-By Brian Morrissey

NEW YORK Longtime digital advertising executive Sean Finnegan had a brief hiatus from agency life. Now, he's leaving ad network Vibrant Media after seven months to join Starcom MediaVest.

Finnegan, 37, was named president and chief digital officer of the Publicis Groupe network. He replaces Curt Hecht, who had moved over to an executive role at VivaKi, a unit Publicis Groupe set up for managing its digital assets.

At Starcom MediaVest, Finnegan will work with CEO Laura Desmond on the company's strategy. He will also work with its various brands on their digital capabilities and top clients like Procter & Gamble, General Motors and Coca-Cola.

Finnegan said the job would provide him the opportunity to influence the construction of the elusive "agency model of the future."

"I always saw through my career a transition to a pure digital state," he said. "I was excited to see what I had dedicated my time early on went from the state it was then to everything it is today and will be tomorrow."

His departure is a blow to Vibrant Media, a fast-growing ad network that turns hyperlinks into ad messages, which he joined in January as chief media officer. In a typical execution, a user mousing over a double-underlined hyperlink on the word "auto" would see a car commercial.

Finnegan departed Omnicom Group, where he was CEO of Omincom Media Group Digital, to join Vibrant. The move surprised many in the
industry and gave added credibility to Vibrant, which has been criticized for mixing advertising in editorial sections.

Finnegan said he is still a believer in Vibrant's user-initiated system that combines elements of contextual, search and video advertising. He will participate in an unpaid role on an advisory board of industry leaders Vibrant is setting up.