Anke Kuik promoted to General Manager, VivaKi

London – August 20, 2014– VivaKi, the global leader in digital advertising solutions, today announced the promotion of two of its European leads, Geoff Smith and Anke Kuik.

In the newly created role of Vice President for EMEA, Smith will take on responsibility for the continued growth of VivaKi’s programmatic media buying solution Audience On Demand® (AOD) across the region, including driving new commercial opportunities and ensuring a consistent agency offering.  He will also provide strategic support for growth markets.

Smith will continue to report into Marco Bertozzi, President, AOD EMEA and Client Services NA who said “Geoff has played a significant role in the success of AOD by helping establish it as the market-leading addressable media buying practice in the UK.  His ability to engender strong client relations, dynamic leadership and in-depth knowledge of media will be a huge benefit to the wider region.”

Smith joined VivaKi in 2011 as Head of Activation for AOD in the UK and was promoted to General Manager in 2013.  Under his direction, the UK business has witnessed seven-fold growth.  Prior to VivaKi, Smith was Technology Consultant Director at GroupM agency MEC.

Anke Kuik has been promoted to General Manager of the AOD Activation Centre in Amsterdam.  Her promotion follows a hugely successful year as Director.

Kuik joined VivaKi in July 2013 to oversee the centralisation of core functions of AOD’s addressable media offering across Display, Video, Mobile and Social.  Launching with a single market, Russia, Anke has spearheaded AOD’s expansion into 12 markets including Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Israel, Portugal, and Norway, with an additional three markets about to go live.

In her new role, Kuik will take on a wider business management function with P&L responsibilities.  She will also be responsible for new business opportunities to drive expansion of the Activation Centre.

“A centralised hub focused on programmatic buying expertise and innovation working together with local teams who can offer a personalised service to clients has proved to be a highly effective combination since setting up our Activation centre in Amsterdam.” Bertozzi said.  “Every market has its own unique challenges and requirements and Anke is highly adept at understanding and addressing these differences whilst ensuring we offer a consistent premium product, regardless of the size of the market.”