Havas Melbourne moves towards integrated approach appointing Matt Houltham as MD
New Havas Melbourne MD Matt Houltham and COO James Wright
The Havas Group in Melbourne has dropped the ‘Worldwide’ and ‘Media’ monikers from the titles of its various agencies as it moves to create a more integrated ‘Village’ offering in the office.
It has also appointed Matt Houltham from Naked New York as its new managing director to lead the new group.
The announcement:
Havas has today announced the appointment of Naked New York MD, Matt Houltham as its new Group Managing Director to lead a combined integrated Village offering in Melbourne.
Matt’s appointment will see Havas drop its Worldwide and Media branding to become Havas Melbourne, making it the first Havas operation in APAC to operate as a single P&L combining creative, media, digital and employer brand. Havas Melbourne will be supported by PR, with Havas-owned Red Agency operating from the same office.
Havas aims to be the most integrated global marketing and communications Group worldwide. The move signals a major strategic shift for HavasMelbourne and fully embraces the Group’s Village strategy to aggressively integrate creative, digital, PR and media to provide more effective and efficient solutions for clients.
Matt joins the Havas Melbourne team on 27 January 2016. He will report directly to Group COO James Wright, and also work alongside Havas Creative Group CEO Anthony Gregorio and Havas Media CEO Mike Wilson, who he previously worked for as the MD of Naked in Melbourne.
James Wright, Group COO of Havas Australia, said, “Our focus for the Havas Village is to excel at creating meaningful connections between people and brands through creativity, media and innovation.”
“Matt will help us integrate each discipline to make us more nimble and agile to the market, uniting some of the best minds in Melbourne to create ruthlessly effective campaigns for clients. It’s no small feat to lure Matt away from the bright lights of New York but we’re thrilled to be bringing such as well-respected and experienced talent back to Melbourne to help us deliver on some of our exciting plans for 2016 and beyond.”
Matt Houltham, new Managing Director of Havas Melbourne said, “It’s great to be coming home to work alongside some of the best in the business, even the idea of working with Mike Wilson again didn’t put me off. The industry is evolving and we need to put client and consumer needs above siloed business units to create programs that drive growth for brand. I’m looking forward to bringing our Melbourne teams together to drive our business forward in 2016.”
Matt steps into the role with more than 14 years leadership experience from some of the biggest advertising and media agency names. Most recently, Matt was Managing Director of Naked Communications in New York where he transformed the business into a strategy-led creative agency. Prior to this he held a number of leadership roles at Naked Communications in Australia, ZenithOptimedia and Mojo and Publicis Digital.
Havas Melbourne works with clients including Coles, Danone, Mercedes-Benz, Warrnambool and Telstra.
Source: Red Agency press release
A fantastic win for Havas, Matt is a fantastic talent and it’s great to have him back in Melbourne.
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Awesome. Congratulations Matt. And welcome home!
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Congratulations Matt and awesome move Havas!
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