Havas Group Singapore consolidates social and PR functions

In line with a global rebranding move, Havas Group Singapore has consolidated its social and PR functions under a new brand – Red Havas. Red Havas Singapore will continue to be led by general manager Kenny Yap (pictured).Effective immediately, APAC-based Red Agency, with offices in Australia, Singapore and Philippines will carry the new brand – Red Havas. The agency will encompass earned, social, experiential and content capabilities. Meanwhile, Red Havas has rebranded its Havas PR offices in Vietnam and Jakarta, Manchester, Edinburgh and opened a new office in London. The new brand also has expansion plans to Japan and South America within 18 to 24 months.Along with APAC, Havas PR North America, with offices in New York City, New England, Phoenix and Pittsburgh, will carry the new brand. Red Havas is part of the Havas PR Global Collective, the PR and communications arm of the Havas Group that comprises approximately 40 agencies around the world. At this stage, there are no plans to rebrand other Havas-owned PR agencies.The rebranding coincides with global-led investments into data, content and bespoke insight tools, which will include listening and predictive analytics platforms that will layer in a foretelling media capability. According to a press statement, Red Havas employs a strategic model called “merged media,” that replicates the convergence of media consumption – blending traditional and digital publishing, content, social media, and data in a way that defines the future of PR as a category.Yap said the rebranding under Red Havas will further reinforce the agency’s ambitious plans to redefine the industry as well as drive the network’s integrated Village model of working in sync with its “Together” strategy of collaboration.“As creative and media agencies face a near-daily redefinition of their identity and scope of work, PR agencies face a complete reconstruction of the modern media landscape. In Singapore, our merged media model is driven by a team of 40 PR, social and performance marketing specialists, focused on tangible business outcomes,” he added.James Wright, global chairman of the Havas PR Collective and global CEO of Red Havas said the guiding light of PR has always been to integrate brands or organisations stories into the daily conversations of the media ecosystem.“PR is one of the most powerful tools that brands can use to connect to audiences, but it’s essential that it integrates seamlessly across content types and sources and operates at the pace, and in the ways, of today’s consumer. With content, social and predictive data at the core, we’ve built a model that merges all of the various media sources and essentially redefines the PR capability entirely,” he added.