Havas deal may trigger Mediapolis rebranding
Mediapolis in the UK could soon change its name after a merger between the media interests of its parent Havas Advertising and the biggest media agency in Spain.
Mediapolis, which is wholly owned by Havas, will become part of a new group following the merger with Spanish independent Media Planning.
The UK agency’s ownership will change, with Havas controlling 45 per cent of the new international group, the owners of Media Planning taking 19.25 per cent and three Spanish banks holding the rest.
The new operation will be known as Media Planning and claims to be the second largest independent media agency in the world. It will have billings of about Euro 4.2bn (2.8bn), a total of 1,200 staff and headquarters in Spain.
Mediapolis UK chief executive Bob Offen says there “may be a change of name at some point in the future” for the UK agency, although he stresses that it will not have an immediate impact on operations in the UK. He adds: “It gives us a stronger international network. We will have more resources for handling international clients.” He believes the long-standing service agreement with Young & Rubicam will be unaffected by the new development.
Offen says the merger does not produce any client conflicts with Mediapolis, whose main clients include Mercedes in the UK, and BT and Peugeot-Citroë outside the UK.
