April 26, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] The advent of the internet has significantly changed the media landscape over the past few decades, which Mike Amour, the CEO of Havas APAC Group, sees as a factor that makes South Korea an important market.

Havas Group is one of the world‘s largest advertising and public relations groups headquartered in Paris, France. It employees some 20,000 workers across more than 100 countries.

The communications groups aim to create meaningful connections between people and brands through creativity, media and innovation, according to the company.

 

Mike Amour, the CEO of Havas APAC Group

“Korea is a tough, but important market,” Amour said during an interview with The Korea Herald at the Havas Korea office located in Hannam-dong, central Seoul, last week.

Widespread use of high-speed internet and smartphones here allow the communications professionals to anticipate changes in consumer behavior and business environment ahead of time, he said.

As information enables a precise prediction of the future, companies are keen on getting their hands on some to prepare themselves in the rapidly changing digital era.

In terms of market size, as a member of the G-20, Korea is an essential country for clients, said Amour.

“Korea is the first country that I visited among the 19 countries in the Asia Pacific region when I came to work last October,” said Amour.

The Scotland native began his career in the advertising industry in 1985 and worked with leading global companies including Nike, Coca-Cola and American Express.

He has also lived and worked in London, New York, Tokyo, Paris, Portland and Singapore, managing operations and clients for the world’s top agency networks, including McCann-Erickson WorldGroup, Wieden+Kennedy and TBWA Worldwide.

Based on his extensive international experience, Amour was appointed to lead Asia Pacific operations of Havas Group last October.

Amour expressed difficulties in the Korean market due to in-house ad agencies run by conglomerates, a system unique to Korea.

In-house agencies self-manage advertisements, communications and public relations, such as Hyundai Motor Group’s advertisement affiliate Innocean and Samsung Group’s Cheil Worldwide.

Despite such hurdles, Havas Korea has recently flagged a deal to manage the creative communications of BMW Korea, which Amour noted as one of the most rewarding moments at Havas.

“Compared to when I visited Korea last year, Havas Korea has shown great development. It now has a staff of 60 to 70 people and the energy is remarkable. We also celebrated on closing the deal with BMW Korea,” said Amour.

Seeking to expand its presence here, Havas Korea is in the final stage of sealing a deal to acquire a rising local digital communications company based in Seoul by the end of this year.

In the long-term, Havas Korea aims to acquire two to three more companies here.

Havas Korea began operations here in 1994 and it currently works with the country’s top companies and state-run institutes, including Innocean, Korea’s top cosmetics maker AmorePacific and state-run Korea Electronics Technology Institute under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

As the global businessman of a multinational advertising group, Amour said “the speed of change” concerns him the most.

In the past advertisers could somewhat assume the consumer group advertisements would reach out to and the forms of media was limited to television, radio, newspaper and magazines, he said.

Due to digitalization, however, the media landscape now not only changes rapidly, but has also become fragmented.

Such change has given a boost to Korea’s stance within the Havas Group on the country’s wide spread high-speed internet that ranked No.1 worldwide in the first quarter of this year for 13 consecutive quarters, according to a report by Akamai Technologies.

Amour said, it is Havas‘ job to help clients prepare for change, citing the example of how Facebook lost its appeal to Instagram in a span of two to three years.

As part of efforts to prepare for the future, Havas Group runs a separate company called 18 Labs that makes 18 months predictions together with leading universities and research centers around the world, including Korea’s top ranked Seoul National University.

“Diverse channels have also weakened brand loyalty, which Havas will fill with the right leadership, creativity and innovation,” said Amour.

According to an annual worldwide survey of 300,000 people conducted by Havas Group, most people answered they would not care if 74 percent of all brands disappeared for good.

As for the latest trend in the ad industry, Amour emphasized three to four-minute-long creative online commercials that tell a story.

According to Amour, good storytelling, like the love story in the advertisement for the major French retail chain Monoprix which Havas worked on, sticks with consumers.

By Kim Bo-gyung/The Korea Herald (lisakim425@heraldcorp.com)