Havas wants to give pride of place to strategic planning and creativity to stand out. Raphaël de Andréis, CEO of Havas for France and Western Europe, gives JDN the details of his announcements made this Tuesday, June 23 at Cannes Lions.
JDN. What is marking the 2026 edition of Cannes Lions, where you are?
Raphael de Andréis. This is the first edition of the Cannes Lions festival post-Omnicom/IPG merger, a movement which illustrates the shift our industry has taken, that of concentration. However, it seems to me that now is a good time to ask the question why: what is the point of becoming bigger? Each of the major global communications groups should redefine what constitutes their raison d’être. In the case of Publicis, for example, it is very clear, the group is establishing itself as a major player in tech/data. As for WPP and Omnicom/IPG, their vision of what differentiates them deserves to be further formalized.
For Havas2026 is the year of our repositioning around the notion of “desire”. Through our first global research, “The Science of Desire”, which we are unveiling in Cannes this Tuesday, June 23, we are diving deep into the mechanisms of desire in the minds of consumers, in order to integrate these parameters both in our platforms and in the minds of our strategists and creatives, to ultimately grow the business of our brands.
You should know that technology, even if it is essential, is not enough: the brand must also be desirable. Today 84% of brands operate in a zone of indifference or have not yet reached their full potential of desire, which prevents them from growing. However, it is only when there is desire – in the moment through attraction, more deeply through the feeling of affinity and over time through attachment – that there is growth.
You are describing the promise of advertising since the dawn of time…
Our communications industry is indeed experiencing a moment of truth: we must refocus on what makes up our DNA while making it ultra-modern. In recent years, our sector has become a little scattered on soft KPIs of notoriety or consideration. But reaching out isn’t enough to change people’s behavior if what you’re saying isn’t exciting. More creativity and strategic planning is needed regardless of the advertiser’s sector to create desire at all touch points.
By combining desire and technology, we develop our clients’ business. Through our strategic roadmap “growth powered by desire”, the Havas group wants to position itself and be judged on its ability to develop the hard KPIs of its clients, that is to say their sales, their pricing power and their market shares. Hence the notion of Havas delta, the difference that our customers will obtain by coming to us. We are entering into a logic of performance.
Will you evolve your billing model and abandon time spent?
This is a very good debate. For certain clients who fully adopt our advice and tools, we have already implemented a portion of sales incentives, Havas Delta, which is added to base compensation.
AI is transforming the entire advertising chain, from ideation to measurement. How does Havas fit into this new world?
Since Cannes is celebrating French creativity this year, let’s take the example of the French touch, these DJs who around the 2000s had access to an infinite number of possibilities thanks to electronic music. At some point, it’s the creative perspective that makes all the difference.
Our Converged.AI platform brings together this intelligence provided by AI and technology through algorithms, data and ultra-cutting insights, and now also through Vurvey Labs, a scale-up specializing in next-generation agentic intelligence, of which we have just announced as its main Series B investor. Vurvey’s technology makes it possible to generate synthetic audiences faithfully reflecting human behavior, and to help brands, for example, test products, messages and campaigns before their launch.
But when we reach the strategy and creative thinking phase, it is the human who selects the best possibility. AI then returns for production, including our Vermeer.ai tool, and distribution and measurement across all channels. This entire technological suite must be at the service of a strategic and creative pilot, who will ensure that brands stand out through their difference.
