Havas Group has boosted its digital offering and effectively doubled the size of its Montreal office with the acquisition of TP1.
“This acquisition represents an outstanding opportunity to accelerate growth in Quebec and complement our existing digital service offering in Montreal,” said Yannick Bolloré, CEO Havas Group, in a statement released earlier today.
The release touts TP1’s “strategic expertise in marketing and communications and its commitment to outstanding user experiences, open technologies and web accessibility.”
TP1 founder Jan-Nicolas Vanderveken was named president of Havas Worldwide Montreal, reporting to Helen Pak CEO & chief creative officer of Havas Worldwide Canada.
Pak said the deal came about in the wake of Ann Bouthillier’s departure as CEO in August. Pak, who was promoted to CEO for Canada when Bouthillier left, said in the process of interviewing candidates to take over in Montreal she started looking at TP1 and realized that the office would benefit from having more than just a new president.
“Jan-Nicolas Vanderveken has been at the forefront of digital and innovation,” she said, but added the deal to buy all of TP1 wasn’t just about digital, but about delivering a more integrated offering to clients. “[TP1] has been doing some really interesting, not only digital work, but integrated work,” she said.
Total headcount in the combined TP1 Havas operation will be about 80 and the agency will remain in the Havas’ Montreal office.
“Overnight we double in size and we are able to scale for the digital needs of our existing clients and also anticipate the needs of the growing market,” she said.
Also today, Havas announced that Sébastien Moïse is joining Havas in Montreal as vice-president of client services. Moïse was most recently general manager of Montreal agency Alfred.
