5 Minutes with… Stéphane Gaubert
Stéphane Gaubert has only been in the job of chief creative officer at Havas Paris since November 2022, but his time overseeing the creative output of the agency has been a successful period. Last summer the agency’s ‘Anne de Gaulle’ was 2023’s most awarded campaign for the whole Havas holding company, winning the Cannes Lions Grand Prix for Good, three Gold, one Silver and one Bronze. Thanks to this campaign, Fondation Anne de Gaulle gained important visibility for its cause – to fight discrimination against people with disabilities.
Other campaigns since have demonstrated that this creative heft is something look set to continue. Its most recent KFC campaign brought Colonel Sanders back to our screens in a futuristic tribute to the world-famous crispy chicken, which later led to the fast food chain launching its first manga book. Havas Paris’ first campaign for transport training brand OPCO celebrated the entire sector of automotive services and mobility, lightheartedly demonstrating how essential these professions are to everyone's daily life.
LBB’s Alex Reeves catches up with the CCO to find out more about how he’s leading the agency through this era of strong French creativity.
LBB> Can you share the highlights of your journey from a copywriter to becoming the chief creative officer at Havas Paris?
Stéphane> I started in advertising 20 years ago as a copywriter at BBDP&Fils. At the time, it was the most creative agency in France with Olivier Altmann (CCO). I was very lucky to start with him. He was and still is very inspiring, very strong and terribly effective. The campaigns were crazy and I realised that that's what I wanted to do.
Then I moved on to TBWA/Paris (four times agency of the year in Cannes, a record!). I won my first Lions, then Leo Burnett Paris, where I was lucky enough to win a lot of Lions too. I was contacted by FRED & FARID to take my first job as creative director in 2016. Likewise, an exceptional first year with seven Lions, including three golds – magical! I've always wanted to do something remarkable in every agency I've worked in. I didn't want to move to another agency until I'd achieved something big.
Then I joined the Havas group as ECD at Les Gaulois and then at Havas Paris. A year and a half ago, I was offered the job of CCO. I accepted with this desire to do something remarkable. The first year was incredible. The results were there. Winning a Grand Prix at Cannes Lions was a real source of pride.
LBB> What were the pivotal moments in your career that led you to where you are today?
Stéphane> I always wanted to work with the best. Olivier Altmann, then Eric Vervroegen, then Fred Farid and Xavier Beauregard. All these creative people inspired me, made me grow and helped me to become what I am today.
LBB> I'm interested in how people run different creative departments. Could you walk us through how an idea transforms from a concept to a full-fledged campaign under your leadership?
Stéphane> For me, there are four rules to being a good creative and therefore producing a great campaign: work, self-sacrifice, desire and courage.
You have to come up with a good idea. It's all about work.
Then you have to do it over and over again and then do it again – that's self-sacrifice.
Then you have to think about how best to produce that idea – this is the desire.
And finally, courage. You have to be brave. Don't give up, always give your point of view, with a positive impact on things. Having the courage not to let the details slip by. It's the details that make great campaigns.
I ask my creatives never to lose sight of the objective. Follow these four rules and do your best. Because at the end we are judged on the campaigns we produce. It's essential to always remember that.
LBB> In your view, how has the advertising landscape most changed in the last decade, and where do you see it heading?
Stéphane> Advertising is constantly evolving. It's a changing business. AI comes into our lives. It’s a new tool that we have to learn to use. It’s changing our relationship with time. We are becoming more efficient. And this gives us more time to think. And that's good news. We're in the business of ideas, and our ideas are going to get better and better.
LBB> Where do you see French advertising in a global context?
Stéphane> Fantastic. In France, we have BETC, the world's leading agency at WARC, bravo to them. Publicis Conseil has reinvented itself with Marco Venturelli as CCO and was the second best agency at Cannes in 2023. Our friends from Marcel, Youri Guerassimov and Gaetan du Peloux, are going to have an exceptional year and I wish them all the best.
We're in a dynamic market with agencies of a very high creative level. We all get on very well. It's true that we're in competition, but everybody is happy for others when they win. There is an exceptional dynamic and every day we train each other to be better.
Allez international brands, the French are here! And especially Havas Paris.
LBB> What drives your passion for advertising, and how do you stay inspired?
Stéphane> We do a sublime job. Who could argue with that? We get paid to come up with ideas. Sometimes sensitive, sometimes totally stupid. It's great fun. I know I'm very lucky. So the passion feeds on itself. Then I get inspired by people and their discussions. I watch lots of series and documentaries. I listen to the radio and I go on social networks to see what's trending and what people are responding to. I think that to be a good creative you have to be a good listener, with empathy and curiosity.
LBB> As the chief creative officer, how have you influenced the evolution of Havas Paris’ creative identity?
Stéphane> Havas Paris is basically an agency with a very strong corporate and influencer focus.
What motivated me was the challenge of turning it into a more creative agency. I'm lucky enough to work with a superb team and my partner Severine Autret, VP Havas Paris, loves creativity. Our ambition is to make Havas Paris a creative agency recognised by its peers. But you can't just proclaim it, you have to do it. And our first challenge was to prove within the agency that this was possible. I'm a strong believer in leadership by example. It's by leading the way that others follow.
The first year had to be a success. And the results were there. I think we've won more in Cannes in one year than in the last 20. Now no one at the agency can say "it's impossible". That's my job. To give hope to creative people. We need to support them, help them grow and make them proud of themselves. But that takes hard work, dedication, desire and courage.
There's a quote I like to repeat. “To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.”
LBB> What has been the most challenging campaign you’ve worked on and what made it particularly complex?
Stéphane> There's been a lot of talk about it this year, but the campaign for the Anne de Gaulle Foundation is really something else. You can't imagine the colossal amount of work involved when a creative comes up with a simple idea to change the name of an airport. You have to convince the chairman of [airport operator] ADP, you have to ask for permission to change the signs on the motorway. With the authorisation of Air France to have the arrival messages on the planes. Redoing all the signs inside the airport, the baggage tags with the security issues. I'm still impressed that I managed to convince everyone. It was a crazy project. But once again, where there's a will there's a way.
LBB> If a brand was to advertise successfully to you, what would that advertising look like?
Stéphane> A popular campaign, a campaign that speaks to people. A campaign that creates emotion. A campaign that people talk about and that makes clients and the agency proud. But for that you need trust. A campaign is like a baby, it takes two people. You need a good agency and a good client.
