Media Buying Briefing: How Horizon and Havas’ JV aims to distinguish itself in a ‘red ocean’

As Bob Lord, Horizon Media’s president and interim CEO of Horizon Global explained, it’s structured as a 50/50 commercial joint venture with a single P&L between Havas and Horizon. “We activate the Horizon U.S. operation with the Havas international operation,” said Lord. “So as we get client revenue in, that revenue goes through the P&L and at the end Horizon and Havas split it 50/50 for the profits.”

Horizon Global has even been codified as its own entity — separate from Horizon and Havas on their own — by third-party vendor Comvergence, which independently tracks agency wins and losses. And though it hasn’t yet won any standalone accounts, it’s helping existing clients of both agencies to expand where needed, said Lord, whose counterpart on the Havas side is Renata Spackova, Havas’ global COO of new core business. They both report to Horizon founder and chairman/CEO Bill Koenigsberg and Havas Media CEO Peter Mears.

Lord explained that, to him, the JV is differentiated because of the single P&L— where the holding companies tend to operate different P&Ls country by country. He said that Horizon has helped one client (which he declined to identify) expand from the U.S. into Mexico via the JV. “It allows us to have one focus on the client,” he said. “Although maybe the Mexico volume is not very high, it’s still within that one P&L. So you have the right motivation to put the right network in for that particular client that’s going after it.”

Other pitches the JV is going after include an airline, consumer pharma, footwear and a gaming firm, added Lord, who declined to identify any by name. “We’re operating from the Horizon, global core of a U.S.-based operation that has tentacles into international,” he added.

The board formed to oversee the JV includes Lord and Koenigsberg for Horizon, and Mears and Havas CEO Yannick Bolloré. Sans Bolloré, the group visited some of the pitch consultancies in the fall to showcase what they’ve assembled — explaining that a JV was a much quicker way to get to the market than a merger or acquisition, which could take months to assemble and pass requisite hurdles. 

ID Comms founder Tom Denford, one of the consultants who met with the group, credits them for having entrepreneurial spirit at the least, even if they’re swimming in what he dubs a “red ocean” due to the blood in the water created by the bigger holdcos like WPP, Omnicom and Publicis. But he also thinks this is a dress rehearsal for ultimately getting acquired.

“I think the principle of the JV and Horizon Global is positive,” said Denford. “These second-level agencies are in a fight for survival, so it makes sense for us that the two test out a partnership … I think Horizon need to show they can be integrated in the future by a potential acquirer so this is a trial run maybe. It’s good for clients of both Horizon and Havas … I’m glad to see the entrepreneurs in agencies are hard at work finding new deals to innovate.”

Less enthusiastic about the JV is Ryan Kangisser, chief strategy officer at consultancy Media Sense, who acknowledges that he has not yet been pitched by the JV. But it’s more that he’s skeptical about JVs in the first place. 

“We all know that rarely are strategic alliances worth the paper they’re written on,” noted Kangisser. “Until they are working together, I think it’s hard to see any substance in it.”

That said, he does credit the JV for having a somewhat differentiated approach by turning to existing clients within Havas or Horizon that want to expand into the other agency’s territory. “That kind of farming, so to speak, is far more effective than hunting in a open process where you’re coming up against everyone and anyone with their arguably more integrated proposition,” said Kangisser. 

Lord stands by the power of the informal union, and points to the fact that data and AI — as expressed by Horizon’s Blu platform and Havas’ Converged platform — represent the most powerful elements an agency can bring to its clients. With the complications of different regulations by region, he says having Havas ensure it is compliant where it operates and Horizon doing the same domestically, regulatory problems are sidestepped. And he pointed out that “the client owns the data — the client owns the models,” he said, citing it as an important distinction from the Omnicoms and Publicises who he said force clients to use their owned data (in Acxiom and Epsilon, respectively).

By year end, Lord hopes to have landed between two and three new clients via the JV, at which point a permanent CEO will be hired. “Second half of the year [to land standalone clients] is kind of my ambition,” he said. “And when we land the engagements, we have a pipeline of candidates to take over the CEO role and we’ll then execute on bringing in a permanent CEO.”

Of course, it’s anyone’s guess what the top agency landscape will look like by the end of the year, with Omnicom now in need of showing why its acquisition of IPG can work, WPP trying to get back on a growth trajectory, and Publicis fighting to remain king of the hill. 

Color by numbers

With Super Bowl 60’s cost of a 30-second ad now at $8 million, it remains the final foundation of a linear TV business that’s eroding before the industry’s eyes. Should influencers and creators become the primary messengers of Super Bowl campaigns? According to CreatorIQ, they are sucking up more air in the room, so to speak. Last year, 148 brands activated creators during Super Bowl week, up from 103 in 2024 — we’ll see where that number lands next month. Meantime, read Digiday’s Kimeko McCoy on the pros and cons of influencer-led SB campaigns.    

Takeoff & landing

• Crossmedia brought on two veteran media execs, hiring former UM data and analytics head Dino Mytides to be executive director and head of Redbox, the agency’s business intelligence practice, and Kaitlyn McInnis as executive director of integrated investment, who comes over from a senior investment role at Zenith. 
• Sports media and marketing group Omnicom Sports promoted Jeremy Carey to president from chief investment officer. Carey, who’s been with the group since 2005, succeeds its co-founder Tom McGovern, who will remain a consultant within Omnicom Media.
• Barkley OKRP, which last year launched MissionOne Media as a standalone media agency, opened a New York office that will house some 20 employees including MissionOne president Sean Corcoran.
• Creator marketing agency Influencer hired Hayden Bowler to be head of commerce, a new unit formed to expand into retail strategy, performance measurement, and creator monetization. Until last summer, Bowler was TikTok’s head of creator operations. 
• Performance agency Net Conversion hired Logan Marshall as vp of analytics, Sara Eader as vp of integrated media, and said it plans to open a Chicago office in spring 2026.

Direct quote

“Clients have accountability here: the squeezing of compensation, procurement people trying to bring costs down, extended payment terms. So agencies have to turn somewhere.”

— Bill Duggan, group evp at the ANA, on why some agencies turn to using principal media.

Speed reading

• Speaking of which, Seb Joseph and I teamed up to examine Forrester’s report on principal media, citing ways in which more transparency can be achieved for brands, media agencies and publishers. 
• I examined a few ways in which technology is helping the larger independent media agencies level up their skills and abilities with their larger holding company competition. 
• Seb Joseph offered two takes on the ascendancy of Yahoo’s DSP, citing the reasons media buyers see its potential even as it endures layoffs, and how it’s OK if marketers don’t use its UX as long as they still buy through the DSP.