MAM
Havas Media Group extends long-term partnership with Telefónica
NEW DELHI: Telefonica has once again awarded its global media account to Havas Media Group and extends the successful long-running partnership between the two companies. The international telecoms company, which owns key brands Movistar and O2, renewed the relationship after a thorough process.
It builds on a 6-year partnership that has delivered year on year ROI growth, as well as award-winning campaigns in the UK and Germany, and data-driven innovations around the world.
Earlier this year, Telefonica shared with Havas its ambition to build a new media operating model using data to drive a more effective, intelligent and relevant communications strategy for its key brands in leading markets in the UK, Spain, Germany and Hispam.
Havas Media Group and Telefónica have been engaged in a process to define that new media operating model – run remotely during Covid-19 – focused on how Havas Media Group will help deliver Telefonica’s commitment to industry-leading tech disruption, digital transformation and a data-led omnichannel approach.
Havas’ unique integrated agency model enabled Telefonica’s teams around the world to have even greater access to group-wide expertise in key areas such as data analytics, consultancy and performance optimisation, supplemented by the entertainment properties available through the Vivendi Group.
Havas Media Group Global CEO Peter Mears said, “We are absolutely thrilled to be able to continue our hugely successful partnership with Telefonica. Using our unique blend of data analytics and Mx (Meaningful Media Experiences), we were able to help Telefonica design the media model of the future. We are so excited to make that vision a reality.”
Telefónica Global Strategy and Corporate Affairs Director Eduardo Navarro said; “The Havas offering will deliver even greater flexibility in the increasingly competitive telco industry. We are just beginning to build our future vision for Telefonica worldwide, but know that, in Havas Media Group, we have a partner that will come with us on the journey.”
MAM
Sameer Nair shares heartfelt note as he exits Applause Entertainment
After nine years building the streamer’s content engine, one of India’s best-known TV men is moving on
MUMBAI: Sameer Nair is out. The chief executive of Applause Entertainment, the content studio backed by Kumar Mangalam Birla’s media empire, has announced his departure after nearly nine years at the helm, closing the chapter on one of Indian entertainment’s more quietly consequential careers.
Nair, who built Applause from the ground up in its current avatar, oversaw a slate that spanned Indian originals and international adaptations, threading together a hub-and-spoke business model that partnered with streaming platforms, broadcasters and production houses alike. The results were uneven, as they always are in content, but the ambition was not.
In a post on LinkedIn, Nair was generous to his outgoing patron. He thanked Birla for being an “inspirational boss and a great patron of the arts,” and signed off with a cheerful “Au Revoir” and a promise to remain Applause’s biggest cheerleader. Whether that sentiment survives the next chapter remains to be seen.
No successor has been named. Applause Entertainment did not immediately comment.
Nair built the machine. Now someone else has to run it — and in a streaming market that is simultaneously consolidating and convulsing, that is no small ask.
