Havas has acquired Unnest, an innovative French data engineering and consulting firm, as part of a courageous initiative to augment its worldwide AI and data capabilities. The company is famous for creating large-scale data platforms and advanced cloud solutions. The purchase was made only a few hours after the Omnicom rival announced a comprehensive data-driven restructuring, which is indicative of a sector-wide movement towards AI-enabled marketing transformation at a faster pace.
In 2021, Nicolas Chollet and Mehdi Moreau founded Unnest which has been able to make a name for itself in a very short time as a company that provides high-impact data infrastructures both in design and implementation. Apart from that the teams are recognized to have an in-depth technical skill in major cloud and AI ecosystems, such as Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, Snowflake, and AWS. The company has various clients worldwide in different business sectors such as retail, travel, beauty, automotive, and luxury, which are the ones in which predictive intelligence, personalization, and real-time optimization become the main factors of business performance.
Unnest will be a part of CSA, the global data, technology, and analytics division of Havas Media Network, after the acquiring. The CSA is spearheading the development of Converged.AI, which is Havas’ strategic model that aims at correlating data, technology, and AI to assist brands in dealing with perplexing digital ecosystems. Havas states that the collaboration will be very efficient on a practical level as it will combine the department Unnest with the already existing ones, i.e. CSA Data Consulting, DBi, and TED Consulting, thus a 120-member strong data group will be created in France. Due to CSA having a global presence, the new abilities will be used in international markets, which will thus give Havas the prowess to carry out complex data and AI projects on a large scale in different locations.
Yannick Bolloré, Havas Chairman and CEO, in his remarks on the acquisition, described it as a landmark for the group:
“We welcome Nicolas Chollet, Mehdi Moreau, and the entire Unnest team to the Havas family with great pleasure. Their technological knowledge will be worth a lot in the fast progression of our Converged.AI strategy. They will enable the implementation of AI solutions on a large scale among our clients, thus helping solve strategic and operational problems while at the same time keeping the highest levels of quality.”
Unnest, the company, views the acquisition as a strategic big step in its expansion timeline. Co-founder Nicolas Chollet considered the alliance with Havas as the way of the company’s rapid growth and wider spreading of the engineering team’s know-how.
Chollet stated: “The data and AI sphere is growing very fast, and Havas joining would be a chance like no other to speed up our growth and use our technological expertise to implement a global vision. We are very passionate contributors to the creation of innovative solutions for brands.”
The eminence of Unnest in delivering “best-in-class” engineering solutions will significantly feature Havas’ capabilities just when the demand for extensive data foundations, cloud-native architectures, and scalable AI capabilities from brands is on the rise.
Industry Context: A Race to Reinvent the Agency Model
The timing of the action is a very important factor that adds up to the move’s significance. The new organizational structure centered around data integration, automation, and advanced analytics was just unveiled by Omnicom, and with that, the company effectively set a benchmarking standard for holding groups that are on the next phase of digital transformation.
Given that the major advertising networks of the world are putting priority on proprietary data stacks, AI orchestration, and tech-layer consolidation, the battle for engineering-level capabilities has, de facto, been the central locus of competitive positioning. The deep expertise in data infrastructure, not just mere analytics or media optimization, is what is going to determine most agency groups’ ability to be the frontrunners in AI-first marketing strategies, according to the industry analysts.
The decision to buy Unnest made by Havas reflects the intention to not only be able to move at the same speed with the rival but also to be able to show leadership by staking a claim in the new environment. Havas is positioning herself to be the one to provide end-to-end transformation for brands, ranging from data architecture to intelligent activation, by broadening her cloud engineering muscle and reinforcing her Converged.AI platform.
By uniting with the network’s global data division, Unnest is thus a part of Havas’ decisive move to stand out as a strong competitor in the AI-driven future of advertising.
