Kitcatt Nohr Digitas

VivaKi, the strategic entity created by Publicis Groupe to leverage the combined scale of its media and digital operations, today launched a new initiative – the VivaKi Social Hub – with a mission to aggregate the social media expertise and scale of its four UK agencies. This is Vivaki’s second significant social media announcement of 2011, following the recent appointment of former Edelman executive Michael Wiley as Chief Social Officer.

The VivaKi UK agencies (Kitcatt Nohr Digitas, Razorfish, Starcom Mediavest and Zenith Optimedia) have incubated strong social marketing capabilities, and the Social Hub represents VivaKi’s bespoke, collaborative approach. While the agencies will continue to build capabilities and deliver social planning and consulting to clients, the Social Hub will deliver platforms, partnerships and hands on execution to benefit all of the VivaKi agencies and their clients.  

"By bringing together our agencies’ expertise in media, technology, CRM and creative, we bypass the distracting discussions on who ‘owns’ social that seem to be slowing the industry down at the precise time it needs to be accelerating," explains Derek Morris, VivaKi's UK COO.

"Our agencies have been immersed in social media since the beginning, and by bringing together their complementary skills we are able to elevate our learning and understanding to offer a truly integrated paid, owned and earned model."

The Social Hub will be overseen operationally by Razorfish Managing Partner Rob Fenton, and it is already working behind the scenes on social campaigns and programmes for VivaKi clients.

Says Fenton: “Through VivaKi we have a unique opportunity to combine the strategic talent of four agencies and fortify them in return with a central operation that drives the content and technology that enable social excellence,”

“Our goal is to empower the agencies to walk-the-walk not just talk-the-talk with informed and measurable programs that support a discipline that is quickly reshaping the communications planning process.”