The launch of Havas Worldwide New York’s Shared Owned & Earned (SOE) media unit, which the integrated marketing communications agency will announce tomorrow, reflects a shift in the way brands evaluate their marketing campaigns in less-traditional channels like social media.
Brands want to understand the value of social and branded content in online communities, explains Richard Notarianni, Havas Worldwide New York’s executive director of engagement planning and performance. Notarianni will lead the 21 employees that constitute the new SOE unit.
“We need to add this layer of accountability to the fastest growing channels we’re using in the marketing,” he explains. “As social media and branded content come of age, accountability is a requisite.”
The SOE unit consolidates various agency disciplines around analytics, community management, and content strategy—bringing these areas into a single practice that will be available to all of Havas Worldwide New York. According to Notarianni, this structure differs from that offered by its competitors, which spin off their digital and analytics practices into completely separate agencies. “When all advertising becomes social, when accountability is everything, having a separate branded agency do this makes no sense,” he says.
SOE, Notarianni says, brings digital capabilities into the core agency.
According to a release, SOE already has active assignments from existing Havas Worldwide New York clients, including Dos Equis and Reckitt Benckiser.
Though currently launched as part of Havas Worldwide’s U.S. offering, the agency plans to expand the unit across more clients and geographies.
