Coppersmith, who was part of the team that launched Universal McCann in China in 2000, was general manager of the agency's Guangzhou office before he moved to Starcom. Blaise D'Sylva, chief executive for Northeast Asia, said the reorganisation of its mainland business was part of a larger operational strategy to more locally align management talent and resources against client priorities.
Coppersmith will handle Starcom's business in north and east China from his Shanghai base. Key accounts handled out of Starcom's Shanghai and Beijing offices include Mars, Nippon Paint, Fiat and China Unicom.
Coppersmith will work alongside Starcom's southern China managing director Michele Mundee. Earlier in the year, Starcom also appointed Peter Zhi as its Guangzhou-based planning director and Warren Hui as national buying director.
"Starcom now has the right blend of experienced media thinkers who understand our organisation and the media environment, working side-by-side with aggressive local talent, said D'Sylva.
