SMG South Africa bolsters management team

On the back of appointing Alexander Kunz as the client managing director for Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) South Africa and Africa, MD Ravi Bhaya has announced further appointments to solidify and consolidate his management team. Spearheading the positions of head of strategy and head of planning are Lia Smit and Lucinda Langford respectively and the specialised out of home unit is being headed by Kirsty Carlson who returns to SMG.

Lia's 20 years of experience in the media industry spans across several local and international clients, including her winning work on the Coca-Cola business for six years. In her role as Head of Strategy at SMV Group, Lia and her team are responsible for SMGs global network clients, designing product excellence, integration of tools and driving global best practices. Connected to SMV Group's Global Product Committee, Lia will lead integrated insights and the strategic framework in South Africa.

Lucinda started her career in advertising 26 years ago and until recently she held the position of client lead director: Unilever South Africa. As head of planning at SMV Group, Lucinda is responsible for engineering the rigors and discipline into the agency's planning product. She is in charge of streamlining processes and rolling out advanced optimisation tools and techniques in the market.

Kirsty returns to Starcom where she worked her way up to the Africa account manager role. She carries a wide array of experience within media and the out of home industry particularly in the areas of media planning, buying, strategy development and account management across 50+ African markets with varying challenges, languages, cultures and legislations. In her role as head of Outdoor SA and Africa, Kirsty will be responsible for overseeing the out of home practice within SMG, developing creative solutions, driving excellence in process and structure and leveraging her experience to identify new revenue streams for the group.