Cheil South West Asia (SWA) has announced the appointment of Sungkyoon Kim as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Cheil SWA Group. Kim will be based out of the agency’s head office in Gurugram and will oversee operations across Cheil SWA’s offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata.
In his new role, Kim will lead a team of over 1,000 professionals spanning creative, data, technology, retail, media and experiential disciplines, as the network sharpens its focus on integrated, data-led and AI-enabled marketing solutions.
Kim brings over 30 years of experience across marketing strategy, data and analytics, and consumer psychology. Prior to this appointment, he served as Head of Digital Platform Business, overseeing Samsung.com, and also led the DnA (Data and Analytics) Center at Cheil, where he was responsible for driving the agency’s CRM and data initiatives.
During his tenure at Cheil, Kim has led several large-scale, data-driven digital transformation programmes. His work includes strengthening CRM, media, marketing and AI capabilities across the organisation, designing and deploying a real-time digital media optimisation platform that integrated cross-channel spend and performance data to improve investment efficiency and ROI, and developing LLM-powered AI agents for real-time analysis and automated insight generation. He has also spearheaded marketing automation initiatives as an Adobe Experience Platform (AEP) expert, enabling unified customer data and real-time, personalised cross-channel campaigns.
Kim also played a key role in establishing Cheil’s Global Data Center in India, significantly enhancing offshore R&D capabilities and improving global operational efficiency.
Commenting on his appointment, Sungkyoon Kim said, "I am thrilled to lead Cheil SWA during this pivotal shift in the advertising landscape. As AI continues to redefine marketing, I believe our future success sits at the intersection of human psychology and data-driven technology. My goal is to drive an AI-led transformation that goes beyond the surface, embedding innovation into the very fabric of our business functions. Alongside our incredible talent, I look forward to delivering the kind of dynamic, high-impact marketing solutions our clients expect in this new era,"
