Havas Paris, the flagship agency of the international communications group Havas, is rebuilding itself after being splashed by a case of sexual harassment.
After commissioning an audit from an outside firm, the Havas group modified the organization chart of its agency.
Mayada Boulos, former adviser and head of the communication department to Prime Minister Jean Castex, has been appointed co-president of Havas Paris.
She shares this presidency with Julien Carette who returns to the agency, cleared by the independent audit.
Mayada Boulos knows the house well.
This specialist in communication, influence strategy and advice to senior executives, she was already deputy general manager of Havas Paris from 2016 to 2020.
Audit results
These appointments close a dark chapter in the agency's history.
In May 2022, Christophe Coffre, then creative director of Havas Paris, was targeted by a series of anonymous testimonies published on the Instagram account "Balance your Agency" (BTA) which denounce acts of sexual harassment.
The group immediately reacted by putting him back as well as Julien Carette, president of the Havas Paris agency.
In the process, Havas commissioned an audit by an outside firm.
In mid-June, after the results of this audit, Christophe Coffre was laid off.
On the other hand, the conclusions of the audit exonerated Julien Carette.
Reassure customers
The first mission of the new tandem at the head of Havas France will be to appoint a new creative director.
Internal and external solutions are currently under review.
The other mission will be to continue the agency's work.
The case had a great impact in the world of communication and could lead to fears of the loss of budgets.
“Our existing customers were reassured that we took the matter on board and immediately launched an independent audit.
None of them left.
On the new budgets, it seems that the case played a negative role for one or two prospects.
But, at the same time, we won three major budgets,”
explains Raphaël de Andreis, executive committee of the Havas Group.