The Meaningful Media Podcast

In the latest episode of the Meaningful Media Podcast, we dive into Havas Media Network's recently released 2025 Media Imperatives report, a robust report rich with perspectives from consumers, media platforms, and brands.Capturing consumer attention is one of today’s biggest challenges. With rising expectations and a new era of consumer agency, brands must balance AI with the human touch, push personalization without overstepping, and deliver seamless, privacy-first media experiences. It’s a tricky dance—but the stakes have never been higher.With Havas Media Network experts Jamie Seltzer, Global EVP, CSA & Mx Analytics, Seema Patel, CPC, ELI-MP, Global Managing Director, Mx Intelligence, Joanna Lawrence, Global Chief Strategy Officer, and Jonathan Waite, Global Managing Director, Mx, host Ben Downing explores how brands and partners can turn insights from this report into action. Ready to make 2025 the year of meaningful media? Let’s get started.🎙️ 

In the newest episode of the Meaningful Media Podcast, "Unwrapping The Future of Luxury E-Commerce," host Ben Downing "unwraps" how the world of high-end goods is evolving, examining luxury from two perspectives: its transformation across global and regional markets and the impact of digital marketplaces reshaping the industry.This special holiday episode brings together Havas experts Victoria Ducournau, Head of Havas Market España, and Cherry Collins, Strategy Partner at Havas Media Lux. Drawing from recent reports they've authored, they delve into luxury e-commerce trends, shifting buyer demographics, regional dynamics, leading luxury brands, and more.Get ready to rethink what luxury means—and where it’s found.

On the Meaningful Media Podcast, we explore how trusted, engaging, and influential media can drive change – delivering for brands, people, and the planet.  This philosophy was born out of our landmark Meaningful Brands study – an ongoing research project Havas initiated in 2009 to understand people’s aspirations, guardrails and expectations of brands.  Meaningful Brands is more than an impressive feat of data intelligence and analysis – it creates a shared understanding of consumers that underpins how we help brands become more meaningful and how they can grow.  In today’s episode, we’ll be exploring our latest edition of Meaningful Brands. This year’s research found that a staggering 74% of brands could disappear and consumers would not care, but there are brands that are bucking this trend. They have fierce loyalty and are outperforming the market. To uncover how all organizations can take a page from their playbook and become more meaningful, we’ve converged leaders from our media and creative networks to explore these findings.  

In this special episode of The Meaningful Media Podcast, Havas Media Network London's Global Managing Director of Mx, Jonathan Waite, welcomes Author and Researcher Karen Nelson-Field PhD to Havas Village London for a fireside chat on attention. In this exclusive session, Nelson-Field gives a sneak peek into her newest book The Attention Economy, A Category Blueprint —which we'll be giving out FIVE free copies of to the first five people who share our LinkedIn post!

On the Meaningful Media podcast, we know that attention is key to breaking through to consumers in a landscape where content is increasingly fragmented and competition for eyeball and ‘share of ear’ is fierce. Attention has since grown from its relative nascency in the marketing world to being implemented in media planning, buying, and measurement across the industry. But what is the specific amount of attention needed to achieve a brand’s desired outcomes? New research that Havas Media Network has conducted in partnership with Lumen Research and Brand Metrics has some definitive, and revealing, findings. In this first episode on our series on attention, we welcome back Jon Waite, Global Managing Director of Mx, Havas Media Network London back to the podcast, alongside Tanwa Edu, Chief Strategy Office of Lumen Research to dive deep into these insights and explore what they mean for the future of attention.

On this special episode of The Meaningful Media Podcast, host Ben Downing is joined by Jamie Seltzer, Global EVP, CSA & Mx Analytics and Paul Bland, Chief Digital Officer, Havas Media Network London to explore the latest development in the cookie saga. Hot off of Google's recent decision to keep the third-party cookie, this episode explores the implications of this reversal for marketers, businesses, and the digital ad ecosystem. Jamie and Paul bring their expertise to the table, providing insights into the rationale behind Google's decision, the challenges faced in finding alternatives to third-party cookies, and strategies for leveraging first-party data and new identity resolution methods.🎧 We’d love to hear your thoughts about meaningful media. Drop us a line! podcast@havasmn.com.  Like, share, follow, and connect with us on our socials! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/havasmedianetwork/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/havas-media-network/

