Award-winning youth culture and experiential activation agency Archrival expands Havas Play’s capabilities across sports marketing, fandom and experiential activation alongside specialist expertise in reaching Gen Z audiences.

Havas has acquired a majority stake in Archrival, a U.S.-based youth-culture and experiential activation agency, further strengthening Havas Play’s ability to help brands earn relevance through culture, fandom, and participation. The acquisition expands Havas Play’s offering across sports marketing, live experiences, branded partnerships, creator engagement, and experiential activation, giving clients new ways to cultivate brand desire while deepening audience connection and delivering measurable growth.

Founded in 1997, Archrival has built a reputation for creating culturally relevant programs that connect brands with younger audiences through sports, collegiate activations, ambassador networks, and immersive experiences. The agency is known for helping brands show up authentically within the communities, passions, and moments that shape culture today.

Archrival has worked with some of the world’s most iconic brands including adidas, Red Bull, Netflix, Snapchat, Spotify, Tinder, and EA.

The acquisition marks another significant step in the expansion of Havas Play, strengthening its ability to connect brands with audiences through the passion points that drive participation, advocacy, and growth.

Together, Havas Play and Archrival will offer clients an expanded suite of capabilities spanning sports marketing, creator engagement, experiential activation, branded partnerships, ambassador programs, gaming, and community-led brand building.

Combined with Havas’s Converged.AI operating system, Archrival’s expertise in collegiate activations, ambassador networks, and grassroots engagement will help clients identify emerging cultural signals faster, activate communities more effectively, and translate engagement into measurable business outcomes.

About Havas

Founded in 1835 in Paris, Havas is one of the world’s largest global communications groups, with nearly 23,000 people in over 100 countries. With the ambition to help brands unlock Growth, Powered by Desire, Havas brings together creativity, media, technology and production capabilities to build strong, desirable brands that people genuinely want to engage with. Its integrated model is supported by Converged.AI, the Group’s operating system that unifies data, technology and AI to deliver optimized, scalable marketing solutions across the full customer journey. AI-driven, fueled by human ingenuity, and grounded in the belief that desire drives both brand performance and business outcomes, Havas teams collaborate within Havas Villages worldwide to cultivate reputation, relevance and long‑term preference for clients. Havas is equally committed to its people, fostering inclusive, responsible and inspiring workplaces where talent can thrive, because desire also starts from within. Further information is available at www.havas.com.

About Archrival

Archrival is a U.S.-based youth-culture and experiential activation agency that helps brands earn relevance by earning a role in culture. Founded in 1997, the agency specializes in sports and lifestyle marketing, collegiate activations, experiential programming, brand ambassadorship, and field marketing across sport, retail, entertainment, and campus environments. Archrival partners with leading global brands including adidas, Red Bull, Netflix, Snapchat, Spotify, Tinder, and EA to build culturally fluent programs and immersive experiences that connect brands with younger audiences.