Havas, the holding company based in France, has acquired a majority share of Victors & Spoiles, the crowdsourcing agency based in Boulder, Colo.
V&S was opened in 2009 by two former CP&B executives, John Winsor and Evan Fry, and Claudia Batten, who co-founded the gaming ad network Massive. The three continue to own a minority stake in the shop.
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As part of the deal, Winsor remains CEO and becomes chief innovation officer at Havas.
According to people familiar with the situation, V&S and Havas have been in talks for the better part of a year.
During the past few years, V&S has worked with Harley Davidson, General Mills, Dish Network, Gap and WD-40, among others, which are served ideas that are products of a “crowd” of some 6,000 creatives who are managed via a digital platform. While V&S has managed to persuade clients to come onboard to work with the firm under the premise that their model offers marketing thinking and projects at lower cost than traditional agencies, it has been a source of consternation in the agency world as some creatives have argued that the firm’s approach devalues the expertise that trained folks offer.
“When an industry goes through a revolution, you can either sit and watch it happen or embrace the exciting new business models at the forefront of that revolution,” said Havas CEO David Jones in a statement. “Victors & Spoils is one of those new models that is challenging our entire industry and I’m delighted to welcome them into the group.”
Victors & Spoils will sit under the Havas Worldwide business unit. In its statement, the companies said one of their first projects will be to use V&S’s proprietary technology to create a 15,000 person professional Havas “crowd” from which to source ideas for clients.
The move is the latest under Jones to reshape Havas. Recently, he announced the rebranding of creative network EuroRSCG to Havas Advertising, which will take effect later this year. The V&S acquisition is the latest in a string of investments in smaller shops, such as Colleen Decourcy’s social-media shop Socialistic and creative shop Camp & King.
To read the original story in Advertising Age, click here.
