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Havas group rebrands; Euro RSCG now known as Havas Worldwide
MUMBAI: France based communications network Havas has implemented a new business model with an integrated structure with the aim of placing digital at the core of all its activities and agencies, unifying creative and media assets and strengthening the visibility of its global brand by renaming its largest network.
Effective from today all Euro RSCG agencies have been renamed Havas Worldwide (316 offices in 75 countries, including the Euro RSCG, Euro RSCG Life, Euro RSCG 4D and Euro RSCG WW PR brands). This does not translate into any change in leadership.
Euro RSCG was formed in 1991 by the merger of two French agencies Eurocom and RSCG, both formed in the mid-1970s.
Under the new brand structure, the Havas group consists of two main brands – Havas Media and Havas Creative. The former entity will include all of the group‘s media agencies while Havas Creative will include Havas Worldwide (previously known as Euro RSCG) and Arnold Worldwide (16 agencies in 15 countries across five continents) along with other communications agencies.
The rebranding also involves the creation of a new brand Havas Digital Group which will be an umbrella brand operating across media and creative. It will not be a new network pr operational division, but purely a brand. The move comes as a step towards proving the group‘s commitment towards digital.
Havas CEO David Jones said, “A decade ago, we set ourselves apart by being the first major communication holding company to place digital at the core of all our agencies around the world. Our industry doesn‘t make it easy for clients. They are the ones who have to do the hard job of sifting through big bureaucratic holding companies to try to get a variety of different companies, cultures and P&L‘s to work together; to try to get creative, media and digital to collaborate. With this name change and with the moving together of our creative and media companies in Paris and New York, we‘re aiming to reinforce a key competitive advantage of Havas – that we‘re the most integrated of all of the communications groups with the simplest structure that can offer our clients a powerful combination of creative excellence, digital expertise, scale, agility and innovation.”
Jones added, “Today with the rebranding we‘re making a small change, but it‘s one we want to use as a catalyst for driving big change through Havas and the broader industry.”
The Havas Media brand, as well as its network names (MPG, Arena Media Communications, Havas Digital and Havas Sports & Entertainment) remains unchanged. Havas Media will reveal a new visual identity at the beginning of 2013.
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Madison World to launch AI platform M BrAIn for media planning
Agency group invests about $1 million as it shifts to AI driven growth planning.
MUMBAI: If media planning once ran on spreadsheets and gut instinct, the next chapter may run on algorithms and curiosity. Madison World is preparing to roll out the first version of its proprietary artificial intelligence platform Madison M BrAIn in early April, as the independent agency group accelerates its transition toward AI driven planning and product led media services.
The platform, expected to involve an investment of around $1 million, is designed to reshape how the agency approaches strategy by combining internal knowledge, external data sources and advanced AI models into a single intelligence ecosystem.
According to Madison Media, OOH and Hiveminds partner and group CEO Ajit Varghese the initiative forms part of a larger structural rethink within the organisation. “Traditionally agencies built frameworks around media planning and allocation. We are redesigning that structure into what we call a Growth Planning System (GPS),” Varghese said.
The shift reflects a growing belief that effective media strategy must begin earlier in the decision making process. Instead of jumping directly to channel allocation, planners must first decode the market itself identifying consumer barriers, purchase triggers and the core challenges facing a brand.
Once those insights are mapped, agencies can build clearer growth agendas for clients and design media strategies that connect more closely with business outcomes.
To support that approach, Madison has built Madison M BrAIn as what it describes as a human AI cognitive ecosystem. Acting as a central intelligence hub, the platform aggregates proprietary insights alongside external data sources and large language models, enabling planners to access deeper market intelligence before building campaign strategies.
Varghese said one of the core objectives is to democratise knowledge across the organisation. “In the past, this level of understanding was largely available to senior leaders or experienced strategists. With Madison M BrAIn, even a junior planner should be able to access the same intelligence and approach clients with a far more informed perspective,” he said.
The agency has already implemented the new planning philosophy internally and completed three months of testing for the AI platform, with early trials showing encouraging results in terms of learning capability and system performance.
While the first version relied on global large language models, Madison is now developing its own proprietary Small Language Model (SLM) to serve as the core of the M BrAIn ecosystem.
“The SLM will be able to read global LLMs, but the LLMs cannot read the SLM,” Varghese explained. “That ensures all the intelligence we build remains within the Madison ecosystem and strengthens our proprietary knowledge base.”
The first version of Madison M BrAIn is expected to go live in early April, with a more refined version targeted by the end of June. Over time, the platform will integrate additional external data streams and APIs including consumer insight platforms, social listening tools and client datasets.
These integrations are expected to enhance the system’s learning capability and enable it to generate increasingly sophisticated strategic recommendations.
Although the platform is currently being deployed for internal use, Madison sees potential for it to evolve into a licensable product in the future.
“At the moment, our focus is to stabilise and strengthen M BrAIn internally. But over time there is potential for this to become a product that could be licensed externally,” Varghese said.
The AI platform is also part of a wider technology transformation underway at the agency group. Alongside M BrAIn, Madison is building a broader digital infrastructure called the Catalyst operating system, which aims to integrate operational processes, data and product platforms into a unified ecosystem.
This broader technology stack could require an additional $1 million to $1.5 million investment over time, though spending will be phased and reviewed regularly.
“We are evaluating progress every three months and prioritising the most critical capabilities first,” Varghese said.
Madison expects the full AI and operating ecosystem to be fully functional within 12 to 18 months, positioning the agency to combine human strategy with machine intelligence as the advertising industry enters its next data driven phase.
