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Havas Group has today announced the launch of its innovative new specialist digital performance unit - Ecselis.

With digital performance media at its core, the Ecselis offering will span Paid Search, SEO, Performance Display, Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO), Affiliate Marketing and Dynamic Creative Optimisation (DCO). It will bring together media, technology, creative and data to activate bespoke multi-channel performance products that will deliver targeted solutions for the Group’s clients, with a specialist team of over 60 in the UK, both operations and account services.

The UK team will be led by Ian Thomson, who will take on the role of Head of Ecselis UK. He will be joined by Tom Johnson, Head of Product & Development, and Suzie Rafla, Head of Performance Operations.

Thomson will manage senior client relations, driving strategic direction for new and existing clients, while also leading the specialist account team. Johnson will work on forming tech partnerships, building integration, creating ROI-focused media solutions and new business development, while Rafla will lead and develop the team of performance specialists and will be responsible for all performance media within the Group.

In response to client demands to push the boundary of performance media, Ecselis’ proposition - “Passionate about Performance” - will see the brand’s services sit under one umbrella which combines paid media with onsite performance enhancement, data usage and analysis as well as creative production and strategy.

The new unit will also be able to call on the expertise and specialist skills of Ecselis’ global network, which was launched in 2014, and now has over 320 specialists in 38 markets.

Paul Frampton, Group Managing Director, Havas Media Group UK, commented: “Ecselis will tackle the two biggest challenges in performance right now: being channel agnostic and ensuring that message and medium are fully intertwined. In this real-time era, our clients require specialist expertise across their digital performance channels and I believe that Ecselis will revolutionise performance practices and enable clients to achieve, if not exceed, their business goals. It is another example of our #HavasTogether strategy to connect areas that are in danger of becoming siloed.”

Instead of managing channel-by-channel efficiencies (CPA), Ecselis’ approach is to start with business goals and shape channel plans around them. This includes managing CPA upwards to drive performance against real business goals, such as profitability, new customers and lifetime value.

Ecselis was created following the success of performance work at Arena Media, which has already been delivering this work for clients such as AXA, Three Mobile and AMEX. In addition, Ecselis will be working closely with HMG’s DBi, utilising their analytical prowess delivered for the likes of Sky & Rackspace to enhance media performance and go beyond ad only media delivery.