Havas Health names global network Jacques after advertising legend

Havas Health launched Jacques, a network of global agencies specializing in healthcare, on Tuesday morning.

The Jacques network — named after advertising legend Jaques Séguéla — centers around the idea of ​​operating in the “post-campaign era” and disrupting the norms of health and wellness advertising.

The collection of Havas agencies will focus on serving pharma, health and health-adjacent companies.

The introduction of Jacques comes with a revised structure at Havas Health, which features three offerings — global health shop Havas Life, digital health brand transformation business Havas Lynx and now the health and wellness disruptor Jacques.

“Our belief is that creativity will be the key differentiator to the successful health brands of tomorrow,” Donna Murphy, global CEO of Havas Health Network and Havas Creative Network, said in a statement. “Brands are perpetually looking for new formulas, and the launch of Jacques marks an era of transformation in health and wellness.”

The network is aptly named after Séguéla, an iconic French advertising leader and original Havas partner who’s perhaps most well-known for his work on brands like Citroën, AirFrance, Louis Vuitton and Apple.

He also spent part of his career on political campaign strategies, including the election of former French president Francois Mitterrand. After spending 60 years in the ad industry, he has built up a body of work involving some 1,500 campaigns.

Séguéla also comes from a health background as his mother was a surgeon and his father worked in radiology, while he himself was a doctor of pharmacology before entering the ad world.

“When we considered different rebrand possibilities and the name ‘Jacques’ was raised, everyone was on board because he is someone who exists in everything we do at Havas,” Murphy said in a statement. “He has forever transformed advertising, but it’s his unique and enduring fidelity to creativity that differentiates him from every other ‘adman.’”

Murphy added that even at age 90, Séguéla is still pitching and winning business, and the company is “thrilled” to extend its legacy through these agencies.

Séguéla acknowledged the honor in a statement, noting that he is proud to be associated with the reinvention of health and wellness communications as well as the Havas story as a whole.

The restructuring comes a few months after Havas debuted its consumer health unit, Havas Consumer Health, which specializes in over-the-counter health and wellness brands. Havas Consumer Health brought together expertise from two of its other agencies — Havas Health & You, and Havas Creative Network.