It’s 11:08am and I’m meant to be across town in twenty-two minutes, sitting opposite Havas Group ANZ CEO James Wright. Instead I’m still at home, abandoned by a disappearing Uber and already rehearsing my apology. By the time I finally step into the building, I’m braced for a room coated in that familiar gossamer of industry anxiety
Instead, Wright and his leadership team are… calm. Actually calm. A rare thing in an industry where the resting heart rate hovers somewhere north of sensible. And there’s something else drifting quietly beneath the surface – an ease, an empathy, the kind not usually found in corner offices or performance decks.
Within minutes, it becomes clear this isn’t incidental. It’s the spine of Wright’s leadership: a steadiness that holds the room rather than consuming it, and a vision built from something gentler than ego.
That tone carries through as Havas unveils Deliberately Different, a strategic platform signalling a sharpened direction for the network as it pushes deeper into AI, growth alignment and Village-wide integration across Australia and New Zealand.
That tone forms the backdrop as Havas Group ANZ unveils Deliberately Different, a strategic platform intended to sharpen the network’s posture across Australia and New Zealand – underpinned by new leadership appointments, scaled AI investment and a re-energised Village structure.
The new anchor of the Havas Village
The positioning arrives as the company tries to confront what it describes as a market weighed down by sameness, stagnation and cautious clients.
Wright believes constraints can be catalysts: “Ultimately, the creative industry is probably at its best when it’s under pressure to be more creative,” he says. “Human nature, when it’s under pressure, becomes brilliant.”
That philosophy underpins Deliberately Different, which aims to ground the Havas Village in intentionality rather than novelty.
The Village – Havas’ long-standing integrated model – brings together creative, media, PR, public affairs, social, influencer, health and med-comms under one roof.
Group Chief Growth and Marketing Officer Richard Clarke says the new platform finally gives that structure a shared language. “We’ve got an anchor point now in Deliberately Different. It’s about having that umbrella anchor and looking at how the concept brought to life through each agency.”
Leadership shift: AI and growth at the centre
To operationalise the strategy, Havas has appointed Alastair Baker as Chief AI Officer – the first role of its kind in ANZ. Clarke steps into an expanded remit guiding group-wide growth and marketing.
Wright says this structure is built for long-term adaptability: “With any plan these days, you need one – otherwise you’re not going anywhere – but you also need flexibility because the plan might change.”
AI, he says, is a perfect example of where that adaptability matters: “It’s not always a question of can we use AI or could we use AI; we should be asking should we be using AI? Some of these AI platforms make things up. They’ve been designed to make things up.”
His view is less about automation and more about freeing teams to think: “For me, AI is about unlocking our full potential – as an agency and as individuals, because in this world that’s all about automation and algorithms, originality is the secret sauce.”
Wright is also pushing capability uplift from the top down. “I sit on the global leadership group, and I can’t go to a meeting in January in Paris unless I complete a course on advanced AI,” he says. “Every one of us at a global level has to do that.”
Yet bottom-up capability matters just as much: “That’s why hiring somebody locally is so important – to ensure it’s being used in the right way, that people are being trained and educated in the right way.”
Culture, pressure and the calm that drives it
If strategy sits on one side of the equation, culture sits firmly on the other.
Wright says the team developed the new positioning during an intense offsite: “We came back, pulled things apart, put them back together again. There are expectations of the local team, expectations of the group, and expectations of clients. It’s a whole surround-sound of input that helps you get to the plan.”
That collaborative approach is embedded into the Village structure, which Wright believes fosters the empathy and collegiality required to make the model work.
Leaders know each other closely, offices are designed for cross-agency flow, and capability is shared fluidly. It creates, he says, a culture where people don’t disappear into silos but feel seen – and responsible for one another’s success.
“The cultural ambition we’ve set for the group is to be the best agency we’ve ever worked at,” Wright explains. “How we support people in the workplace – it’s all going to be deliberately different.”
Empathy, he insists, is a non-negotiable: “Empathy is super important to me. The way I see it – everybody went through the pandemic together, and I believe that brought a whole new level of empathy to the C-suite.”
A long-term horizon
Part of Wright’s steadiness comes from the company’s ownership structure.
“The majority shareholder is the Bolloré family. So that means they’ve set an agenda that isn’t so short-term. It’s not purely driven by immediate results. It also means they’ll buy into a medium- and long-term vision, particularly if they trust you.”
That long-term view guides Havas’ preparation for 2026, which includes the arrival of Kate O’Ryan-Roeder as CEO of Havas Media Network ANZ.
Wright says the strengthened leadership bench, AI uplift and refreshed Village model position the network to navigate economic uncertainty, industry consolidation rumours and the rising cost of tech investment for indie shops.
The ANZ Village includes Havas Host, Havas Media, Havas Red, Havas New Zealand, Havas Blvd, Havas PLAY, CSA, H/Advisors APA, One Green Bean, Organic Publicity, Frontier, Bastion Brands (Havas Health & You) and Pronto.
Deliberately Different will now be embedded across culture, capability and client delivery as the network enters its next strategic chapter.