At Havas, we believe that the power of creativity is, and always has been, the difference in developing meaningful brands.
There is a certain degree of magic to creativity that simply cannot be achieved through technology alone.
The mass adoption of generative AI has created an increase in content production, which has both made mediocre creative obsolete and increased the value of standout creative.
Our philosophy is that we can be better with AI, but we must be better than AI, so we will continue to invest in inspired creativity alongside technology.
This year, our commitment to creativity was demonstrated through BETC’s incredible, crowning achievement – being named Warc’s best agency in the world.
Additionally, our very own Jacques Séguéla will receive the prestigious Lion of St Mark lifetime achievement award from Cannes Lions at this year’s festival.
These creative triumphs, among many others, are made possible thanks to our continued investment in creativity – like last year’s acquisition of Uncommon Creative Studio, the UK’s most-awarded and fastest-growing independent creative company.
Our commitment to creativity, however, does not supersede our belief in the power of technology.
The industry is changing at an unprecedented pace. Advancements in technology, and specifically generative AI, are helping us amplify not only our productivity but also our creativity.
That is why 100% of our talents around the world are now trained and equipped to embrace the best of this transformative evolution.
We will continue to heavily invest to improve our technological capabilities, such as our expanded partnership with Adobe, announced last autumn.
We do not believe that technology will replace creativity; it will enhance it.
We’re already seeing how technology is elevating our strategic and creative thinking based on more accurate and inspiring insights, allowing us to lead the race in matching simplification and optimisation, human and machine, performance and passion.
To meet the expectations of today’s consumers, brands need to connect through authentic and highly personalised content and experiences that speak to their audiences’ interests, culture and passions.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to grab attention through traditional models, which has driven innovation to create new forms of advertising that audiences choose to engage with because it’s not just an ad; it’s entertaining, educational or inspirational and it speaks to them in a highly personal way.
We’re doing this through the convergence of creativity and technology, combining inspired human ideas with data and insights to quickly scale and personalise the work to better meet the diverse needs of audiences.
The future of the industry will be driven by both tech and creativity.
One can’t survive without the other and those who succeed in integrating the two, through innovative and effective means, will see positive business outcomes for their clients and themselves.
It is my strong belief that excellence always wins. I am confident we willl continue to see strong investment in inspired creativity, powered by well-integrated technology.
Yannick Bolloré is the chairman and chief executive of Havas
This is the second in a series of exclusive pre-Cannes op eds from the big six agency bosses. You can read the views of Mark Read here.
