The battle for talent between WPP and their rivals Publicis and Omnicom (who will soon be merging) continues apace as the Publicis Group's 'Razorfish' (a full service digital agency based in New York) announced they had poached WPP MediaCom's head of digital investment, Vik Kathuria. At Razorfish, Kathuria will assume the role of global media chief, filling the space left vacant by Jeff Lanctor, who departed the agency and the sector (for the ad-tech world) last summer. Before he joined MediaCom in 2008, Kathuria worked as senior vice president of digital media at OMD, and has also served in senior positions at PepsiCo in Singapore and Citigroup in New York.
At Razorfish, Kathuria will assume the role of global media chief, filling the space left vacant by Jeff Lanctor, who departed the agency last summer
Kathuria, whose career began in London, where he worked as an investment banker with Goldman Sachs, joined Razorfish because he believes their “media practice is excelling at a time when so many agencies in its position are stagnant.” In his new role, he will be driving digital media strategy for the agency by heading up Razorfish's 300 media employees. Razorfish CEO Pete Stein has said that Kathuria and his team will also be focusing heavily on new business, and management of the shop's international media business, which he says have grown significantly.
Vik Kathuria
Stein was promoted to global Razorfish CEO last July, and he has said that since then, there has been “An increasing demand from clients to provide guidance on how to navigate the rapidly evolving media landscape.” Stein has said in an email regarding Kathuria's appointment that the agency is involved in two key areas; “Programmatic media that's highly automated and optimised, and custom opportunities and partnerships with major digital audience platforms (such as Facebook, Google and Twitter). Both of these areas he feels, offer”Rapidly evolving , complimentary opportunities,” and he believes that Kathuria “Will help drive activity in and across both spheres.”
Both Omnicom and Publicis continue to take more talent from their competitors, than their competitors do from them
This proximity of this new hire to the planned merger between Publicis and Omnicom is surely no coincidence, as the merger has led competitors (such as WPP) to pontificate on how such a merger will affect the talent, with many expecting a mass exodus. However, whilst a handful of senior staff members have left Publicis and Omnicom for WPP and other holding groups, both agencies continue to take more talent from their competitors, than their competitors do from them. Recently for example, Omnicom appointed Peter Sherman, former CEO of WPP's JWT North America, as executive vice president. It's worth nothing that Sherman was promoted shortly before he was poached, as was Kathuria (until last December he was an executive VP). The war continues to wage, and it doesn't look like it will be dying down any time soon!
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and musician from the UK, who is starting to feel like following the advertising world is a little like watching Game of Thrones, without the dragons and the frivolous nudity.
