Havas Creative, formerly known as Havas Worldwide and Euro RSCG, is a French advertising agency. It is one of the largest
integrated marketing
Marketing Communications (MC, marcom(s), marcomm(s) or just simply communications) refers to the use of different marketing channels and tools in combination.Tomse, & Snoj, 2014 Marketing communication channels focus on how businesses communicate ...
communications agencies in the world, made up of 316 offices located in 75 countries.
The firm provides advertising, marketing, and corporate communications services.
In 2010, ''
Advertising Age
''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in mul ...
'' 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.
Headquartered in New York, Havas Worldwide is the largest unit of
Havas (Euronext Paris SA: HAV.PA), the fifth largest communications group in the world, behind
Omnicom
Omnicom Group Inc. is an American global media, marketing and corporate communications holding company, headquartered in New York City.
Omnicom's branded networks and specialty firms provide services in four disciplines: advertising, customer re ...
,
WPP,
Interpublic, and
Publicis.
Corporate history
In 1970, Bernard Roux and Jacques Séguéla established an agency called Roux Séguéla. In 1972,
Alain Cayzac
Alain Cayzac, born in Évreux, Eure on 2 June 1941 is a French advertising agent and was the president of the Paris Saint-Germain Football Club between June 2006 and April 2008.
A graduate of HEC Paris, Alain Cayzac began his career as an adver ...
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
Jean-Michel Goudard (13 November 1939 – 6 November 2020) was a French Public relations consultant, who was the President and Chairman of the board of BBDO Paris.
Biography
Goudard was born in Montpellier, France
France (), offi ...
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
Bob Schmetterer (born November 23, 1943) is an American business executive and author. He is past chairman and CEO of Euro RSCG Worldwide and past president and COO of communications group Havas.
Background
Born in New York City, Schmettere ...
was named chairman and
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
.
In 2001, the company acquired a minority stake in UK financial public relations firm, The Maitland Consultancy.
In 2012, the firm, having by then been acquired by Paris, France-based advertising and public relations company Havas, was rebranded as Havas Worldwide.
In March 2022, Havas announced the acquisition of Front Networks, an independent creative agency focusing on social and digital marketing in China.
Leadership
In 2014, Havas Group Chairman
Yannick Bolloré also became Global CEO of Havas, and Andrew Benett was named Global CEO of Havas Worldwide.
Previous CEO
David Jones was named CEO of the firm, then named Euro RSCG Worldwide, in 2005.
He also became Global CEO of parent company Havas in 2011.
Mercedes Erra (Managing Director, Havas) is the executive president of Havas Worldwide, and credited with the company's
Evian
Evian ( , ; , stylized as evian) is a French company that bottles and commercialises mineral water from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva. It produces over 2 billion plastic bottles per year.
Today, Evia ...
campaign "Roller Babies," which made headlines and a mention in the ''
Guinness Book of World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
'' for receiving over 75 million views.
Key clients
Havas Worldwide works with 78 of the 100 largest global advertisers including
Camel Cigarettes,
Natural American Spirit, Grizzly Snuff,
Vuse
Vuse is an electronic cigarette produced by R. J. Reynolds Vapor Company, a subsidiary of the Reynolds American tobacco company. In 2015, it was the most popular e-cigarette in the United States with 33% market share in Nielsen-tracked channels ...
,
Air France
Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...
,
Citigroup
Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking ...
, Danone Group,
IBM,
Lacoste
Lacoste S.A. is a French company, founded in 1933 by tennis player René Lacoste, and entrepreneur Mangkha. It sells clothing, footwear, sportswear, eyewear, leather goods, perfume, towels and watches. The company can be recognised by its gree ...
,
LVMH
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (), commonly known as LVMH, is a French holding multinational corporation and conglomerate specializing in luxury goods, headquartered in Paris. The company was formed in 1987 through the merger of fashion house ...
,
Merck
Merck refers primarily to the German Merck family and three companies founded by the family, including:
* the Merck Group, a German chemical, pharmaceutical and life sciences company founded in 1668
** Merck Serono (known as EMD Serono in the Unite ...
,
Mondelēz International
Mondelez International, Inc. ( ), often styled Mondelēz, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational confectionery, food industry, food, holding and drink industry, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an ...
,
Pernod Ricard
Pernod Ricard () is a French company best known for its anise-flavoured pastis apéritifs Pernod Anise and Ricard Pastis (often referred to simply as ''Pernod'' or ''Ricard''). The world’s second-largest wine and spirits seller, it also produ ...
,
Reckitt Benckiser
Reckitt Benckiser Group plc, trading as Reckitt, is a British multinational consumer goods company headquartered in Slough, England. It is a producer of health, hygiene and nutrition products. The company was formed in March 1999 by the merg ...
,
Sanofi,
The Humane Society of the United States
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is an American nonprofit organization that focuses on animal welfare and opposes animal-related cruelties of national scope. It uses strategies that are beyond the abilities of local organizations. ...
, and
Unilever
Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...
.
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
Brownface is a social phenomenon in which a white or light-skinned person attempts to portray themselves as a "brown" person of color, but less overtly and with a lighter complexion than traditional blackface. This may include mimicry of Middle ...
" - 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.
References
External links
"Havas Doubles Down On, Well, Havas" New York Times, 9/24/2012
{{Vivendi
Advertising agencies of the United States
Advertising agencies of France
Companies based in New York City
Creative
Creative may refer to:
*Creativity, phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is created
* "Creative" (song), a 2008 song by Leon Jackson
* Creative class, a proposed socioeconomic class
* Creative destruction, an economic term
* Creative dir ...