Havas Media India makes senior appointments in digital

Sumit Kumar has been appointed general manager, Mobext India and S V Sunilkumar joins as business head, digital, Mumbai.

Havas Media India has strengthened its digital team with two key senior appointments. Havas Media India's full services digital portfolio includes digital media planning and buying, display advertising, digital direct response, search engine marketing, SEO, pay-per-click, social media, as well as 'Mobext' for mobile solutions and performance marketing using data and analytics.

Sumit Kumar has been appointed general manager, Mobext India to further establish the business in India, while S V Sunilkumar joins as business head, digital, Mumbai. Sunilkumar's key responsibility will be to service the existing digital clientele in Mumbai as well as new business development.

Sunilkumar joins Havas with 18 years of media experience. Before Havas, he was associated with Infosys as a principal consultant and was a part of the core product development team at BrandEdge (the global cloud-based digital marketing platform). As digital media head at DDB Mudra, he has serviced clients including LIC, STAR TV, McDonald's, IDBI Bank and India First Life Insurance.

Sumit Kumar, having more than eight years of experience in business development, strategic partnerships, product management and corporate sales, was earlier leading the performance and app advertising business for InMobi India. Kumar was involved with clients such as Tata Docomo, Vodafone, Sony Entertainment, Disney, OLX, Viacom18, Tencent, AOL, Cleartip, Hungama, Nazara, Opera and Times Group.

Anita Nayyar, CEO, Havas Media Group, India & South Asia, says, "Digital is a focal point for us and these appointments will further consolidate our attempt to offer the latest digital services to our clients. Both Sumit and Sunil are talented and committed digital players - we are glad to have them on board."

"Sunil and Sumit are mandated to entrenching and expanding the Havas Digital footprint in Mumbai and India," comments Anurag Bhatnagar, MD, digital, Havas Media India.

Speaking about his new responsibilities, Sumit Kumar states, "Mobext not only provides mobile solutions to engage the customer but can also help brands make their sales force more effective with our enterprise solutions - a unique proposition in itself. The profile is a huge challenge and opportunity to create unique experiences and expand the Mobext offering in India."

Sunilkumar says, "As a digital enthusiast, it is always exciting to work with an agency whose mantra is 'Digital at its core'. Havas Media has been on an aggressive growth path and again it is good to be where the action is. I look forward to creating some of this action."

Havas Media in India delivers media and marketing solutions across media platforms including traditional, digital, mobile and outdoor. Havas Media Group includes Havas Sports & Entertainment and Arena. Together they draw from the expertise within the group, including Mobext for mobile solutions and Ecselis for performance marketing.