Euro RSCG Worldwide
Getting clients to the Future First is Euro RSCG’s commitment to clients and its raison d’être. It is this vision and the success in bringing it to life that has earned Euro RSCG Worldwide an impressive influx of new business, creative awards, and attracted top talent around the globe.
It has continued to lead the industry in the digital and social media space–being named to Unilever’s global digital roster and serving as the digital and social media agency of record for leading brands that include IBM, Charles Schwab, Ikea, Volvo, Kraft Foods, Chivas, Heineken, AMD and Lacoste. Evian Rollerbabies continued to break records with more than 175 million views to-date and Euro RSCG continued to lead clients to deliver firsts in their category, like Dos Equis being the first beer brand to surpass one million likes on Facebook. But what really made 2010 special for Euro RSCG Worldwide was exercising its creativity to address major world issues. It was the lead creative agency behind the election of Prime Minister David Cameron in Britain; with One Young World, Euro RSCG Worldwide created one of the most forward-looking channels for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social change ever; David Jones led the World Economic Forum Young Global Leader taskforce on sustainability advising the French Presidency of the G20 (following work with Kofi Annan on climate change in 2009); and the agency works with clients to deliver CSR as acore discipline. For Euro RSCG Worldwide, social responsibility is a potent tool through which to drive the agency, the industry–and client growth.
The Agency
Delivering success requires a tenacious focus in three key areas: the continued integration of the digital-at the-core model, the deep understanding of and ability to anticipate and influence consumer behavior around the globe, and the capacity to attract and retain the best talent in the industry.
Euro RSCG’s Model and Digital at the Core
Digital now sits at the core of all Euro RSCG Worldwide’s agencies, and they continue to strive to be the undisputed industry leader in the social media space. In 2010, Euro RSCG Social, a formalized cross-discipline, cross-leadership arm that groups social media efforts agency-wide under one umbrella brand was launched. This is a natural extension to what has been a long-term leading role in the social sphere, marked by such innovations as:
• the first global CEO tweet-up;
• Social Xplorer, the first social media NPD tool;
• the first YouTube masthead ever created with an augmented reality experience of any kind and accessible on mobile;
• the first social media car launch; and
• the first beer brand ever to get over one million likes on Facebook.
This year, the network doubled its digital and social media business in China with the addition of major accounts such as Hershey’s, Balabala (one of China’s leading children’s clothing retailers), and Sun Hung Kai Properties (one of the largest property companies in Hong Kong). The digital offering continued to be boosted via the acquisition of digital shops Project House in Turkey, Acmic Interactive in India, and Congruent Media in the U.S. And the addition of agencies in markets including Ireland, Turkey and Serbia welcomed the likes of 02, Apple, Nestlé, Heineken, Danone, and Nokia to Euro RSCG Worldwide’s rosters there. It is the network’s firm belief that digital and social media cannot live in a silo but must be at the core of business worldwide. This model began to be brought to life nearly six years ago globally and efforts are now focused on ensuring Euro RSCG Worldwide is second to none in this space.
Although 2010 was still marked by a tough economic environment in all major economies, industry results from the final months of the year show that the world has left behind the crisis of 2009. Latest forecast for the advertising market is to grow +4.9% this year (source: Zenith Optimedia).
Havas Media closed 2010 with remarkable results. Targets for organic growth were surpassed and international marketing magazine M&M named Havas Media “Collaborator of the Year”.
Strategy
Havas Media has continued to focus on and invest in the following five areas:
1. New Business
During 2010 the group was able to win more new business than ever – surpassing the excellent 2009 fi gures with wins such as Turespaña, Panasonic, Turkey Tourism, Yahoo! and Huntington Bank. As a result, RECMA’s* latest report names MPG as the most successful new-business agency over the past three years across the top five markets in Europe (the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy). MPG was also ranked as the number one new business agency across the Americas.
2. Client retention
Havas Media has maintained the trust of its clients. 2010 also represented the first full year of the Hyundai and Kia account, Havas Media’s largest account to date. Over the past 12 months, the Havas Media teams have Success fully managed this client across a total of 76 markets. In this process, Havas Media has brought the full range of its innovative tools and approaches to bear successfully on this key global client. During the year the Korean auto manufacturer has gone from strength to strength and 2011 promises to be an important year in its evolution.
3. Leading insight and product development
Havas Media undertook further investment with the development of a suite of offers and tools that help companies understand, track and develop meaningful communications strategies for their brands. Havas Media Intelligence (HMI), the central unit responsible for insight and product development, created an Advisory Services division supported by the appointment of Fredrik Johnsson, with a remit to define and implement the group’s new vision and thought leadership platforms.The Havas Media Lab – the HMI “think tank” – has also seen an increase in resources this year with a subsequent burst of thought leadership activity and articles published on the Havas Media Lab’s blog. In today’s exceptionally dynamic environment, innovation and investment have formed the foundations for the group’s more collaborative approach to media which hasa been recognized by RECMA as the most reactive.
4. Digital
Expanding digital expertise through joint partnerships has become a key focus for Havas Media which places digital at the core. Havas Digital selected Kenshoo, the leading provider of online demand generation solutions for the enterprise and local markets, as its exclusive technology partner for search engine marketing. A global agreement was concluded between Havas Digital and Greenplum Software (part of EMC), the pioneer of Enterprise Data Cloud™ solutions for large-scale data warehousing and analytics. The agency also committed to a partnership with AdSafe to deliver brand verification for display campaigns and closed a deal with online video exchange Adap.tv. The deal, enables Havas Digital to make buys targeting individual users on an impression-by-impression basis, is believed to be the first by a major agency holding company inserting ads into online video programming.
5. Geographical Expansion
Havas Media operations in Latin America have recorded growth levels of approximately 20 to 25%. Countries in APAC, led by strong growth in India and in particular China (growing more than 80%) are also experiencing growth rates that are expected to reach between 25 to 30%. It was also extremely important to establish a foothold in Russia this year and with this objective, Havas closed a joint venture with ADV, a key market player that provides an excellent base in this expanding market. Additionally Havas Media started an ambitious expansion plan in Africa and now works with more than 35 clients in more than five African countries, including South Africa, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Cameroon and Morocco.