Havas Media Group Named Global Media Agency Partner for Wolverine Worldwide

Havas Media Group (HMG) today announced that Wolverine Worldwide, one of the world’s leading marketers and licensors of branded casual, active lifestyle, work, athletic footwear and apparel, has named HMG as its global media agency partner following a four-month competitive review. Wolverine Worldwide’s impressive portfolio of highly recognized brands includes Merrell, Saucony, Sperry, Wolverine, Keds, and more.

“Building a more global and more integrated marketing system is essential for the continued growth of our portfolio business,” said Ben Aronson, VP of consumer marketing, eCommerce. “Throughout the pitch process Havas Media Group demonstrated an ability to balance the strategic needs of each of our brands with the technical needs of our portfolio marketing system. Our marketing leaders from around the world could not be more excited to consolidate our global media business with HMG.”

The global scope of Wolverine Worldwide’s engagement with HMG includes all regions and brands internationally (and with Sweaty Betty in select business areas), with a high focus on the US, EMEA, and Canada. As the media buying agency of record (AOR), HMG will oversee the media strategy, planning, and coordination, as well as content and analytics, developed from and anchored in HMG’s acclaimed data and decision sciences practices, including budget optimisation, media mix, forecasts, and more.

“Reaching consumers in new meaningful ways in the fast-evolving media landscape is more important than ever,” said Janice Tennant, chief marketing officer of Merrell, Wolverine Worldwide’s largest brand. “The Havas Media team brings a curiosity, collaborative spirit, and hunger to help us at Merrell, and other brands in the Wolverine Worldwide family, to expand our creativity, connect with consumers to help us grow, and build winning plans.”

Havas Media Group’s capacity to provide support spanning all digital transformation issues, as well as its commitment to creating a more sustainable, ethical, and inclusive media ecosystem, that also meets performance goals were crucial factors determining Wolverine Worldwide’s final choice.

"We’re incredibly excited to partner with Wolverine Worldwide, a company with similar values and a shared commitment to building meaningful brands,” said Greg Walsh, CEO, Havas Media Group, North America. “By the end of the process, it was clear our commitment to creating meaningful media experiences, our focus on media creativity, and our diverse and collaborative team that would be working on their business day-to-day, made HMG the best possible partners to help Wolverine Worldwide achieve its business goals”

This latest client win comes on the heels of a string of exciting announcements from HMG. From collaborating with Lumen Research on a first of its kind global partnership, to teaming with LiveRamp to create the first-ever agency-level data collaboration solution on HMG’s Converged platform, HMG continues to bolster its data, analytics and measurement capabilities, a key driver in capturing new business. In the last few months, the agency also launched a partnership with creator investment platform Spotter to provide meaningful, growth-enabling resources to diverse content creators and became the first agency to offer the Institute of Advertising Ethics’ (IAE) Certified Ethical Advertising Executive (CEAE) course to staff and clients globally, embedding an ethics framework that runs through the organization and culture. As HMG continues to strengthen these expending its offerings, the agency hopes to bring meaningful media to companies of all types.

“With a mission to empower, engage and inspire its consumers, Wolverine has a truly iconic portfolio of brands beloved by people around the world,” said Peter Mears, global CEO, HMG. “We are proud to be Wolverine Worldwide’s global agency partner, and look forward to leveraging the power and strength of our network to deliver meaningful media experiences that will unlock growth and build Wolverine Worldwide’s brands for the future.”

The first work from the partnership will debut in early September.