Havas Group

What Havas Group does

Havas Group (Havas N.V.) is a global communications and marketing group headquartered in Puteaux, France, operating across more than 100 countries with nearly 23,000 employees and over 70 "Havas Villages" that integrate creative, media, health, and data capabilities under co-located cross-disciplinary teams. The group serves enterprise clients across consumer goods, financial services, automotive, technology, retail, and public sectors, with named engagements spanning Michelin, Orange, Canal+, Stellantis/PSA, EDF, Decathlon, BNP Paribas, Hermès, Carrefour, Adidas, Lacoste, KFC, IKEA, Samsung, Emirates, Activision Blizzard, and Reckitt. Its service portfolio covers advertising creative, media planning and buying, healthcare communications, public relations, brand design, digital and content production, and increasingly AI-augmented research and analytics.

The group's business model is agency-fee based, with revenue generated from retainer, project, and media-buying commissions tied to client marketing budgets. The recent "Converged.AI" strategic plan, unveiled in June 2024, layers a proprietary AI operating system across all agency workflows, alongside partnerships with Akkio (agentic AI), Adobe (GenStudio), and Vurvey Labs (AI-powered qualitative research), and an internal AVA portal providing access to frontier large language models including GPT-5 and Claude Opus 4.5. Approximately €400 million is committed to this program by 2027, with management framing roughly €1 billion of broader technology investment across the cycle. Havas also operates proprietary research IP — "Meaningful Brands" (156,000+ respondents across 18 markets) and "Science of Desire" (87,500+ respondents) — that feeds consumer-insight products into client engagements.

In December 2024, Havas was spun off from Vivendi and listed on Euronext Amsterdam under ticker HAVAS NA, becoming an independently listed public company. Reported FY2025 revenue was €2,783 million with adjusted EBIT of €358 million (12.9% margin) and net income of €210 million (+11.1% year-on-year); H1 2026 revenue reached €1,362 million with adjusted EBIT of €150 million (11.0% margin). Revenue mix is geographically diversified, with North America now the largest contributor and growing at 6.9% organically in FY2025, versus group organic growth of 3.1%.

Name

Havas Group

Legal name

Havas N.V.

Website

https://havas.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

1835

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

Havas Group is a Paris-headquartered global communications and marketing group operating in 100+ countries with ~23,000 employees, serving enterprise clients across consumer, financial, automotive, and tech sectors with creative, media, health, PR, and AI-augmented services via its Havas Village network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Puteaux

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices17 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Creative Services Revenue: Revenue from advertising, branding, design, and creative communications services provided to enterprise clients through agency network
2. Media Services Revenue: Revenue from media strategy, planning, digital, programmatic buying, and performance marketing services
3. Health & Wellness Communications: Healthcare communications services including pharma, health brands, and wellness sector work through Havas Life, Havas Lynx, and Jacques networks
4. Strategic Advisory: H/Advisors global strategic communications advisory network providing corporate reputation and influence services

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Havas Group provides integrated marketing and communications services globally through three main business units: Havas Creative (advertising, design, content production, customer experience), Havas Media (media strategy, programmatic buying, performance marketing, retail media), and Havas Health (healthcare and wellness communications), supported by H/Advisors (corporate communications), Havas Red (PR), and the proprietary Converged.AI operating system powering cross-network AI-enabled services.

Product overview

Havas Group is a global communications conglomerate offering integrated marketing and communications services through three main business units: Havas Creative (advertising, design, customer experience, content production), Havas Media (media consulting, investment, retail media, performance), and Havas Health (healthcare communications). The company's strategic differentiator is Converged.AI, its unified AI operating system that powers all services by combining data, technology, and human creativity. Supporting platforms include AVA (secure LLM portal), H/Advisors (strategic communications), Havas Red (global PR network), Havas University (learning), and Havas Minds (wellbeing). Research initiatives Meaningful Brands and Science of Desire provide consumer insights. The Village Model integrates all disciplines under one roof across 100+ markets.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Havas Creative Business unit delivering advertising, design, customer experience, content production, strategic communication, influence, and event experiences for enterprise clients.
• Havas Media Media experience division providing media consulting, investment, entertainment, retail media, e-commerce, media performance, and data analytics services for enterprise clients.
• Havas Health Health and wellness communications network uniting Havas Life, Havas Lynx, and Jacques, delivering healthcare sector communications for pharma, biotech, and wellness companies.
• H/Advisors Global strategic communications advisory network operating in over 20 countries, providing corporate reputation management, public affairs, and crisis communications for corporations.
• Havas Red Global public relations network offering PR and communications services for brands across multiple markets, including India through PR Pundit Havas Red.

