Financial Mail Page 90-91 -2017-10-23 02:09:15 PM

90 - AdFocus 2017 AdFocus 2017 - 91

This year, there’s a new story to

tell at Havas. The agency took along, hard look at itself andrealized it was becoming the agedaunt – reliable and honest - butnot going to set the Africanadvertising scene alight.

In a world that is unpredictableand changing with more speedthan ever before, some companiesmay think being an aged auntwould be a good thing. Not theleadership team at Havas. WhatHavas realised was that it has allthe tools, capability and IP toreally help clients set theircommunications up for successtoday and in the future. Theresulting shorthand that theagency now uses to describe itspurpose is ‘Fluent in Tomorrow’.But it’s not a buzz phrase, saysCEO Lynn Madeley. “We stand forhelping our clients and ourselvesbe future first and future fit ineverything we do.”

As such, and with the group’sglobal research, Madeley andteam understand that what clientsneed most from their agenciesright now, especially in SouthAfrica, is guidance on how, withthe world’s current dizzying rateof change, to manage the changefrom a communicationsperspective. “In the world ofTaxify, Lift and Uber over taxicabs, Airbnb and Mister BnB overhotels and Bitcoin challengingtraditional banking, we need tohelp our clients to navigate thechanging environment and ensurethey remain current, and notbecome another Kodak, orBl a c k b e r r y ,” comments Madeley.

The advertising industry ishaving its own ‘Kodak moment’,she maintains, and needs tochange. “Today, not only do youneed to be quick and good – no tto mention cost effective, but youhave to be able to ensure thatyour clients are ‘Fluent inTo mo r r o w ’. We are in a world ofcontent, smartphones,nano-second attention and hugenew adversaries for clients. We dothe heavy lifting for our clients sothat they can make the rightdecisions for their businesses and

br a nd s ,” she says.Hav a s ’ service design agency,

Havas Boondoggle, with its designthinking offering, merges well intothis space, workshopping withclients to help them understandwhat their consumers really need;instead of what the clients thinkthey need, Madeley reveals.Co-Currency, the brand strategyconsulting firm that Havas

launched together with IvanMoroke is skilled at working withclients to decipher brandpositioning, formulate marketingstrategy, and collaborate onimpactful executions and reviews,out of which the creative workand media placement naturallyfollow. The Havas PR team,meanwhile, ensures that all workstays true to brand narratives andamplifies campaigns. “All of thisgoes to show that we’re kitted outto offer clients whatever theyneed – literally from tweet to arti n s t a l l at io n ,” says Madeley.

Havas, she believes, is just theright size to work well in thecurrent environment. “Bringing achief technical officer into amassive agency has little impact –they already have an entiredepartment. Bring that sameperson into an agency of our sizeand it makes a huge difference,”she illustrates, adding that clientsappreciate and work better withsenior teams, which creates betterresults; something Havas is alsoequipped to do size-wise. ‘Wehave senior people on all ouraccounts, that’s what our clientspay us for. They want our brains,not our structure and processes.’

In a climate where sadly, manypreviously successful agencies

Corporate Profile

WE GO BY THE NAME OF

Havas Southern Africa

OUR CORE SPECIALITY IS

Through-The-Line Communications

OUR BIG PIECE OF WORK IN THE

PAST 12 MONTHS

Du r ex ’s The Big ‘O’ c a mp a ig n

OUR BIG CLIENT

Reckitt Benckiser

OUR OLDEST ACCOUNT

Reckitt Benckiser

ACCOUNTS WE’VE WON OVER THE

PAST 12 MONTHS

Pa r m a l at

ACCOUNTS WE’VE LOST OVER THE

PAST 12 MONTHS

PP S

WHO OWNS US

Havas Group

OUR BEE RATING

Level 2

OUR REVENUE BAND

R40 million – R60 million

THIS IS HOW MANY PERMANENT

EMPLOYEES WE HAVE

70

W H O’S THE BOSS

Lynn Madeley - Chief Executive Officer

OUR BUSINESS IN 140 CHARACTERS

Our purpose is to help clients’communications stay ahead of thegame so they can be successful todayand sure of success tomorrow.

