ASIA-PACIFIC, JANUARY 28, 2013 – Starcom MediaVest Group has promoted Ranganathan Somanathan to chief operating officer for South East Asia, to spearhead the next phase of growth and development for the region.
As part of the newly-created role, Somanathan will focus on SMG’s agency brands, operations and divisions which include Starcom, MediaVest, Spark Communications and LiquidThread, across six key SEA markets including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Prior, Somanathan had led VivaKi Malaysia, which includes SMG and Optimedia Malaysia, as CEO, a position he has held since July 2009. During time, he spearheaded the transformation of the Malaysian offices, fostering a digital culture among the local teams, adapting SMG’s global vision and human experience strategy locally while boosting staff’s capabilities in driving media and screen-neutral planning for clients, leading to a period of sustained advancement for SMG in Malaysia.
Having devoted over a decade of service to SMG, Somanathan has held various positions including vice president of insights and analytics for the Asia-Pacific region. Before, he was managing director of SMG’s Indonesian operations, which grew by 40 per cent under his leadership. He had also headed the research and strategic planning function at SMG Malaysia earlier in his career.
Throughout his career in the industry, Somanathan has worked with some of the world’s most renowned and biggest advertisers including P&G, DiGi, Microsoft and Mead Johnson among others. He is also a firm believer of contributing back to the industry and has been serving as president of the Media Specialist Association in Malaysia since 2010.
In his new role, Somanathan will be based in Singapore and will continue to report to Jeffrey Seah, VivaKi’s country chair for South East Asia. On the COO appointment, Seah commented: “As one of our longer serving stalwarts, Ranganathan, or Ranga to many of us, has been the embodiment of what SMG defines as ‘Liquid Talent’ – someone who excels across multiple roles and different geographies whilst building skillsets and organizational excellence."
