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Bolloré, With 22 Percent Stake, Seeks 4 Seats on Havas' BoardBOSTON Havas last week said shareholder Vincent Bolloré is seeking four seats on the holding company's board of directors. Bolloré, who owns a 22 percent share in the Paris-based company, said in December that he would seek representation on the board, but has no immediate plans for a takeover. In additon to himself, Bolloré is seeking seats for three members of his management team: Thierry Marraud, Marc Bebon and Cedric de Bailliencourt. Havas, which has scheduled its next shareholders meeting for June 9, said his request is under consideration. Havas has 13 directors and this month proposed three new members: Laurence Pairsot, president of the French Institute of Public Opinion and a member of EuroDisney's supervisory board; Michel Rouger, honorary president of Paris Commercial Court; and Pierre Bouchut, former CEO of Groupe Casino. It also proposed renewing the directorships of three members. Reps for Groupe Bolloré in Paris could not be reached. Havas owns Arnold and Euro RSCG, among others. Comcast Picks Goodby, Ending Seven Month ReviewLOS ANGELES When Philadelphia-based phone, cable and broadband Internet provider Comcast hired Omnicom's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to lead creative last week it ended what co-chairman Rich Silverstein called "probably the longest pitch I've ever been a part of—yet every meeting was fantastic, energetic and challenging." Neither the agency nor the client confirmed the decision. Comcast launched the review in October and cut to finalists in November. The client then revisited shops after hiring Marvin Davis to be svp of marketing in February. Goodby beat out IPG's Deutsch/LA in Marina del Rey Calif., and The Richards Group in Dallas. The assignment is worth an estimated $50 million in billings.Victory Rides 'Fantastic Four' Tie-In For New CampaignNEW YORK Polaris' Victory Motorcycles division will launch its broadest campaign to date, promoting new bikes via tie-ins with 20th Century Fox movie Fantastic Four, which features the Victory Vegas model. In the film, one of the Four rides the bike in a key scene and kisses a girl in a car riding beside him. The company aims to build awareness via TV by McKinney + Silver in Raleigh, N.C., print, Internet and a sweepstakes using creative from the film. Former Bates Planner Gets $2.5 Mil. in Discrimination CaseNEW YORK A New York State Supreme Court jury last week awarded $2.5 million to Kathryn Jordan, a former evp of strategy and account planning at AC&R Advertising and Bates Advertising Holdings, who said she was fired from her job in 1994 because of gender, disability and age discrimination. Jordan, now 53, said she disguised her multiple sclerosis as a skiing injury at the time she was hired. Eventually, when it became clear that she could not walk without a cane, she said she was harassed and ultimately fired following AC&R's merger with Bates. The case was dismissed from federal court in 1999 and from state court in 2000. Jordan won an appeal in 2002 and restarted litigation in August 2004. She sought $5 million. Bates was found not guilty of charges that she was denied a promotion on the basis of her sex and disability but it was found guilty of firing her because she was perceived to have a disability. WPP purchased Bates' parent Cordiant Communications in 2003. When asked if WPP would appeal, a rep said, "We do not discuss pending litigation but as a point of importance I want to point out the subject of this lawsuit came years before WPP acquired the Bates Agency."New Google Graphic Ads Allow Advertisers to Target SitesNEW YORK Google plans to introduce graphical ads, priced on an impression basis, to run on its AdSense network of Web sites. The test program allows advertisers to bid on ads targeted to specific sites in Google's content network. Advertisers set a maximum cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) price they are willing to pay, instead of the cost-per-click (CPC) method used for keyword listings. Google will combine the CPM-priced site-targeted ads and the CPC-based text ads bid in a single auction, displaying the ad that yields the highest price for the publisher at the minimum cost to the advertiser. Publishers can opt out of the system and display only CPC-based text ads.

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