ZOOM BRIDGING OUR DIFFERENCES THE STORY Back in November 2017, the executives of two sister predominantly, but also hints on the culture and how they do companies, Havas Istanbul and Project House, were sitting at things differently. And if all went according to plan, come 2020, a cafe table overlooking the Bosphorus, discussing the terms they would be in the radar of the big brands. of a merger. The former was suffering from all the symptoms of being labelled with an outdated term, an ATL agency, whilst the Things took a turn when the new Havas creative agency joined latter was a financially successful digital agencythathadbeen forces with Havas Media Turkey for the Finish water initiative. around for almost two decades, but was yet to make a creative The ground shifting purpose campaign, which is now in its impact. The agencies had somewhat of a bumpy relationship second year, brought first national then international acclaim and back then, it seemed more of a matter of whether they to the whole Village. Award winning campaigns for 20 other could work together, rather than thrive together. Yet the five brands followed. The result was a record breaking growth people at that table also sensed, if they could overcome their despite the pandemic, taking Havas Village Turkey, for the differences, theyhad all the ingredients for the making of a first time in its history, to the top rank in the country. Now the successful new-breed agency. agency is the undisputed number one attraction for talent and advertisers alike. Future prospects include reaching beyond Several more meetings later there was a gameplan, and a borders. The technology and MarTech part of Project House timeplan. Much of 2018 would be spent on creating a unified (now Havas CX) is already providing service in 20 countries. team. ATL-based people would be brought up to speed on ‘Why not extend that approach to creative?’ is the obvious digital and social media with seminars and workshops. Digital- question. based people would be trained for longer term thinking and strategic depth. And there would be no pressure for a creative Three years on from that first meeting and you could say one leap... yet. 2019 would be the year of noise. For each of the couldn’t ask for more... except maybe to be able to sit at a 52 weeks of the year, the agency would push themselves to table overlooking the Bosphorus to celebrate together, without produce something newsworthy. Unconventional work any masks or worries. Cuneyt Devrim Basak Erkiran Serhat Akkilic Ergin Binyildiz Ceren Cubukcu Havas Creative Group CGO Havas Media CEO Havas Creative Group CEO Havas Creative Group CCO Havas Creative Group CIO 16