Work That Works: Chris Hirst, Global CEO, Havas Creative

Chris Hirst

Global CEO Havas Creative — Havas Worldwide

See Profile

Author: No Bullsh*t Leadership: Why the World Needs More Leaders and Why That Leader is You

Profile Books, Published May 2^nd

Work that works

In my mind, there are really only a couple of things that the best agency needs to do to be better than the rest: win pitches and have happy clients. These things are difficult, but not complicated. The right insights that lead us to the right idea, beautifully delivered – that’s the elixir.

I’ve picked out 3 examples of work I love from across our network. It’s work that has substance, craft and that demonstrably works; real campaigns that solve real client problems. If you’re an established business like ours, it can be hard to change perceptions; in my view there’s no better way than through work that gets right to the heart of it.

Department for Education – Havas London

This example from Havas London is a good-old-fashioned advertising solution to a big scary client problem: we need a lot more teachers. A pretty hard metric. The campaign brings tears to the eyes – but more importantly, after 6 years of missed targets, teacher registrations were 23% ahead of our year-to-date target by the end of the campaign’s first quarter. (Great) advertising works, shock.

Palau Pledge – Host/Havas Australia