Founded 1997 | Parent organization Havas | |
Headquarters New York City, New York, United States CEO Alfonso Rodes Vila (Mar 2006–) Subsidiaries Havas Media New York, MFG R&D SA Profiles | ||
Havas media group
Havas Media is the media division of the global marketing and communications group Havas. It incorporates the media assets of Havas, which includes predominantly entities which were formerly known as Media Planning Group (MPG). MPG was created in March 1999 as the result of a merger between Media Planning founded in 1978, and Médiapolis, founded in 1980. The two agencies offer communication, media strategy and management services to its clients. Operating mainly in Western Europe and the Americas, it is the 9th largest media specialist worldwide.
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History
MPG was created in 1999 as the result of a merger between two media agencies: Media Planning S.A. founded in Spain in 1978 by Leopoldo Rodés Castañes and covering the Hispanic markets, and Médiapolis, a French company founded in 1980 by Havas Advertising. Havas initially acquired a 45% holding in MPG, which increased to 100% in May 2001. Fernando Rodés Vilà, who joined Media Planning S.A in 1994, was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Havas in March 2006. In October 2006, Havas announced that all its media assets would be reorganised under the umbrella of "Havas Media" and Alfonso Rodes Vila, brother of Fernando, was named CEO in July 2006. Having started out in just eight markets (Spain, Portugal, France, UK, the Netherlands, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia), today MPG is a worldwide network, covering 93% of the world’s advertising investment.
Controversy
Havas Media's MPG USA has been criticized by the Industrial Workers of the World for not negotiating a severance agreement with one of its members who was laid off in April 2009. The union has initiated a campaign to get their biggest client, Sears Holdings Corporation, to stop using MPG by protesting outside of Kmart stores. MPG has not publicly commented on the dispute.