Colour me impressed!

The past couple weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind, but have provided me with a wealth of knowledge to say the least!

To start, I’ve had the opportunity to spend a good chunk of time with each of the Pure Play specialist teams (Mobext, Socialyse, Affiperf, and Ecselis). Despite Italy being a very TV focused market overall, these digital teams seem to be very involved in client plans. Back home in Toronto, the Pure Play teams that we work with primarily operate out of the New York or Chicago offices. By contrast, in Italy they not only live within the same Havas village, but they even sit on the same floor as the media strategy and planning teams. I could definitely tell that the level of partnership between teams was strong, driven by the fact that they all operate with a high amount of nimbleness and agility in order to manage ever-changing client asks. The result is a true sense of shared goals and collaboration, and some impressive and creative work to boot!

This week, I’ve been getting a more in-depth look at the strategy and planning teams’ work and processes. What I’m starting to notice from all my interactions is a sense of both familiarity and difference compared to my home office. Familiar to me was the same Meaningful Brands framework and MAP process, which is also foundational to how this village operates. This is combined with other more nuanced similarities that stem from a certain Global Havas DNA that spans borders and cultures.

One difference though (which I wasn’t necessarily expecting), is the amount of data specific to the Italian market that the teams have at their disposal. Specifically, the luxury planning team shared a competitive report that they produced for a fragrance client, which showed that their tools for competitive tracking are far more robust than what we have in Canada. Prior to this experience, I’ve always felt a bit of data-envy towards our US counterparts that we work so closely with, but this data-envy now somewhat extends towards my Italian colleagues as well.

This is not to say that we can’t execute a data driven planning philosophy in Canada. It just means that perhaps we need to scrounge a little harder with the tools and resources that we do have available to find those key insights that will shape our approach.

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