Hyundai Motor India Ltd, is floating its own advertising agency, Innocean, in India. The agency is expected to commence operations next month. It is expected to handle the Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) HMIL account, according to sources in HMIL.

Vivek Srivastava, executive director of Triton Communications, a Mumbai-based advertising agency, has been appointed as the chief operating officer of Innocean. The agency's managing director, however would be Y K Choi, who heads the agency in Seoul.

HMIL's existing ad agencies Saatchi & Saatchi, which handles the Santro and Getz brands, and Cheil, which handles the company's other creative work, will stop services once Innocen takes over. HMIL officials, however, said that Cheil has been retained as the media-buying agency.

Though Innocean will handle only HMIL account, it would take on other accounts as well once its operations stabilise. However, no major automobile account is expected to be taken up by the agency owing to the apparent possibility of conflict of interest.

Hyundai is the third largest account (after Maruti Udyog and Tata Motors) among passenger car manufacturers in India.