MUMBAI: Havas Group has re-purposed over 25 per cent of its employees (5000 out of 20000) to become 100 per cent Programmatic through a new proprietary training programme that reinforces the together strategy and provides an uncommon foundation for all employees.
The group now focuses both on data and programmatic, two key pillars for the future of the communications industry. Cent per cent programmatic is an internal certification program that enables all employees to integrate programmatic with confidence. It provides mastery (through knowledge), autonomy (through hands-on activities) and keys to purpose (through in-house Havas analysis), via a proprietary online learning platform called Havas University.
Havas Group deputy CEO, group's Spain chairman and media group CEO Alfonso RodésVilà explains, “Our vision is focused on the future. Programmatic is the new reality and whatever our role is, we must understand audiences, addressable content and personalized messages. Media will essentially become code – ones and zeros – and knowing how to approach this coded data will set us apart from the rest of the industry.”
Havas Worldwide and Havas Creative Group global CEO Andrew Benett adds, “Programmatic is more than media. It reflects a total change in our industry and has vast implications for creativity as well. We have always used audience data and personalized messaging to drive creative solutions, and now we can do that through automation to achieve scale. It’s just as important for our creative teams to understand this as our media teams.”
Havas Media Group chief human resources officer Celine Merle-Beral, “The program was built by a very passionate team who shared their expertise to help us step up our game and lead the way. This investment is part of Havas' commitment to our people, to their personal development, and to our common future.”
The program offers employees 8 to 10 hours of online courses with rich content including texts, videos, interviews, quizzes and forums, featuring Havas Group staff and technology partners. The training programme offers three levels:
· Fundamentals, covering programmatic language and concepts, and the impact on both Creative and Media
· Advanced, including day-to-day applications, with adapted modules depending on position
· Elite, focusing on strategic vision, programmatic leadership skills for community building and network development
The impact on employees was real. Participants were surveyed for feedback and the results are overwhelming: 96 per cent of participants feel more confident speaking about programmatic. 97 per cent of participants feel that the content of this course was of greater value than what they can find on the internet. 97 per cent of participants recommend this training to their colleagues.
100% Programmatic began with a pilot test of content between May and July for employees at Havas Media Group in 15 countries. The first phase of programme rollout occurred in September for employees at both creative and media entities in more than 40 countries. The next phase will be launched in February 2017 to expand its reach and results.
