HAVAS

Brands and the companies behind them are being looked at differently. During Havas Media’s research this year it found a growing disconnect between brands and consumers – with  the majority of people not
caring if 70% of brands ceased to exist and only 20% of brands having a positive  impact on our sense of wellbeing and quality of  life –  it’s clear that the lenses through which we view consumers and branding
communications has to radically change.

With this in mind, the single most important project to infl uence Havas Media’s vision and the services it offers has been the launch of Meaningful Brands. After 4 years of investment and innovation, Havas Media is the first group to offer a structured and detailed global analysis that can connect brands with our quality of life and wellbeing.

Meaningful Brands and the selection of bespoke brand solutions and tools attached to it, enables companies to close this disconnect and focus on business and communications strategies that help people improve their lives. This project has challenged traditional defi nitions of brand value and there has already been evidence that its launch marks the start of a much needed step change for the commuinications industry.

The Meaningful Brands project has caught the imagination of trusted academics, marketers and  the media. The biggest  impact  for  the group however has been  the  impact of  the new vision of  its  teams
and  the  translation of  this more meaningful mindset  into actionable communications strategies on both a global and local scale.

As part of this, the Havas Media Labs team has continued to shape the vision of the group and contribute to the industry’s thought leadership using social media platforms such as YouTube and Twitter, as well as an internal education and events programme. The Lab’s work has received much attention this year notably via Umair Haque, Havas Media Labs Director who has published  two critically acclaimed books, The New Capitalist Manifesto and Betterness published via Harvard Business Review. Umair Haque was also awarded a place on  the prestigious Thinkers50 list in December.

To support this vision Havas Media has also continued to reinforce its Corporate Social Responsibility activity as a group.  

Three main projects in development are:
• An international engagement survey among the teams
• A CSR informative and collaborative intranet where all employees are invited to participate in projects’ suggestion and development
• A partnership with  the United Nations World  Food Programme, supported by a corporate matching pledge from the senior management team, to promote their special media based WeFeedBack fundraising initiative. This project will actively involve and encourage collaboration of Havas Media  teams on a global scale  to help fi ght hunger. The partnership also  incorporates our Meaningful Brands  research and analysis giving the United Nations World Food Programme access to invaluable insights and tools to help them leverage corporate support and build awareness.

Leading insight and product development, especially in digital

Havas Media’s digital product continued to increase its level of sophistication and complexity with the development of the product offering for mobile. During 2011 the network developed, managed and measured several digital, mobile and social media campaigns. As an illustration of its innovative capabilities, mobile specialist Mobext, now present in 13 markets, was recently was recognised as the best mobile agency in the US (MOBI Awards).

With Havas Digital’s operations  footprint  in place,  this past year  the network chose  to push  its product development and also  invest  in training to enhance the corresponding capabilities of its teams to use
these products.  The training includes certifi cations in Search, Artemis™ (Havas Media’s data management platform), as well as a full catalogue of training on Havas Media Competencies (Communications, Personal Improvement, Teamwork, Leadership, etc.).  Globally teams completed over
2,948 hours of training and 260 employees earned search certifi cations. Along with this base development, Havas Media furthered its product leadership in data capabilities by enhancing its industry leading tool, Artemis™ by adding social variables into the algorithms.  This gives the ability to link social sentiment of brands to other online and conversion metrics.  

Havas Media’s aim is to help marketers understand the contribution of Social Media to their overall strategy in order to maximize Social Media channel's contribution to their overall marketing efforts across Digital, Social and Offl ine media.

With a  focus on developing  leading  insight, Havas Digital  is closely working with top Business Schools: HBS, LBS, MIT & Kellogg working on data & analytics marketing research. The MIT and LBS have issued a working paper about remarketing and targeting based on Havas Digital's Artemis' data platform.

A reinforced international network

The appointment of Jorge Irizar as Director of Havas Media International will help  the network  to  further develop  its  service  to global and international clients by coordinating the efforts of theinternational service hubs. The new structure will improve service to clients, reinforce new business efforts and achieve a better profi tability in services.

Now that Havas Media has demonstrated it can handle a global client as complex as Hyundai Kia, it is focused and structured to continue pursuing and pitching for new business, presenting its insight and providing new solutions. The appointment of a global Havas Media International CEO signals the importance of coordinating all global hubs for better new business efforts.

Havas Media now has an important portfolio of global and international clients. In the latest Advertising Age report The Dots: Global Accounts Multinational Agency network assignments, MPG appears  ranked as third global media agency with more global clients.

These clients now  include AXA  Insurance, Danone, Puig, Air France, Coca Cola: Massimo Dutti, Megablocks (Megabrands), Philips, Tayrona, Santander, Adidas, BBVA, Citröen, Peugeot, EDF, KIA, Hyundai, LVMH, Orange, Procter & Gamble and SONY.

The Results speak for themselves

This  focus on  vision and  insight, digital  services and  international capabilities has undoubtedly helped Havas Media move forward. The network closed 2011 with its best awards year ever.

Across the globe its agencies have been praised with 12 Agency of the Year Awards: Cake, Arena Media Mexico, Arena Media Portugal, Arena Media Spain (twice), Havas Media Belgium, Media Contacts Philippines, Media Contacts Spain, Mobext US, MPG Mexico  (twice) and  for  the third year in a row, MPG US. At the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival, Havas Media brought home a record breaking 9 Lions. In most cases all these wins were the result of collaboration of all the brands and people within our four networks MPG, Arena Media, Havas Digital and Havas Sports & Entertainment. These outstanding successes are a testament to the Havas Media teams’ innovation and creativity, proof of its excellent
product and a refl ection of its dedication to deliver effective, market leading campaigns.