VivaKi country chair Srikant Sastri quits

Sastri will continue his association with Publicis Groupe as a consultant, besides being independent investor and operating partner for start-ups.

VivaKi country chair Srikant Sastri has put in his papers. Although his last day in the post is July 1, Sastri will continue his association with the Publicis Groupe as a consultant, confirms VivaKi CEO Frank Voris. He will also guide start-up companies in India and Asia Pacific region as an independent investor and operating partner. Sastri has been VivaKi's country chair since 2008.

Meanwhile, VivaKi has started the process of looking for Sastri's successor.

Speaking about the development, Voris says, "Srikant has successfully orchestrated three acquisitions and integrations that have simultaneously fortified the founding VivaKi agencies, while also solidifying Publicis Groupe's position as the leading digital marketing operations in India."

As a consultant, Sastri will continue to work with Razorfish and DitialLBi, besides VivaKi. In fact, for VivaKi, he will surface and evaluate emerging opportunities, and explore tech start-ups that can add value to the group. With Razorfish and DigitalLBi, he will act as a connector to potential clients, talent and partners, and be advisor to Vincent Digonnet, executive chairman, Razorfish and DigitalLBi network in the APAC on creating integrated capabilities across the agencies.

Sastri says, "I have successfully completed a big mandate as VCC in India and I am absolutely thrilled that we achieved the goal we set for ourselves 18 months ago. We are now twice the size of our largest competitor. With this mission accomplished, I would like to focus on three areas that I am passionate about."

Sastri adds that he intends to foster the Indian start-up eco-system by actively leading key initiatives at professional and trade bodies, including The Indus Entrepreneurs and Indian Angel Network. He also plans to encourage the growth of ventures that are focused on social enterprises and other development issues.

Sastri began his career at Unilever and was also associated with McCann Erickson. In 1995, he founded Solutions Digitas, a marketing services agency. A decade later, he set up Team4U, a sales force staffing company.

VivaKi, a part of Publicis Groupe, was set up in 2008. Recently, the agency won the media duties of real estate advisory firm Better Option Propmart and Indian Badminton League.