Mercedes Erra is a French business woman who was born 23 September 1954 in

Sabadell Sabadell () is a city in Catalonia, Spain. It is in the south of the ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental and its joint capital (co-capital), on the River Ripoll, north of Barcelona. Sabadell is located above sea level. Sabadell pioneered the Ind ...

. She is the Executive President of Havas Worldwide (formerly Euro RSCG Worldwide), Co-Founder of

BETC BETC is a French advertising agency founded in Paris in 1995. The name of the company stands for Babinet, Erra and Tong Cuong, the founding members. The agency notably designed campaigns for clients such as Air France, Evian, Lacoste and Canal+, ...

, and Managing Director of

Havas Havas SA is a French multinational advertising and public relations company, headquartered in Paris, France. It operates in more than 100 countries and is one of the largest advertising and communications groups in the world. Havas consists of ...

. Mercedes Erra is an expert and specialist in branding and communication building. She is famous for working on different subjects and inspiring new ways of communication for brands such as health for

Danone Danone S.A. () is a French multinational corporation, multinational food-products corporation based in Paris. It was founded in Barcelona, Spain. It is listed on Euronext Paris where it is a component of the CAC 40 stock market index. Some of t ...

, young for

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 ...

, or the vision of

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 ...

. Her "Roller Babies" campaign for Evian (played to the song

Rapper's Delight "Rapper's Delight" is a 1979 hip-hop track by the Sugarhill Gang, produced by Sylvia Robinson. Although it was shortly preceded by the Fatback Band's "King Tim III (Personality Jock)", "Rapper's Delight" is credited for introducing hip-hop mus ...

) made the

Guinness Book of 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 being viewed over 75 million times. The agency she co-founded, BETC Euro RSCG, has, in 15 years, become the first French agency and the second most creative in the world (Gunn Report January 2011). Mercedes considers herself a feminist.

Biography

Born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, she moved to France at age six. She studied at

HEC Paris HEC Paris (french: École des hautes études commerciales de Paris) is a business school, and one of the most prestigious and selective grandes écoles, located in Jouy-en-Josas, France. HEC offers Master in Management, MSc International Fi ...

(Promotion 1981).

Career

Starting as an intern at

Saatchi & Saatchi Saatchi & Saatchi is a British multinational communications and advertising agency network with 114 offices in 76 countries and over 6,500 staff. It was founded in 1970 and is currently headquartered in London. The parent company of the agency gr ...

in 1981, she successively became Advertising Chief, Client Manager, Deputy General Manager and finally became in 1990 General Director of

Advertising until 1995. She is the "E" of

(Babinet Erra Tong Cuong). Erra is an advocate for women's leadership. Co-founder of the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society, she is also committed to serving

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

and the ELLE Foundation. She is an active member of the French Committee of

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

, and permanent member of the French commission on Women's image through media. Mercedes Erra was chairman of the French version of the Advertising Association between 2002 and 2004 In March 2012, Erra was named to the board of directors of the Art Media Society.

References

External links

BETC website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erra, Mercedes 1954 births French advertising executives Living people HEC Paris alumni French chief executives 20th-century French businesswomen 20th-century French businesspeople French people of Catalan descent Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 21st-century French businesswomen 21st-century French businesspeople

Biography

Career

See also

References

External links