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Tag: Yannick Bolloré

  • Havas Group to open its first virtual village in metaverse

    Havas Group to open its first virtual village in metaverse

    Mumbai: Havas Group has bought a plot of virtual land in ‘The Sandbox’ video game where it plans to inaugurate its first virtual village. The new Havas village is scheduled to open to public access in ‘The Sandbox’ at the end of April.

    The group, which is physically present in over 100 countries and 68 villages, will add its 69th virtual village. The group plans to use rich programming, exclusive content, connected animation and gamification to organise conferences, events, concerts, client presentations, product launches and more.

    Last year, the group launched ‘Metaverse by Havas’ – a new consulting, creative and media offering, dedicated to brands that, in the metaverse, see opportunities to reinvent branding, storytelling, experience, audience targeting and revenue generation.

    The new virtual village will also include a recruitment service, a first in the field of human resources. “Over the medium-term, this virtual and immersive dimension will significantly enrich the employee experience, including the onboarding process,” said the statement.

    “Building a Havas village in the metaverse will help brands launch successfully into this new virtual adventure and join forces to build a positive image, a meaningful reputation, and a powerful connection with gamer-consumers,” the statement added.

    “The metaverse provides a wealth of new media and new opportunities for the communications sector and for brands,” said Havas Group chairman and CEO Yannick Bolloré. “Whether the aim is to create original and meaningful experiences, reach out to new target audiences, or simply reinforce an existing bond, the possibilities are practically endless. Havas Group can count on a cutting-edge team of metaverse experts to lead this new venture and expertly guide brands into and around these virtual worlds. Our new Havas village will be a ‘meta-flagship’ for the group, drawing all our engaged communities together in an enriched extension of our bricks-and-mortar villages.”

    “With Havas now a player in The Sandbox, we are banking on the metaverse because we are convinced of its potential in terms of accessing creative and innovative profiles, with highly sought-after skills ranging from tech to data,” said Havas Group global chief HR officer Céline Merle-Beral. “In doing so, the Group is enhancing its employer brand, offering an enriched candidate experience, and breaking new ground in our campus management strategy. The metaverse is a fantastic opportunity for us to attract tomorrow’s top talent.”

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  • Havas Group acquires digital agency Langoor

    Havas Group acquires digital agency Langoor

    MUMBAI: Havas Group today announced the acquisition of one of India’s leading independent agencies – Langoor. A full-service digital agency led and driven by creative technologists, Langoor has grown steadily since being founded in 2010, and is now present across India, the Middle East and Australia.

    Its team of 170 specialists provide meaningful digital experiences and connections to MNCs, local brands and start-ups across strategy, online marketing, website planning and development, data analytics, marketing automation, e-commerce and SEO.

    Langoor will be rebranded as Langoor Havas and be led by its co-founder – Venugopal Ganganna – who will take on the newly-created position of chief digital officer, Havas Group India, reporting to Rana Barua – Group CEO, Havas Group India.

    Langoor Havas will have three key focus areas – health, business and vernacular – and will expand these services to markets outside of India in the coming months.

    Havas Group Chairman and CEO Yannick Bolloré comments: “Digital business is booming in India and bringing Langoor on board is an important new step to further strengthening our digital skills locally. Through their unique blend of data, creativity and technology, Langoor enables brands to engage their customers meaningfully and drive growth. Earlier this year, we acquired the leader in user experience and digital design in India, Think Design, making Langoor our second acquisition in the country in 2019. The combined expertise of Think Design and Langoor boost Havas’ digital offer in the world’s fastest-growing ad market. India continues to be a priority for the Group, we aim to triple our presence there by the end of 2019 and have put in place a solid new management team to lead this expansion.”

    “The acquisition of Langoor complements our aggressive growth strategy that we started last year with the creation of Havas Village India that brought together different disciplines under a unified, client-centric leadership structure. Langoor adds an enviable strength to Havas Group with its distinctive approach of Creative Technologists who challenge marketing every day with their expertise in balancing, data, technology, strategic thinking and the power of creative,” said Havas Group India & South East Asia chairman & CEO Vishnu Mohan

    “The Langoor acquisition also demonstrates Havas Group’s commitment to expand its scale and expertise in India with a focus on exponential growth, new business momentum, and building & leading future-ready teams. The acquisition will reinforce our integrated offering and digital expertise in India and complement our existing capabilities,” added Havas Group India CEO Rana Barua.

    “We pride ourselves in having created an agency focused on digital brand thinking – which is the future. The integration with Havas Group will add scale to the depth of our services and help us to grow even further. This acquisition is an incredible opportunity for Langoor and the team and we are excited to be part of this new journey towards further success,” said Langoor co-founders Ruchir Punjabi & Venu Ganganna.

  • 77% consumers buy brands with similar values

    77% consumers buy brands with similar values

    MUMBAI: Havas Group in its Meaningful Brands 2019 report has revealed that a staggering 77 per cent of brands could disappear and no-one would care.  Not only is this the highest percentage since Meaningful Brands® research began in 2008, this is a major three-point hike on the Meaningful Brands 2019 results.

    Meaningful Brands is a a far-reaching, global study created by Havas Group of 1800 brands, in 31 countries, with 350,000 respondents, and which links brand performance to quality of life and wellbeing.

    The report also notes that brands, which are meaningful and viewed as making the world a better place, are outperforming the stock market by 134 per cent and seeing their share of wallet multiply by 9. These brands also lock-in greater returns on KPIs, like 24 points more for purchase intent and 39 points for advocacy.

    “Amid political turmoil, consumers are using their buying power to make a stand. 55 per cent of consumers believe brands actually have a more important role than our governments to create a better future. Buying today is a political act, and the power of consumers to impact change is greater than ever,” reads the report.

    Havas Group chief insights officer and Vivendi SVP brand marketing Maria Garrido noted, “There is no doubt about it. Being meaningful is good for business! Our findings show that consumers will reward brands who want to make the world a better place and who reflect their values. A massive 77 per cent of consumers prefer to buy from companies who share their values. Brand activism will become a crucial part of a brand’s strategy.”

    Havas Group chairman and CEO Yannick Bolloré commented, “Meaningful Brands 2019 reveals that meaningful brands outperform the stock market by 134 per cent. Brands really need to meaningfully engage with their audience to drive business.”

    The report also noted that there is a 72 per cent correlation between content effectiveness and a brand’s impact on personal wellbeing. However, the content from brands is falling massively short of consumer expectations. It states, “While 90 per cent of consumers expect brands to provide content, more than half the content from brands is not meaningful to consumers, drowned out by content noise, including 473 000 tweets sent and 4 million videos watched on YouTube, every minute.”

    Vivendi Brand Marketing global director of meaningful insights Barbara Marx warned “Brands are missing out on real opportunities to create content that cuts through the clutter and connects to better engage with audiences through entertainment, events and other content-led activations. 58 per cent of content created by the world’s leading 1800 brands is poor, irrelevant and fails to deliver. It’s simply not meaningful to consumers.”

    The report also revealed the names of top ten performing Meaningful Brands as Google, PayPal, Mercedes-Benz, WhatsApp, YouTube, Johnson & Johnson, Gillette, BMW, Microsoft, and Danone.

    Retail, electronics, and food were named as the top three most meaningful industries for Western Europe. Compared to food, automotive and transport for Eastern Europe and consumer goods, food and entertainment for North America.