Havas Media has swapped the screen for spurs and stepped into the Wild West for a cowboy and cowgirl-themed ping pong showdown.
Havas rounded up more than 120 media people across all investment channels for their annual cowboy roundup to celebrate commitment and appreciation.
On the night of the tournament, the office was transformed into a Wild West saloon, designed by the social committee led by Brianna Shields and some inspiration from Pinterest, complete with a high-energy ping pong rodeo, featuring top-of-the-line tables from Quantcast.
ConvoInk and Val Morgan provided music for the event and catering was provided by Vistar Media, GumGum, Scentre, Ogury and LoopMe.
The tournament reached its grand moment with a showdown between the top two teams, QMS and Fox, each battling for the coveted title of “Havas Cowboy and Cowgirl Champions.”
In the end, QMS emerged as the winner, riding off with the top prize courtesy of oOh!media and Havas.
In August, Mitchell Long joined Havas Media as chief strategy officer after 13 years at PHD.
Virginia Hyland, CEO of Havas Media Network, said Long is a “rare talent”, and she took her time picking the right person for “this important role.” Nick Kavanagh left the position last June to join Dentsu’s iProspect.
Long told Mediaweek his focus will include “investing time to really deeply think through how we best rebuild the strategy and planning products alongside the broader Havas leadership team.”
This includes “laying down the right processes, principles and training that set a new standard and ensure consistency of that quality across the board,” he said.
Long joined PHD as an intern – originally studying journalism – rising through the ranks and working across investment and planning, before finding his stride in strategy.
In 2015, he was appointed strategy director, and in 2019 was appointed as head of strategy, the youngest-ever head of strategy in the history of PHD’s global network, according to the agency. He worked on clients including Unilever, Volkswagen, PepsiCo, Google, and Virgin Australia.
See also: Mitchell Long joins Havas Media as chief strategy officer