From today, Havas will become a (literally) united front, with Havas Creative Group and Havas Media Group no longer existing as divisions, but uniting under one regional P&L. With this change, Havas Media Group's global managing director and UK/France chairman Dominique Delport has been appointed global managing director and chief client officer for the newly formed Havas Group. Delport will oversee global client relationships, marketing initiatives and new business. The move is reportedly the result of the implementation of a centralised management of the group's largest markets where chairmen were appointed at a group level: Chris Hirst for the UK, Alfonso Rodés for Spain and global chief executive Yannick Bolloré for France and the US. The group is also adding two new chairmen roles to optimise its structure and offering in Latin America and Asia Pacific. Mike Amour, presently chief executive Asia-Pacific for the Havas Creative Group, is appointed chief executive for Asia-Pacific across the creative and media businesses. He will be responsible for overseeing all of Havas Group's 79 offices in the region. Jorge Percovich, meanwhile, presently chief executive Latin America Havas Media Group, is likewise appointed chief executive Latin America for the combined group.
Yannick Bolloré
Yannick Bolloré, said: “As the world moves faster and grows more complex, we believe we need to transcend traditional definition of 'creative' and 'media' to better deliver for our clients. The appointments of Dominique, Jorge and Mike will ensure we create the most modern approach to developing solutions, regardless of where the thinking begins. They will enable us to better share talent and resources on behalf of our clients, as well as create cross-channel learning and development opportunities for our people.” Dominique Delport, added: “For four years now, the #together strategy has been transformative for our clients and our people in every Havas village. Now it's all about extending Yannick's vision by reinventing new standards, new offers, new services that blend the best of both worlds: relentless creativity and smart media accountability.”
Dominique Delport
The consolidation doesn't end there either, as the Havas #together strategy will also extend to its assorted global healthcare agencies, which it will be bringing together into a single network called Havas Health & You. The move is designed to better position the company to drive growth within the estimated $3.7 trillion wellness market. Specifically the consolidation will bring together the firm’s health-related B2B specialist shops that are part of Havas Health (Havas Life, Health4Brands (H4B), Havas Lynx and Havas Life PR), with the consumer health businesses and practices housed within individual agencies that are part of the Havas Creative Group. The move reorganises some 4,000 staffers around the world under the Havas Health & You umbrella.
Donna Murphy
The new entity will be overseen by Havas Health veteran Donna Murphy as CEO. Murphy, previously CEO of Havas Health, is based in New York and will continue to report to Bolloré, CEO, Havas Group. With her promotion, Murphy also joins the holding company’s executive committee. She said: “It has been my vision for many years to expand our scope from merely ‘health’ to the growing realm of ‘health and wellness, of healthy lifestyles. Our new broader remit, a next generation humanistic name and mission will enable us to deliver even more fully on our promise to clients to execute end-to-end marketing programs with paid, earned and owned media solutions to create even more opportunities for them.”
