The Vivendi Group comprises Havas, Universal Music Group and Game loft. The group was formed when the Bolloré family expanded their holding in Havas to create a true communication and entertainment conglomerate.
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The Vivendi Group is the only one of its kind. With expertisespanning specialities from TV channels to music to media buying to gaming and advertising. Havas is the smallest, and we like to think quirkiest, of the global networks. Maybe it’s something to do with being French. Or maybe it’s the creation of Havas “villages” which are hubs containing our PR, media, strategy and creative all under one roof, we aren’t sure, but we do know that we tend to do things differently.
The team is led by Lynn Madeley, the CEO of Havas Southern Africa, who has been with the agency for 12 years. She believes that trust is integral to building good long-termrelationships. This trust must (as a certain asset manager sometimes mentions) be earned, it is this trust that enables honest interactions between agency and client. This honesty is what enables a genuinely fruitful working relationship where real solutions to business challenges and opportunities can be created and implemented. Without it, achieving real and measurable results is unlikely, so this “deep care” is integral to how accounts at the agency are run.
John Davenport heads the creative team, with executive creative director Fiona O’Connorjoining after 14 years at Ireland/Davenport. The creative department is on the up, having won a Gold Loerie for OOH at the 2019 Loeries and a Cannes Lion the previous year. Davenport places particular emphasis on the importance of the “village” idea, saying “real integration (not the fake kind that gets trotted out all too often) only happens when people from different areas of specialisation sit in the same building. Ideally at the same table”.
He says this is what gives Havas a unique selling proposition because “very few agencies have everything from PR to media sitting together in one space where people can bounce an idea off someone without having to leave their seat. And nobody has access to a huge music company such as Universal or a cutting-edge gaming company like Gameloft”. Strategy at Havas is built around the “meaningful brands” methodology, which measures the strength and solidity of a brand’s connection to consumers. It has shown that if almost 75% of brands disappeared, consumers wouldn’t really notice, and seeks to help the brands Havas works with become part of the 25% of brands consumers are strongly engaged with.
The meaningful brands study works with the SA initiative In Real Life to dig down into how consumers really feel about subjects ranging from the environment to sex, gender, work and family. In Real Life uses face-to-face interviews to find out how consumers feel, rather than skimming off the surface insights that are too often collected. PR is integral to every campaign produced by Havas, and the award-winning unit is headed by Larry Khumalo. PR is often used to lead a campaign rather than an “add- on” to the work, and is structured to dovetail with social media as PR and social media are, in many ways, interesting bedfellows. At the core of the PR approach is the drive to always place the brands and businesses the team works on at the heart of cultural shifts. Gameloft is one of the world’s leading game developers. The company develops games specifically aimed at the mobile phone market, so is positioned right at the coal face of interaction between consumers, brands and cellular.
Everyday over 1-million Gameloft games such as As phaltand March of Empires are downloaded by consumers, yielding fantastic branding and engagement. Universal Music Group (UMG) was referred to by Fast Company magazine as the most innovative music company and one of the Top 50 most innovative companies in the world, saying that “amid the music industry’s digital transformation, Universal is redefining what a modern label should look like”. UMG has licensing agreements with more than 400 platforms worldwide, and locally represents artists including Black Coffee, Nasty C, Lady Zamar and Spikiri.
Sipho Dhlamini heads UMG for Southern Africa and has led the company’s transformation over the past few years. The company now has an integrated social media and sponsorship offering that affords clients unique opportunities to engage with consumers. Subsidiaries such as UMG Live offer talent and artist management, and the fact that UMG raked in 13SA Music Awards at this year’s ceremony shows that it is SA’s leading record company. The Vivendi group’s genuinely integrated offering provides clients with a unique opportunity to engage in a meaningful manner with consumers. Perhaps Madeley puts this best by saying: “The nature of the Vivendi group enables each of these businesses to learn from and inspire each other. “The fact that we share one bottom line means that real integration happens and that advertising, entertainment and gaming work together to build your brand and sell your product in away that nobody else can.”