Quantifiable outcome

• 2.5% organic revenue growth in H1 2026, matching full-year guidance
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers23 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability9 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Vurvey LabscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 23 June 2026Havas announced expanded investment in Vurvey Labs as lead investor in its Series B funding round, as part of its previously announced €400 million investment plan in data, technology, and AI by 2027. Vurvey provides AI-powered research capabilities for consumer insights.
• AdobecoreTechnology or Integration · 20 April 2026Havas joined Adobe's expanded agentic AI ecosystem as a partner for Adobe CX Enterprise, enabling AI-powered customer experience workflows across enterprises. Havas is among the major agencies (alongside WPP, Omnicom, Publicis, Dentsu, Stagwell) partnering with Adobe to scale agent-powered workflows.
• AkkiocoreTechnology or Integration · 11 January 2026Partnership to accelerate agentic AI capabilities of Converged.AI operating system. As part of Havas' €400 million investment in data, tech, and AI, Akkio develops bespoke agentic solutions deployed across Havas' nearly 23,000 employees in 100+ markets. This is Akkio's first collaboration with a global holding company at scale, making AI more accessible for employees across technical and non-technical roles.
• AkkiocoreTechnology or Integration · 23 December 2025Partnership with Akkio to accelerate agentic capabilities of Converged.AI, as part of Havas' €400 million investment in data, tech and AI. Collaboration includes development of both global and localized AI agents for regional nuances and client needs.
• MoonfolkscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 March 2025Strategic alliance to strengthen Havas' presence in Southeast Asia, creating new entity Havas Moonfolks. Partnership integrates Havas' media expertise with Moonfolks' digital and integrated marketing capabilities to offer unified creative and media services in Indonesia, supported by proprietary tools and regional strategic guidance.
• Made In NetworkminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 7 January 2025Partnership for Shape Shifting, Havas' first creator-led serialized content platform debuting at CES 2025. Made In Network provides production expertise for science-led, objective episodic programming on GLP-1 medications for the health and wellness space.
• Klareco CommunicationscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 30 November 2023Acquisition of majority stake in Singapore-based strategic communications consultancy to strengthen H/Advisors global advisory network and deepen presence in Asia-Pacific amid increasing demands for corporate reputation management.
• PR PunditcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 November 2023Acquisition of majority stake in leading Indian PR consultancy, rebranded as PR Pundit Havas Red. Deal marks entry of Havas Red global PR network into India, expanding public relations services and global reach.
• UncommoncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 July 2023Acquisition of 51% stake in UK-based creative studio Uncommon at valuation of £80-120 million. Founders retain 49% stake. Deal supports Uncommon's global growth while allowing brand and creative independence.

Scale indicators20 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• S4 Capital / MediaMonks: Digital-only advertising and production services group (now merged into IPG) — competing with Havas's content-at-scale and digital production capabilities, particularly for tech-forward global brands.
• Accenture Song: Accenture's creative, technology, and experience consulting arm — broad incumbent offering integrated marketing services that increasingly overlap with Havas's Village model, especially around digital transformation and AI-led customer experience.

Direct peers

• Omnicom Group: Global advertising holding company encompassing BBDO, DDB, TBWA, and media/precision marketing units — directly competes with Havas for global brand clients across creative, media, and health communications.
• WPP: World's largest advertising holding company spanning creative (Ogilvy, VMLY&R), media (GroupM), and PR — direct global competitor to Havas across creative, media, and healthcare communications, also pursuing an AI-led transformation.
• Interpublic Group (IPG): Major US-listed advertising holding company including McCann, MullenLowe, and Mediabrands — directly competes with Havas for global brand clients and recently merged with Stagwell to form a larger integrated holding competitor.
• Publicis Groupe: Paris-headquartered global communications holding company operating across creative (Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi), media (Starcom, Zenith), and healthcare — closest geographic and structural peer to Havas, also publicly listed in Europe.
• Dentsu: Tokyo-headquartered global advertising holding group with creative, media, and CXM operations — directly competes with Havas in APAC and globally, and is a partner of Adobe alongside Havas in agentic AI initiatives.
• Wunderman Thompson (now VML): WPP-owned creative, commerce, and CRM network — competes directly with Havas Creative and Havas Health for global brand integrated communications engagements.
• Stagwell: Digital-first marketing holding company with creative, media, and research units (Anomaly, Assembly) — emerging direct competitor to Havas that recently combined with IPG and pursues a similar AI-driven, integrated-services model.

Emerging players

• Havas competitors in Health: Syneos Health Communications: Healthcare-focused communications and commercialization group — competes specifically with Havas Health (Havas Life, Havas Lynx, Jacques) for pharma and wellness clients, narrower in scope than Havas but a focused direct peer in health communications.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubedailymotion.com/havas
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/havas
• Instagraminstagram.com/havas

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles25 records

Subsidiaries18 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A5 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Havas Group