, and by centralizing their strategies and approaches to the market.

The unit's innovation will be led by Hecht's Nerve Center, which Publicis described as the "heart" of the new operation, and which would be responsible for developing new technologies and working with key vendors such as Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, MySpace, Facebook and others to ensure Publicis agencies and clients are leveraging the best media assets and data they have to offer.

Publicis said VivaKi's technology approach would utilize an "open source system" that would tape the best available open market solutions, as well as leverage its own proprietary systems such as Navigator and Insight Factory.

The Talent Development Platform, led by McCann, would focus on finding and developing the human resources and training necessary to ensure the Publicis units are on top of the digital game.

"Starcom MediaVest Group, ZenithOptimedia and Digitas will take what they need from VivaKi to strengthen their existing operations," stated Klues. "They will continue to operate in a completely independent way, developing customized solutions for clients. At the same time, these clients will benefit from VivaKi's ability to deliver proprietary tools as well as advantages of scale -- helping clients reinforce links to consumers in a more cost effective way."

As for the name VivaKi, it is a synthesis of the French word viva, which means "life," and the Japanese word ki, which is used to describe the universal flow of energy.

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