There was a time, not so long ago, when advertising agencies competed on the strength of their creative ideas, their media-buying clout, or their ability to keep a client happy over a three-martini lunch. Now they compete on their ability to say the letters "A" and "I" in close proximity to the words "first" and "powered."
Havas, the French holding company that has been part of the Vivendi empire since 2017, announced this week that it is leaning into what it calls an "AI-first identity," a phrase that would have meant nothing to anyone in the business as recently as five years ago and now apparently means everything.
The company said that AI-powered marketing services now account for 87 percent of its net revenue in North America, a figure that is impressive if you know what it means and perhaps even more impressive if you do not.
(One is left to wonder what the remaining 13 percent consists of — services powered by human judgment, perhaps, or possibly just the coffee.)
The announcement appeared to be aimed at investors and prospective clients who have grown accustomed to hearing such declarations from every holding company on both sides of the Atlantic. WPP, Omnicom, Publicis Groupe, and Interpublic have all made similar noises in recent quarters, each claiming various forms of artificial intelligence leadership in what has become an annual ritual of technological one-upmanship.
A company executive was quoted as saying that Havas is "no longer AI losers," a characterization that suggests someone, somewhere, had previously called them exactly that.
North American revenue, the company noted, is growing — which is, after all, the point of all the letters and all the first-ness.
Whether the machines are doing the work or merely getting the credit remains, as always, a matter of some interpretation.
Original story published in adweek.com: "‘No Longer AI Losers’: Havas Leans Into AI-First Identity as North America Revenue Grows"