OUR KEY MOMENT IN THE PAST 12

MONTHS IN 50 WORDS

Reconfiguring our purpose to bettermatch in-market trends, influences andnuances in South Africa and the rest ofAfrica. Havas in Southern Africa bringsthe global alignment, ‘Better Together’to life by being ‘Fluent in Tomorrow’.It ’s a better reflection of our identityand our dynamic offering to clients.

SO YOU LIKE US, THIS IS HOW YOU

GET IN TOUCH WITH US

H avas

90 - AdFocus 2017

have been forced to close theirdoors, Madeley believes there isoften not enough business to goaround. “It used to be a rule thatno more than 20% of yourbusiness should come from oneclient. Today, losing a client canliterally close an agency, or at thevery least mean it has todownsize significantly,” she says.It ’s also a climate where clientsare spending their money ondifferent things, which is affectingthe big agencies, not to mentionthe fact they have less money tospend and still demand heavyr et u r n s .

Agencies have to be part of thischange, or they simply will notsurvive, she says. Clients come toHavas for the agency’s creativethinking and problem solvingabilities – what Madeley calls the‘Brains Trust’. “Clients are veryhappy to pay for people whomake up this brains trust, but lessso to pay for resources they don’tsee as mission critical to thebu s i ne s s .

Ultimately, this means that ourfee structures have had to changeand we have to accept working on

risk – if we’re not helping ourclients positively affect theirbottom line, then we ought not tobe paid.”

Havas is able to service clientsin this manner largely thanks towhat it calls the ‘Knowledge Hub’,data that has been collated fromproprietary local and globalresearch, as well as otherresearch and data that is notproprietary but has been addedsince the inception of Havas inSouth Africa in 2007. TheKnowledge Hub is what informsHav a s ’ approach to work – no tonly does it assist inunderstanding clients’ bu s i ne s sand where the consumer is, but italso helps create and curaterelevant media agnostic contentaround that.

In fact, when it comes to mediaagnostic content, Madeley believesthis is something that in SouthAfrica, we have not been braveenough to do. The industry ischanging - consumers no longerwatch TV exclusively but choosetheir platforms and consumemedia at their leisure. Thecreation of more media agnostic

content is an upcoming trend, shemaintains – content that is readyfor wherever the consumerhappens to be, whether it’s awhite paper, a TV ad, a Twitterthread or a hologram.

With content developmentbecoming less expensive, she hashigh hopes for work that containsmore local insights. “It would begreat to see a big, locally grownbrand do a grand campaign that isinfluenced locally, for localau d ie nce s ,” she says.

Sadly, in South Africa, she findsthat clients are not feelingparticularly brave, and the result isthat they produce dull work. “Th ecountry is in a state of fear, whichmeans that agencies really shouldbe working with their clients tounderstand what people want inthis kind of environment. We havefound that people generally wanthumour - light heartedcommunication that ultimatelyleaves them feeling good,”Madeley reveals. In this landscape,Havas is primed to help its clientsstay relevant and successful in afast-paced world. “We need toensure that while our clients

understand what is happeningnow, they’re also ready for what’shappening next, which is why wecall ourselves ‘Fluent InTo mo r r o w ’,” says Madeley.

Thriving in this industry, at thispoint in time, means lookingbeyond advertising. “We have to

focus on how the agency canremain relevant; and it followsthat this will help clients remainrelevant too,” Madeley insists.

Havas has done some heavylifting over the past year in termsof refining its purpose, as well asfrom a positioning and offeringpoint of view. The agency, reportsMadeley, is aligned and everybodyis channeled in the samedirection. The next 12 months willbe focused on asserting thispurpose and further bringing allthese ideas to life.

+27 (0) 11 549 3600b ev e r ley .j o ne s @ h av a s . co . z az a . h av a s . co m@ Hav a s JH BHavas Johannesburg

DETTOL “LITTLE FINGER”

In the season finale of Game Of Thrones,

a key villain nicknamed “Littlefinger” met

his demise to much fanfare. We ran this

social media post the next day.

# S H E LOV E S B E E R

#SHELOVESBEER is a social media movement initiated by a group of female beer l ove rs .

To launch, the movement had 6 craft beers specially brewed, each inspired by a

remarkable woman. We created all of the brand identities and label design, including

telling the stories of these amazing people.