Havas moves into New Zealand market
Havas has announced its move into the New Zealand market acquiring advertising agency Mr Smith.
The announcement:
HAVAS OPENS FIRST AGENCY PRESENCE IN NEW ZEALAND VIA ACQUISITION OF MR SMITH
Innovative global network Havas has acquired leading Auckland advertising agency, Mr Smith, in a deal that sees the two Mr Smith founding partners John O’Leary and Ben Handy heading the NZ operation, which has rebranded to Havas New Zealand with immediate effect.
Havas New Zealand offers full programmatic digital media & offline media planning and implementation, brand/channel strategy, content creation and production across all platforms.
Havas New Zealand clients include Emirates, Firth, Flooring Xtra, GBC Winstone, JDE (including Moccona, L’Or Espresso, Bell Tea, Jed’s and Hummingbird Coffee, TiOra), Les Mills International, 100% Appliances, Philips Lighting, Simx and Southern Cross Hospitals.
Mr Smith’s existing client base will take full advantage of Havas’ dynamic, integrated offering and its global network of expertise and unrivalled access to some of the world’s biggest media and entertainment companies through strategic global partnerships. Key partners include Vivendi, Universal Music, StudioCanal and Daily Motion,
“Havas is a forward thinking, content-inspired company whose beliefs align strongly with ours’, says O’Leary, who becomes the newly anointed CEO of the Auckland office. O’Leary adds: “In Europe and the US, Havas clients are having conversations with agency heads, asking for a better agency/client model where all services are provided within a single office, with content at the core. Clients have worked through a decade of the segregated agency supplier model, which can often create brand disjointedness and consumer disconnection and they want something to fix their brand issue.”
Handy, who has been appointed Havas New Zealand’s new Chief Creative Officer said:” Throughout a number of global markets, Havas is creating ‘Havas Villages’, offices that house all the talent a modern brand needs.. This includes teams of strategists, media and content producers truly collaborating, with no agendas, across multiple channels. We have seen Havas clients successfully get connected and cohesive brand collusion using this model rather than the fractured process and work that you see across multiple platforms now.”
Havas New Zealand will report into the Havas Australia Executive Leadership team of Mike Wilson, James Wright and Anthony Gregorio. Havas New Zealand will continue to be based on High Street in Auckland. For more information, head to www.havas.co.nz.
Source: Media release