For our special Olympics series The Meaningful Media Podcast celebrates media experiences rolled out during one of the biggest upcoming fan events in the world, the Paris 2024 Olympics. Joining our host Ben Downing is Charles Bal, Managing Director at Havas Play France. Havas Play France is a highly awarded agency which successfully taps the power of fans’ passions to enable brands to effectively connect with audiences.   Our special guest for this meaningful conversation is Sophie Bonnier, Director of International Partnerships at French telecoms giant Orange. As a partner of the Paris 2024 Olympics, Orange ‘is powering, and is powered by, the Olympics’. Put simply. Without the Internet, there is no Olympics. Together Sophie, Charles and Ben unpack what partnering with the Olympics means for a brand and how agency and client work hand in hand to carve impactful media experiences during one of the biggest sporting moments in the world.  Recorded in Paris, the amazing location for the 2024 Olympics, the discussion includes shining a spotlight on the double role of Orange for the Olympics as both a marketing partner and the technology provider powering connectivity for this entire event, including the opening ceremony set to take place outside on the Seine river in central Paris.  A key focus for their conversation is the very special marketing moment at this Olympics called the ‘Marathon pour Tous’ (Marthon for All) which Orange is sponsoring. For the first time in Olympic history, the public will have the opportunity to run the same route as the Olympians in two races of 42km and 10km. Both races are literally in the steps of the Olympic runners, and will take place at night on 10 August.   “For Orange, as we are very close to innovation and we want to bring innovations to people - it was really natural for us to become a partner for this event which is a first for the Olympics,” explains Sophie. The marathon is about making people live the adventure of the Olympics as well as connecting people together. As a telecoms’ operator, Orange connects people together making this also an analogy.   Sophie, Charles and Ben delve into the strategy behind creating this high impact, meaningful marketing moment and explain how agency and client are collaborating in the run up to one of the biggest sporting events in the world. This is a fascinating, insightful, ‘behind the scenes’ conversation which makes a fantastic listen. Enjoy!  🎧 We’d love to hear your thoughts about meaningful media. Drop us a line! podcast@havasmn.com.    Like, share, follow and connect with us on our socials!   ⭐ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/havasmedianetwork/   ⭐ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/havas-media    Producer: Lindsey Partos 

In the first episode in our special 2024 Olympics’ series, we cover what it takes to build a meaningful media experience in the specific context of one of the biggest sporting events on the planet. The Olympics is a common reference for nearly half of the planet’s population – in 2020 it attracted a global audience of over 3 billion and is on schedule to bring in an even bigger audience in 2024.  With the games taking place in Paris, who better to participate in our Olympic coverage than guests from Havas Play France, based in the City of Light.  In conversation with host Ben Downing, Augustin Penicaud, Vice President, Havas Play France, and Fabrice Plazolles, Chief Creative Officer, Havas Play France, dismantle the complex context in which incisive strategies are designed to create robust engagement and impactful brand campaigns for the 2024 Olympics.   The conversation kicks off with a dive into Rule 40, something that brands and athletes talk a lot about. Essentially the key principles in Rule 40 (from the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic charter) set out how participants, including athletes participating in the Olympic Games, can engage in, and benefit from, commercial activities around the Games. It’s aimed at finding the right balance between the interests of the IOC, their sponsors, and the athletes with their sponsors. Our host and guests then unpack the opportunities for media experience and marketing moments within this context. We’re also reminded that ‘the Olympics in just a context. It's not the goal of the idea.’   “You have to be smart in terms of media to be at the right place, at the right moment, in the right discussion, with the right communities. And that's what we do at Havas Play, because we are working on community planning and the way we touch these communities. And you have to be good in terms of creation because everyone is speaking at the same time,” underlines Fabrice as the discussion turns to crowded media moments, how to cut through the noise during the Olympics and how the agency leverages the Olympics to give food to the narrative of the brand.  The above - and much more - in this fascinating conversation which gets to the heart of creating meaningful media experiences for enduring brand building and nurturing cultural change through communications during one of the world’s most powerful sporting moments. A discussion not to be missed! Enjoy!   🎧 We’d love to hear your thoughts about meaningful media. Drop us a line! podcast@havasmn.com.    Like, share, follow and connect with us on our socials!   ⭐ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/havasmedianetwork/   ⭐ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/havas-media    Producer: Lindsey Partos 

What does trusted, engaging and influential media look like for brands as the process towards the cookie-less era begins? Unpacking the deprecation of the third-party cookie Jamie Seltzer, Global EVP, CSA & Mx Analytics, Havas Media Network and Vishal Taneja, Global Data & Platforms Lead, Google join host Ben Downing to explore concrete solutions for brands in this evolving context and examine how to deliver impactful media activations.   During their discussions, Ben and guests set the the situation today for third-party cookies and what this means for brands as they deal with their demise. As the industry moves away from a precision era to a predictive area.Our guests also dig deeper into the impact on media activation Together they explore the role of first part data and how brands can best optimise the first party data opportunity.   “The post-cookie world is a journey and an exciting place to be. It’s an opportunity and an impetus,” comments Ben.  While AI is by no means new to this area, Jamie, Vishal and Ben take time to discuss its evolving role and what future tools we can expect to see in the post-cookie era.   Concluding the conversation, ultimately, the following core value for agencies today will endure as we embark on the cookie-less era: “We make sure advertisers’ dollars go as far as they can while still respecting consumer needs and their wants: it’s results with respect. It’s critical we continue to apply that approach in the cookie-less world,” underlined Jamie Seltzer.  As the industry gets to grips with the evolving post-cookie landscape, this is a conversation not to be missed! Enjoy!   🎧 We’d love to hear your thoughts about meaningful media. Drop us a line! podcast@havasmn.com.    Like, share, follow and connect with us on our socials!   ⭐ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/havasmedianetwork/   ⭐ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/havas-media