Havas Creative

Havas Creative
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryAdvertising
Founded1991; 33 years ago (1991)
HeadquartersNew York City (HQ), 316 Offices worldwide
Key people
Yannick Bolloré (Global CEO)[1]
ProductsAdvertising & Marketing
Number of employees
11,000
ParentHavas

Havas Creative, formerly known as Havas Worldwide and Euro RSCG, is a French advertising agency. It is one of the largest integrated marketing communications agencies in the world, made up of 316 offices located in 75 countries.[2][3] The firm provides advertising, marketing, and corporate communications services.

In 2010, Advertising Age listed the firm, (then called Euro RSCG), as having more global assignments than any other network for the fifth consecutive year, making the agency the world's largest network by global accounts.[4] Headquartered in New York, Havas Creative is the largest unit of Havas (Euronext Paris SA: HAV.PA), the fifth largest communications group in the world, behind Omnicom, WPP, Interpublic, and Publicis.

Corporate history

In 1970, Bernard Roux and Jacques Séguéla established an agency called Roux Séguéla. In 1972, Alain Cayzac joined Roux Séguéla, and the company became Roux Séguéla Cayzac.

In 1975, Havas Conseil reconstituted as a Eurocom holding company.

In 1976, Roux Séguéla Cayzac merged with Jean-Michel Goudard to form RSCG; each letter in RSCG corresponds to the name of each of their founders: Roux, Séguela, Cayzac, and Goudard.

In 1991, Eurocom S.A. acquired RSCG to form Euro RSCG. In 1997, Euro RSCG Worldwide moved its headquarters from Paris to New York; American executive Bob Schmetterer was named chairman and CEO.

In 2001, the company acquired a minority stake in UK financial public relations firm, The Maitland Consultancy.[5]

In 2012, the firm, having by then been acquired by Paris, France-based advertising and public relations company Havas, was rebranded as Havas Worldwide.[6]

In March 2022, Havas announced the acquisition of Front Networks, an independent creative agency focusing on social and digital marketing in China.[7]

Leadership

In 2014, Havas Group Chairman Yannick Bolloré also became Global CEO of Havas, and Andrew Benett was named Global CEO of Havas Worldwide.[8]

Previous CEO David Jones was named CEO of the firm, then named Euro RSCG Worldwide, in 2005.[9] He also became Global CEO of parent company Havas in 2011.[10]

Mercedes Erra (Managing Director, Havas) is the executive president of Havas Worldwide, and credited with the company's Evian campaign "Roller Babies," which made headlines and a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records for receiving over 75 million views.[11]

Key clients

Havas Worldwide works with 78 of the 100 largest global advertisers including Camel Cigarettes, Natural American Spirit, Grizzly Snuff, Vuse, Air France, Citigroup, Danone Group, IBM, Lacoste, LVMH, Merck, Mondelēz International, Pernod Ricard, Reckitt Benckiser, Sanofi, The Humane Society of the United States, and Unilever.[4]

Divisions

The firm consists of four divisions:

  • Havas Worldwide (Strategy, Creative, Production Automation & Implementation)
  • Havas Worldwide Digital (Digital, Direct, Data & Analytics, CRM, Promotions, Channel Management, Motivation & Education)
  • Havas PR (Public Relations, Corporate Communications, Internal Communications, and Corporate Identity)
  • Arnold Worldwide, an American advertising agency

Controversies

In July 2019, the firm created an advertisement for a Singaporean media company. In the ad, Mediacorp actor and deejay Dennis Chew, who is Chinese, appeared in "brownface" - the act of darkening one's fair skin to mimic that of another race — as an Indian character and as a Malay woman wearing a headscarf. The ad sparked backlash online and Havas worldwide apologized subsequently.[12]

References

  1. ^ Stein, Lindsay (30 January 2017). "Havas Creative Global CEO Andrew Benett Steps Down". Advertising Age. Crain Communications, Inc. Archived from the original on 25 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  2. ^ "Havas Doubles Down On, Well, Havas". Mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com. 24 September 2012. Archived from the original on 24 September 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  3. ^ "Integration on offer as Havas rebrands Euro RSCG Worldwide network to Havas Worldwide". Campaign Brief Asia. 25 September 2012. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  4. ^ a b "Agency Report 2012 Index". Ad Age. 30 April 2012. Archived from the original on 25 October 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  5. ^ "Havas buys into UK financial PR agency Maitland". Campaignlive.co.uk. 31 January 2001. Archived from the original on 17 November 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  6. ^ Hall, Emma (1 March 2012). "Havas Drops Euro RSCG Brand Name, Adds Havas Digital". Ad Age. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  7. ^ "Havas Group Acquires Digital Marketing Agency Front Networks in China | LBBOnline". www.lbbonline.com. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  8. ^ "Havas Global CEO David Jones Leaves to Launch Tech Startup". Adage.com. 8 January 2014. Archived from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  9. ^ "Havas Chief Talks Outsize Game, Takes on Ad Giants". Adage.com. 14 March 2011. Archived from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  10. ^ "Bill Clinton Stars at One Young World Conference". Blogs.wsj.com. 19 October 2012. Archived from the original on 3 October 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  11. ^ Lu Stout, Christie (23 August 2012). "The brains behind the most viral ad ever". Cnn.com. Archived from the original on 1 November 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  12. ^ "Havas issues new apology over E-Pay 'brownface' ad: 'We regret if anyone has been offended' - CNA". Archived from the original on 1 August 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.