Havas acquires agency Mr Smith; rebrands as Havas NZ headed by John O’Leary + Ben Hendy

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 and 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, 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, Studio Canal and Daily Motion.

Says O’Leary, who becomes the newly anointed CEO of the Auckland office: “Havas is a forward thinking, content-inspired company whose beliefs align strongly with ours.

“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.”

Says Handy, who has been appointed Havas New Zealand’s new chief creative officer: “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.”

As a testament to Havas’ commitment to brand services and demonstrating its expertise and insights into marketing and consumer behaviour, Havas produces an annual ‘medical check up’ for advertising around the world called the Meaningful Brands survey. One significant statistic from the 2017 survey, which collated responses of more than 300,000 people from 30 countries, found that consumers wouldn’t care if 74% of the brands they use disappeared.

Says Handy: “Consumers are turning away from the bombardment of bland advertising and gravitating towards content that delivers a strong, connected and cohesive brand message across multiple channels, particularly through mobile. The challenge is to appeal to each consumer’s own quirks and keep them engaged!”

Havas New Zealand will continue to be based on High Street in Auckland.

For more information, head to www.havas.co.nz.