Starcom Announces Key Senior Appointments

Natasha Kapoor joins the agency as VP, SMG Mumbai; Gautam Surath is VP, Strategic Planning.

Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) India has announced two senior level appointments. Natasha Kapoor joins the agency as vice president, SMG Mumbai while Gautam Surath has been promoted to vice president, Strategic Planning.

In a newly created role, Kapoor will be responsible for client servicing, product delivery and growth for the Mumbai market. With an experience of more than 15 years, her last job was at Samsung India, where she handled investment, brand activation and strategy for its media procurement and process audit division. Before that, Kapoor was a media purchases director at Mediacom where she handled television buying for the Procter & Gamble team. She also has worked on the Unilever business at Fulcrum and Mindshare.

Speaking on her new role, Kapoor says, "SMG offers a unique opportunity in the market for staff and clients alike. Nowhere else in India can you find a world-class digital and data and analytics practice coupled with great media tools, systems and thinking resulting in a great all-round product. It is a wonderfully challenging assignment and I am looking forward to it."

Surath will be responsible for strategic planning, training and guiding the digital transition of SMG's clients across its offices. He's an SMG veteran, having worked for the company from 2003 in both India and China. For the past four years he has been Business Director at SMG China in Guangzhou, where he was the strategy lead on multiple categories of the Procter & Gamble business. His responsibilities included the development of tools and systems to improve productivity and focus on product development. Prior to his posting in China, he spent six years on the P&G planning AOR team in India.

"Quite frankly, having started my career at Starcom and having worked here ever since, moving back to the India office from China was a bit of a no-brainer. Having seen the company evolve with evolving consumer trends, I have no doubt that our vision is the right one. Exposure to the global marketplace has only strengthened my belief in this regard," states Surath.

"Natasha and Gautam bring key skill sets to complement and enhance our offering to clients in India and both Mali and I look forward to working with them," comments Hanley King, chairman, SMG India. A part of the Publicis Groupe, Starcom MediaVest Group has agency brands that include MediaVest, Starcom and Spark. With over 8,000 employees in 130 offices worldwide, SMG partners with the world's leading companies including The Coca-Cola Company, Kraft Foods, P&G, Samsung, and Walmart, among others.