HAVAS
HAVAS 2019 AdFocus Corporate Profile
The Vivendi Group comprises Havas, Universal Music Group and Game loft. The group was formed when the Bolloré family expanded their holding in Havas to create a true communication and entertainment conglomerate.
The Vivendi Group is the only one of its kind. With expertisespanning specialities from TV channels to music to media buying to gaming and advertising. Havas is the smallest, and we like to think quirkiest, of the global networks. Maybe it’s something to do with being French. Or maybe it’s the creation of Havas “villages” which are hubs containing our PR, media, strategy and creative all under one roof, we aren’t sure, but we do know that we tend to do things differently.
The team is led by Lynn Madeley, the CEO of Havas Southern Africa, who has been with the agency for 12 years. She believes that trust is integral to building good long-termrelationships. This trust must (as a certain asset manager sometimes mentions) be earned, it is this trust that enables honest interactions between agency and client. This honesty is what enables a genuinely fruitful working relationship where real solutions to business challenges and opportunities can be created and implemented. Without it, achieving real and measurable results is unlikely, so this “deep care” is integral to how accounts at the agency are run.
John Davenport heads the creative team, with executive creative director Fiona O’Connorjoining after 14 years at Ireland/Davenport. The creative department is on the up, having won a Gold Loerie for OOH at the 2019 Loeries and a Cannes Lion the previous year. Davenport places particular emphasis on the importance of the “village” idea, saying “real integration (not the fake kind that gets trotted out all too often) only happens when people from different areas of specialisation sit in the same building. Ideally at the same table”.
He says this is what gives Havas a unique selling proposition because “very few agencies have everything from PR to media sitting together in one space where people can bounce an idea off someone without having to leave their seat. And nobody has access to a huge music company such as Universal or a cutting-edge gaming company like Gameloft”. Strategy at Havas is built around the “meaningful brands” methodology, which measures the strength and solidity of a brand’s connection to consumers. It has shown that if almost 75% of brands disappeared, consumers wouldn’t really notice, and seeks to help the brands Havas works with become part of the 25% of brands consumers are strongly engaged with.
The meaningful brands study works with the SA initiative In Real Life to dig down into how consumers really feel about subjects ranging from the environment to sex, gender, work and family. In Real Life uses face-to-face interviews to find out how consumers feel, rather than skimming off the surface insights that are too often collected. PR is integral to every campaign produced by Havas, and the award-winning unit is headed by Larry Khumalo. PR is often used to lead a campaign rather than an “add- on” to the work, and is structured to dovetail with social media as PR and social media are, in many ways, interesting bedfellows. At the core of the PR approach is the drive to always place the brands and businesses the team works on at the heart of cultural shifts. Gameloft is one of the world’s leading game developers. The company develops games specifically aimed at the mobile phone market, so is positioned right at the coal face of interaction between consumers, brands and cellular.
Everyday over 1-million Gameloft games such as As phaltand March of Empires are downloaded by consumers, yielding fantastic branding and engagement. Universal Music Group (UMG) was referred to by Fast Company magazine as the most innovative music company and one of the Top 50 most innovative companies in the world, saying that “amid the music industry’s digital transformation, Universal is redefining what a modern label should look like”. UMG has licensing agreements with more than 400 platforms worldwide, and locally represents artists including Black Coffee, Nasty C, Lady Zamar and Spikiri.
Sipho Dhlamini heads UMG for Southern Africa and has led the company’s transformation over the past few years. The company now has an integrated social media and sponsorship offering that affords clients unique opportunities to engage with consumers. Subsidiaries such as UMG Live offer talent and artist management, and the fact that UMG raked in 13SA Music Awards at this year’s ceremony shows that it is SA’s leading record company. The Vivendi group’s genuinely integrated offering provides clients with a unique opportunity to engage in a meaningful manner with consumers. Perhaps Madeley puts this best by saying: “The nature of the Vivendi group enables each of these businesses to learn from and inspire each other. “The fact that we share one bottom line means that real integration happens and that advertising, entertainment and gaming work together to build your brand and sell your product in away that nobody else can.”