Havas had acquired Formula, an integrated communications and experiential marketing agency. With 100 staff members across offices in New York, Los Angeles, and San Diego, the new entity, Havas Formula, will be a full-service agency with practice areas in strategic communications, public relations, experiential, Latino, and experiential marketing.
Havas Formula complements Havas Creative Group’s core competencies, and will work alongside the Group’s existing agencies—such as Havas Impact, Havas Edge, Havas Luxe, Havas PR, and Havas Latino Group—to boost the Group’s offering to North American clients. Through the acquisition, Havas is also gaining Formula’s brand activation arm, Formula Street, and Hispanic PR division, FORMULATIN.
Yannick Bollorรฉ, chairman and CEO of Havas, commented, “Formula is a best-in-class agency with an impressive client roster, particularly within the consumer and lifestyle category. With their track record of implementing impactful PR, social, and experiential programs, Formula will help expand our offering.”
Formula has established a name for itself over the last 22 years as a progressive firm that serves brands looking to disrupt the market and grow a passionate following. It has represented flagship clients such as Heineken, Nestlรฉ, Wyndham Hotel Group, Phillips 66, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Shure.
As a midsize agency, Formula recognized that it was the right time to broaden its resources, secure a global footprint and attract more Fortune 100 brands.
“This decision was the natural evolution of our growth strategy, and Havas is the ideal partner,” Michael A. Olguin, president of Formula, said of the acquisition. “Having access to Havas’s powerful network of global services and resources, paired with the ability to leverage and learn from the company’s senior team, is going to be a game changer for us.”
Havas Creative Group CEO Andrew Benett noted,“Formula’s expertise—using brand insight and narrative to drive consumer engagement—will further strengthen our client offering in North America.”
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads โ essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More