Mona Jain decides to move on from Vivaki Exchange

After a stint of three years at the agency, the CEO is on her way out. In all, Jain has spent eight years at Vivaki.

Mona Jain, the first chief executive officer of Vivaki Exchange, is on her way out from the agency.

While Jain was not available for comment, highly placed industry sources have confirmed her movement to afaqs!

We also learn that she is currently serving her notice period and will continue to do so till February 2014.

Jain was promoted to the position of CEO at Vivaki Exchange (the consolidated media buying arm of Starcom MediaVest Group or SMG, Zenith Optimedia or ZO, Solutions India and Digitas India) in 2011. Prior to that, she was chief operating officer of the agency. Prior to taking over as COO of Vivaki (in 2010), Jain was the India head of strategic investments at the agency.

At the time of her elevation, the post of CEO was one that was created especially for Jain. As CEO, her responsibilities included heading the buying function for Vivaki Group's media companies, SMG and ZO. At the time, Ambika Srivastava, former chairperson, Vivaki Exchange (whom Jain used to report to) had said that since Jain joined the agency in 2005, she "ensured phenomenal growth for the group and has played an extraordinary role in upping the service and delivery quotient for clients and teams alike." Note that currently, Srivastava is currently with Publicis (director, marketing and new business, India).

Jain has more than two decades of experience in the field of marketing communications. She began her career as a media trainee with Hindustan Thompson Associates (now JWT) in Delhi. The first big assignment she worked on was the launch of Pepsi in the country. Post that, she has been associated with Samsung. In fact, she was part of the launch of Samsung in India in 1995. As per Jain's LinkedIn profile, she had the privilege of setting up the in-house media unit for Samsung under the brand's creative agency, Cheil.

She also had a short stint at the 'client's end' as agency folk call it; this was with GSK, where she worked as general manager, media. Over the years, Jain has worked with agencies including Contract Advertising, Mudra Communications, ZenithOptimedia and Cheil.

Brands that Jain has worked on through the course of her career include PepsiCo, Horlicks, McDonald's, Whirlpool, Frito-Lay, Hyundai, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Nokia, Nestle and Samsung, among others.

For the record, SMG recently lost one of its prized media accounts -- Samsung India -- to Lodestar. The agency had been handling the business since 2007. The winning Interpublic Group agency will now handle the entire portfolio of the brand in India including mobile phones, TV/audio/video, cameras/camcorder, home appliances, PCs and printers. The account size of Samsung India is estimated to be upwards of Rs 400 crore.