MUMBAI: Mobile advertising company Blyk has promoted its chief commercial officer Eric Kip as the company‘s chief executive, replacing co-founder Pekka Ala-Pietila.

Ala-Pietila will continue as chairman, overseeing Kip. Before joining Blyk in 2009, Kip held executive management positions at two media agencies: IPG‘s Initiative and WPP‘s MediaCom.

Blyk started in 2007 as a telecom operator in Britain, renting network from larger carriers and offering customers free calls in exchange for advertisements.

Blyk partners with Everything Everywhere in the UK and with Aircel in India, where Blyk focuses on the youth segment of 16-29. The company said it has more than one million clients each in Britain and India.

With mobile advertising and marketing being one of the hottest growth areas at the moment, many new opportunities are arising.

Advertising companies and operators are keenly observing companies such as Blyk as mobile advertising opens up new revenue streams. The mammoth size of over four billion mobile users presents exciting prospects for an advertiser.