Havas announces Greater China executive appointments amid re-organisation

Havas Group has announced that its existing Greater China executive leadership team will all assume additional duties.Mason Lin, currently Havas Creative Greater China chairman is appointed as chairman of Havas Group Greater China; Karl Wu, currently Havas Media Greater China CEO is appointed as the CEO of Havas Group, Greater China, and Donald Chan, currently Havas Creative China CEO is appointed as CEO of Havas Group, China.The appointments are effective immediately.The announcement comes after Havas initiated a "together" strategy, and started a global restructure in March, in which the creative and media business became business units under one regional P&L. The restructure in Greater China is promised to "further integrate the management structure of its Greater China operations" for a simple, unified and client centric organisation", by having singular leadership across all the brands.Havas Group's chairman and CEO Yannick Bollore said that China is one of the group's most important markets, and of great strategic importance to many of their global clients; the current organisation thus comes on the heels of their recently announced joint venture with local advertising company GIMC, and would further solidify the group's proposition in the market.(Read more: Havas takes 51% stake in a joint venture with GIMC)Mike Amour, chairman and CEO Havas Creative Group, APAC added, "Mason, Karl and Donald will form a fully integrated management team at Havas Group Greater China, working closely together, but with complementary responsibilities. I am confident that this structure will further accelerate Havas Greater China's business and will provide clients with a more agile and seamless experience in this critically important market."Havas Group Greater China currently employs 800 people across five offices in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Earlier this week, Michelin announced it hands Havas Media as its global media agency, which is worth US$100 million. Effective this month, Havas Media will handle all media planning and buying duties for the company’s major markets including United States, Mexico, Canada, France, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom and China.(Read more: Michelin hands Havas US$100m global media business)