A Brave PR, Digital & Engagement Agency
What sets Havas Formula apart from other agencies? We’re champions of bravery. Bravery is about more than challenging the status quo; it means working harder, thinking smarter and being bolder than any other agency in the game. It means looking at why your brand should matter and creating meaningful experiences and stories that stick. We challenge our clients to think and act differently – and to step outside the comfort zone. Because brave doesn’t happen when you fear making mistakes or sit around waiting to catch lightning in a bottle. In an era where earned and paid media collide, we believe that brands have to be brave in order to stand out. Attention spans are now shorter than ever. We overcome this by taking a hard look at how and where your target stakeholders are consuming their news and content and building strategic programming that engages. #bebrave
ADP partnered with Wired magazine to give attendees at the 2019 SXSW conference in Austin, TX, the opportunity to literally smash workplace barriers at the Breaking Barriers exhibit, a series of "break rooms" based on common work challenges. Visitors could use a variety of heavy objects to break a glass ceiling, smash outdated technology, destroy a piggy bank, or pummel a clock to vent their frustrations at their professional hurdles. The activation gained over 200 million PR impressions, was called the “dark horse of SXSW” by Adweek, and named one of the 5 best activations by Entrepreneur.
In 2017, Jaguar Land Rover hosted 35 media guests for a combination of in-show activity and out-of-show events across four days. The hero event was the U.S. Debut of the Range Rover with Ellie Goulding, supported by media relations across automotive, lifestyle and business organizing interviews, earning Land Rover the #1 share of voice at the show with 1,000 media placements & more than 1.67 billion impressions.
There’s nothing more American than Chinese food and nothing commands as much love as General Tso’s Chicken. This iconic 66-year-old dish made its inaugural debut at America’s most beloved Chinese kitchen, Panda Express in August 2016. Even though a little late to the dinner party, Panda Express captivated fans’ appetites with a customized experiential stunt at the brand’s birthplace at the Glendale Galleria, it hosted its first ever Facebook Live, released the “chork” (a Chinese American mashup of fork and chopstick) with the dish, and developed digital content around an influencer panel to highlight how this American Chinese original fit into the meaning of “Chinese inspired, American crafted.”
You can’t crack open a Mike’s Hard Lemonade without cracking a smile. So what better way to bring even more smiles, laughter and good times to Mike’s consumers than delivering humor directly to their doorstep? To support the brand’s “Drink on the bright side” campaign, we delivered the unexpected with a little help from rapper and comedian Lil Dicky and leading alcohol delivery service Drizly. The sweepstakes awarded two lucky fans a fun-filled house party hand-delivered and hosted by Lil Dicky and was amplified by PR and social media to drive viral buzz.
To disrupt National Donut Day, Edible launched the world’s first chocolate-dipped fruit donut. We placed an 18-foot apple tree in the heart of New York City’s Oculus to showcase the newest treat while donut pickers handed out samples and educated passersby. We also seeded media and influencers to make the activation deliciously newsworthy.
La Victoria, the pioneer of jarred salsa in the U.S, was celebrating a delicious culinary tradition: the 100th anniversary of salsa as we know it in America. The makers had kept the Mexican tradition alive and well in the hearts and bellies of today’s consumers for a century and wanted to put a stake in the ground and connect with today’s consumers. We answered with an event series that brought to life its rich history as well as the quality and beauty of its foods.
Wonderful Pistachios wants Latinos to “get crackin’” on their healthy lifestyles and engaged with TV personality and certified life coach, Laura Posada to serve as the brand’s first Latina ambassador. Centered around National Nutrition Month (March) and Summer Prep (May-June), Laura Posada promoted health-related messages through a media tour in New York City, SMT, media and influencer events, social media videos and recipes inspired in Wonderful Pistachios.
The makers of Wholly Guacamole were looking to accelerate household penetration growth and connect consumers with its “Live Wholly” campaign platform. We created a high-touch, immersive experience that showcased the brand’s real food ingredients and convenience, while also engaging fans in making smart choices and doing the things that make you the best you.
When President Obama was set to address the nation about honesty on Wall Street, Havas Formula leveraged media headlines to help launch a social experiment that would bring Honest Tea into the nation’s spotlight. Unmanned kiosks mirroring retail shelves were staged in high traffic areas, including the subway stop at Wall Street. Signage invited people to take a tea in exchange for $1. Hidden cameras captured activity, helping determine which cities were honest and which were not. Havas Formula quickly translated this data into snackable bites perfect for major media and blogger consumption.
When Grammy-winning musician John Mayer tweeted his love for Justin’s, little did he know he’d be tweeting a new flavor into existence. Merging social listening with real time PR, we quickly reacted to the famous musician who tweeted “Cookie dough flavored almond butter let’s do it @justins” to his millions of fan followers. His wish was our command, as we accepted the challenge and sent Mayer his own jar of Cookie Dough Almond Butter. Mayer gushed about the “hand-made batch of nirvana” across his Instagram, Twitter &Facebook accounts and media caught on like wild fire.
What started as a simple greeting exchange with Post-Its blossomed into a global phenomenon we called #CanalNotes. A return to the world of analog communications, the events not only brought together our employees across the Havas Village to create a gallery of art, but it enabled us to showcase our collaborative spirit and unmatched creativity. Havas ranked highest among the participating companies, with a 41% digital engagement and over 451,993,766+ media impressions. We even made it to #1 on Reddit.
Trusted in homes for over 90 years, Schlage wanted to shift consumer brand perception from a security product manufacturer to a maker of stylistic home accents. Enter the ELEVATE Design Collective. A strategic alliance comprised of six industry-leading home design brands – Schlage, Delta Faucet Company, Formica Corporation, Hunter Fan, JELD-WEN, KitchenAid – with a mission to create a prominent voice and inspiration for interior designers, architects and remodelers. ELEVATE provided Schlage with a platform to share its distinct design point of view through several initiatives including a partnership with the Pantone Color Institute and an NYC urban loft project unveiled during New York Design Week.
K-Y partnered with Havas New York to create The Pleasure is Mine, a three-part docu-series focused on female empowerment in the bedroom, a subject that remains taboo in today’s society. With such important subject matter on the line, Havas Street was tasked with throwing the ultimate premiere celebration for 100 high-profile media, influencers, and guests in New York City. Attendees were surprised and delighted throughout the evening by everything from the docu-series viewing in a state-of-the-art theater to an onsite artist recording visual responses to the question, “What Does Pleasure Mean to You?” The launch event earned considerable media attention for both the series and the brand, with featured coverage across multiple national news and lifestyle outlets.
In celebration of National Sunglasses Day, Maui offered media and influencers a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Leveraging the brand’s ‘The View is Better from Here’ platform we activated a full brand immersion in the sky. This included two event locations, nine helicopters, 50+ media attendees, seeded products, 196 editorial placements, over 1.7 billion impressions and a view no one will ever forget.
To introduce press to Chase’s “Pins & Properties: Chasing Your Dream Home” report and amplify discussions around the Chase Dream Boards Initiative, Chase Home Lending partnered with Pinterest and Drew and Jonathan Scott, stars of the HGTV series, “Property Brothers,” for a press event and live panel discussion at the Pinterest New York office. More than 20 reporters engaged in discussions around millennial homebuying habits, home renovation finance, building home equity and much more.
