The French holding company Havas, which has spent much of the last decade as the smallest of the major advertising conglomerates, appears to have found something in North America that its larger rivals have misplaced: momentum.
The company reported 7.5 percent growth in North America for the year, a figure that stands in notable contrast to the sluggish or declining numbers posted by several of its competitors in the region. It is the kind of result that tends to prompt quiet telephone calls between chief executives and their investor relations departments.
Havas, which became part of the Vivendi empire in 2017 and has since been spun back out into a more independent orbit, has long occupied an unusual position on Madison Avenue — large enough to compete for major accounts, small enough to be underestimated by those who measure agency prowess primarily by revenue rank. The North American performance suggests that the underestimation may require revision.
The growth came even as Havas reported softer results in other regions, a geographic unevenness that has become familiar across the industry as clients in different markets respond to different pressures. (One executive's "challenging macroeconomic environment" is another's "we lost the account.")
For the holding companies that have dominated American advertising since the consolidation waves of the 1980s and 1990s, North America remains both the largest prize and, increasingly, the most difficult terrain. The market is mature, the clients are demanding, and the competition for talent and accounts has grown only more intense as consultancies and technology companies have crowded onto what was once exclusively agency territory.
That Havas is growing where others are not will not, by itself, reshape the competitive order. But it is the kind of detail that gets noticed in conference rooms where next year's review lists are being assembled.
Original story published in adweek.com: "Havas Grows In North America as It Lags In Other Regions"