Aren’t you so glad it’s Monday? We’re so psyched. Last week was a nightmare and well, starting tomorrow, it’s going to be a total crap shoot all over again, but today… it’s sweet peace. Well, not for Havas. You see, Sir Terence Conran (ye-of-noble-blood) the designer and entrepreneur, has taken a swing at Havas, which is headed up by the infamous Vincent Bolloré.
Havas owns Terence’s design firm, Conran Design Group (after the break up of his Storehouse Group) and have announced plans to expand the small shop and how. The build out would include offices in many locations worldwide and a huge PR push. Currently, there is only one shop nestled outside of London. Here’s the quote from Conran:
“[Havas’s plan is] crazy and I think it is wrong. Clients are being sold something they believe to be ‘Conran Design’ that actually has nothing to do with me or the work of anyone I have worked with for the last decade and half.
“Havas and [subsidiary] Euro RSCG are building a house on sand, and many of their clients will invest in a business that doesn’t in fact have the brand equity they want – we have it. Their expansion plans are a cynical and outrageous attempt to use a legal technicality to hijack the Conran brand [which are] implicitly deceitful and the type of behaviour that a multinational media group like Havas would never recommend to its clients.”
He continued: “It beggars belief… that a group of the scale and scope of Havas does not have a design brand of its own that it believes in.”
Oh. He’s pissed, yeah? He’s all over the place with anger. Here’s the thing though – Havas bought the brand with Conran’s name attached. They can do as they like including blowing it out worldwide. Um, Terence? The company bought your brand, because they probably didn’t have a design brand that filled your niche. So, sorry dude. You just gotta deal.
[source]