ZenithOptimedia lures Samsung exec as new Korea MD

Kim was most recently senior manager of marketing planning in Samsung’s global marketing operations division. Prior to that, he worked on the agency side at Leo Burnett, Starcom and LG Ad.

Malcolm Hanlon, Zenith’s regional chief operating officer, told Campaign Asia-Pacific via email that he was “thrilled that we can bring in someone with such high-level expertise from a company like Samsung”.

Hanlon said that he expected Kim to help attract more domestic accounts. “Many Korean clients are looking to expand outside of Korea, so JunHo is the perfect person to counsel them on such matters and hopefully help us to secure new global clients managed out of Korea. Also, with his vast digital expertise, we expect him to build business in technology categories as well as increasing our revenues from digital media.”

Lee, who has headed ZenithOptimedia Korea for more than three years, will relocate to her native Hong Kong to take up a new, as yet undisclosed, position within the network in this year’s first quarter. She has led the Korean office since it became a standalone operation in 2011. Hanlon said she and her team had helped “put us on the map” in the Korean market. Clients in Korea include Clarins, Nestlé, Oracle and Puma.

Despite the small number of individual media agencies in Korea and the tendency among clients to continue to seek a full-service agency model, Hanlon said the media market, as the fourth-largest in Asia, represented a major opportunity. He pointed to a high level of thinking in the digital field in particular, and openness to international business practices.

“We see continued growth opportunities and potential in this market, especially in the area of digital, which is currently at the highest percentage of revenue of any Asia-Pacific office,” Hanlon said.