Havas and Horizon partner on new joint venture

In one of the first of what could be many competitive responses to Omnicom's impending acquisition of Interpublic, media agencies Horizon Media Holdings and Havas have announced a new joint venture that combines their media capabilities in a new entity called Horizon Global.

It is being described as the “first agency network built in the AI era designed for today’s modern marketer,” one that harnesses its agencies’ respective strengths “to deliver a bold breakthrough agency network alternative at a time when clients face fewer, more constrained options.” 

While a press release outlining the partnership does not mention the IPG / Omnicom deal, it’s widely expected to result in some market instability as the new entity inevitably streamlines offices and operations around the world to maximize return on the deal. 

According to the release, Horizon Global will boast $20 billion in combined global billings and will seek “U.S.-centric global client opportunities,” while its constituent agencies will continue to service their existing clients and pursue new business. It will be headquartered in New York with additional management in Europe and a presence in more than 100 countries. 

Horizon Global will also combine the companies’ AI platforms, Horizon’s Blu and Havas’ Converged.AI, to create BluConverged, which it described as a “seamless, AI-native experience” capable of unlocking smarter insights, faster outcomes and “true transparency” for global clients.

Representatives from Horizon Media Canada and Havas Media Canada did not respond to Campaign Canada’s interview requests.

Bob Lord, who joined Horizon Media Holdings as president in January, has been appointed as interim CEO of Horizon Global, tasked with driving the new entity’s growth strategy and client experience. He will maintain his current role with Horizon.

Working out of Havas’ home city of Paris, Renata Spackova will assume the role of global COO for the entity. The pair will work with a board of directors including Horizon Media Holdings founder and CEO Bob Koenigsberg, Havas chairman and CEO Yannick Bolloré, and Havas Media Network’s global CEO Peter Mears, as well as members of the agencies’ leadership teams.

The move brings together Horizon’s strong U.S. presence—where its $7.6 billion in billings last year represented one-quarter of total independent agency billings, according to COMvergence data—with Havas’ strong presence in Europe, specifically in France and Spain, and Latin America.

In a chart accompanying the press release, Horizon Global said it will offer:

• Cooperation, with two of the industry’s most trusted agencies working as one with a flexible model designed for client success;
• Transparency, with clients provided “full visibility” into its tools and tech, data sources, design-making models, media investments and fees; and
• Simplicity, with a single point of accountability and a global P&L, providing clients with “clarity, consistency, and faster decisions”

Koenigsberg said in the release that the new entity has been built “exclusively for the needs of the modern global marketer,” and that it is “rewriting the agency network playbook.”

“With an open ecosystem approach, Horizon Global fosters cooperation, prioritizes transparency, and places power back in the client’s hands,” he said. “As the first agency network built in the AI era, we’re leading the future-forward ways of working, collaborating and delivering outcomes for clients—and we’re doing it responsibly at [a] global scale.”

While Horizon Global did not specifically mention the impending merger between Omnicom and IPG—which would have $73.5 billion in combined billings according to COMvergence—or rumours that Dentsu might be looking to sell its international operations, the JV creates the kind of scale that will allow the two players to better compete for global clients potentially shaken free by the instability in the market arising from that deals or potential future deals.  .

In a subscriber note, Brian Wieser, founder of the media consultancy Madison and Wall, said that the $20 billion in combined annual billings would put Horizon Global within striking distance of Dentsu International based on COMvergence data, but is “not quite as meaningful as it could be” because the two agencies are not actually merging.

“To be sure, there would very likely be true synergies and competitive impact for the large media agency sector if the two entities were to fully combine,” said Weiser.

Wieser said it’s “difficult” to predict whether the tie-up will have its intended effect because it remains to be seen how well the integrated offering will operate. “An agency’s internal integration and symbiosis with a client’s marketing organization is a critical element to servicing accounts who want to appoint agencies on a multi-market (rather than a single market or regional basis,” he said.

One potentially negative outcome for Havas stemming from the partnership could be that it “presumably” won’t focus on global opportunities from within the U.S. as long as the joint venture exists.

“This would mean that the U.S. operations would continue to focus more on the mid-sized domestic marketers it mostly services today,” he said. “Competing most with other mid-sized media agencies while concurrently maintaining its globally competitive, larger marketer-focused creative network.”

Wieser also said that if Havas and Horizon were to further deepen their relationship, it could potentially eliminate them as suitors for Dentsu’s international business, which is rumoured to be on the block.

This article first appeared in Campaign Canada.