MAM
Havas Media Group acquires MFG Labs
MUMBAI: Havas Media Group acquires digital strategy, data science and mathematical research company MFG Labs. It was founded in 2009, by a team of world renowned mathematicians.
The company’s teams of senior mathematical researchers are led by Pierre-Louis Lions – a Fields Medal holder. Pierre-Louis Lions and Jean-Michel Lasry have created and pioneered the development of the MFG “Mean Field Game” theory and its application to the world of finance and business. MFG Labs recent work includes the conception and implementation of Warner Bros France digital strategy: My Warner the first compelling social relationship management programme.
The move will also enable MFG Labs to expand its digital services to other major Havas Media Group Digital Hubs like US, UK, LATAM including APAC and India.
This instantly brings a team of experts to support the data backbone of the Group, via its existing specialist data management platform, Artemis, and its trading desk network, Affiperf. MFG Labs will leverage these strong analytics capabilities by providing in-house machine learning algorithms.
Havas Media Group global managing director Dominique Delport said, “As the data revolution continues there is no doubt that these guys are at the top of their field. Two years ago we identified their impressive capabilities in the social data world. The next stage for us was to make sure we were able to bring them into the group to reinforce our solid foundations in data and this driving force to integrate data and content is paying off well. With the increasing importance of consumer engagement platforms pushing brands beyond traditional media, the two disciplines are totally interconnected.”
“We have been working with the MFG teams for many months to expand and extend our leading data and content services to our clients around the world and the feedback we have had has been outstanding,” added Delport.
MFG co-founder Pierre-Louis Lions on the acquisition,”We join the Havas Media Group at a unique moment where quantitative methodologies and Big Data analytic are becoming the key to media performance. For an intrinsically quantitative and programmatic spirited team like us these are exciting times.”
The acquisition is effective from today and follows on from the group‘s continued investment in data with the acquisition of data analytics company Elisa DBI in the UK and Spain last month.
Brands
Kaspersky and KidZania want Indian children to fight hackers before they hit their teens
Kaspersky and KidZania open a cyber investigation centre in Mumbai to teach children how to outsmart hackers
MUMBAI: India’s children are growing up online faster than anyone can protect them. Kaspersky, the global cybersecurity firm, is betting that the best way to fix that is to make six-year-olds feel like detectives.
The company has opened a Cyber Investigation Centre inside KidZania Mumbai at R City Mall, Ghatkopar, in what it is calling a first-of-its-kind cybersecurity role-play experience for children. Kids suit up in Kaspersky uniforms, sit down at dedicated workstations loaded with security software, and spend 20 minutes cracking simulated cases of phishing, identity theft and cyberbullying. Up to six children can play investigator at a time. Those who crack the case walk away with a personalised Kaspersky Cyber Investigator card — and a healthy suspicion of dodgy links.
The timing is not accidental. In India, 82.2 per cent of children have access to a mobile device by the age of 14. They use it to stream, game, chat and study. Most of them have never heard the word “phishing.”
“The earlier we equip children with the awareness and skills to navigate the digital world safely, the stronger our collective digital future becomes,” said Jaydeep Singh, general manager for India at Kaspersky. Tarandeep Singh Sekhon, chief business officer of KidZania India, put it more plainly: “Every parent today is thinking about how to prepare their child for a digital-first future.”
The partnership comes with commercial sweeteners. Visitors buying KidZania tickets get a complimentary two-month Kaspersky trial subscription. Annual pass holders get a full year’s subscription thrown in. Discount vouchers go out at the exit gates.
The launch ceremony leaned into KidZania’s theatrical DNA — a diya lighting, a dance performance, a key handover, a parade through the miniature city, and a ribbon-cutting at the new centre.
Cybercriminals, it turns out, do not discriminate by age. Kaspersky and KidZania are hoping that neither will the next generation of people trying to stop them.
