Tag: France

Paris, France – Publicis Groupe has named Nannette LaFond-Dufour as chief impact officer. She will directly report to Arthur Sadoun, the head of Publicis Groupe’s management board. 

In this newly created global role, LaFond-Dufour will be in charge of all of the group’s ESG commitments, including Publicis’ ambitious SBTi-approved climate targets and concrete action plans for diversity, equality, and inclusion. She will also be in charge of major initiatives, including Working with Cancer and the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society. 

Lafond-Dufour will oversee a dedicated team tasked with connecting the group’s ESG professionals around the world. They will work together to develop and implement a coherent impact strategy with clear and specific performance metrics. Their goal is to improve and grow existing Publicis programs while also integrating new ones, which will benefit both teams and clients.

As a new member of the management committee, LaFond-Dufour will answer directly to Arthur Sadoun, the head of Publicis Groupe’s management board. She will work closely with Agathe Bousquet, who is the president of Publicis France and the management board’s guarantor of ESG obligations. 

LaFond-Dufour most recently held the positions of chief sustainability officer and chief client officer at McCann Worldgroup. 

Speaking about the appointment, Sadoun said, “With the Directory+ we are delighted to welcome Nannette to the Group.Through our transformation, we have outperformed the industry on all key business and financial metrics over the past four years. But we know that for our growth to be truly sustainable, at all levels, it must also be responsible. That’s why we’ve also worked to lead the way with our best-in-class ESG initiatives. With Nannette at our side and her proven expertise in implementing concrete changes at the heart of some of the world’s largest companies, we are convinced that we can go further and faster in our ESG agenda, for the good of our employees , our customers, and our planet.” 

Meanwhile, LaFond-Dufour expressed, “I am very admiring of the transformation carried out by Publicis, demonstrating both its ability to anticipate the future but also to prepare for it by making social and environmental commitments. At a time when evolution is more necessary than ever, I am delighted to join a visionary, courageous and agile team.” 

Hanoi, Vietnam — Vietnamese airline company Bamboo Airways has appointed airline travel and tourism representation company TAL Aviation as its representative in France and Benelux, which consists of Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The respective TAL Aviation teams in those countries will provide Bamboo Airways with distribution, sales, reservations, marketing, press relations, finance and more, for the upcoming opening of flights from France.

As part of its international expansion, both companies will actively collaborate in the development of the French market and the upcoming opening of flights to Vietnam from France. TAL Aviation’s team for France and Benelux will use its skills and professionalism to assist the airline to enter the French market and inspire French travellers to visit Vietnam.

Jean-Michel Bohn, managing partner of TAL Aviation France and Benelux, said, “We are delighted to bring a smart, modern and advanced vision into one of the world’s leading markets.”

Meanwhile, Nissim Sagis, TAL Aviation’s chief commercial officer, commented, “We are pleased to be a part of Bamboo Airways’ plans of expansion. Our new partner is in good stead, led by our French team who has hands-on experience in developing a new product in the market.”

Australia – Global public relations agency Red Havas has announced its further international expansion to locations Spain, Germany, China, and Italy, as well as France, aimed at bringing these teams together with Red Havas offices across the US, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, UK, and the Philippines, as well as Indonesia, and Dubai. 

The move aims to give clients access to best-in-class thinking and the opportunity for seamless, integrated programs across four continents. Through the expansion, Red Havas also expects strengthened capabilities with the backing of the health network Havas Health & You under CEO Donna Murphy, and the global footprint and expertise of Havas Creative Group under its Global CEO Chris Hirst. 

The consolidation of these assets will allow the network to operate in a unified way across its seven disciplines around the world, namely health and wellness, corporate PR and reputation management, technology and e-commerce, consumer and lifestyle, and automotive and mobility, as well as travel and hospitality, and internal communications.

Red Havas said that there is a further expansion to be realized throughout 2021 to 2022, where it will be partnering with the other Havas Group specialized PR assets to address client needs. 

James Wright, the global CEO of Red Havas and the global chairman of Havas PR Global Collective, shared that the combination of a global pandemic along with the political and social atmosphere of the last two years not only left a dramatic imprint on global society but has dramatically and permanently changed the way people around the world consume media and content.

“We are now living in an era where consumption is more global, more diversified, more simultaneous, and at higher volumes than ever before across platforms. In response to this, brand demand for seamless and integrated communications across multiple platforms and regions continues to grow at an exponential rate. This expansion better positions us to bring the future of PR and communications to our clients anywhere and everywhere,” said Wright.

In September this year, Red Havas in Australia has also announced the appointment of Alexandra Bryant, former managing partner and creative principle of creative communications and content company Finchco Agency, to assume the newly created role of executive director for the Sydney office, tasking her to oversee the team’s performance, growth, and operations, including driving people and culture initiatives.

Hong Kong – Despite being postponed in 2020 due to health concerns, French wine-growing area Vins d’Alsace is returning this year with its biannual wine-tasting event Millésimes Alsace, with a twist added: integrating technology to explore the full potential of the wine-makers drink lineup.

The event, called ‘Millésimes Alsace DigiTasting®’ combines real-life tastings and virtual meet-ups made possible by collaborations of local winemakers, alongside 100 exhibitors that will be presenting 4 wines each.

The said event, which is slated for the 7th and 9th of June this year, is an initiative launched by the Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins d’Alsace (CIVA), an interprofessional organization for the wine industry in the Alsace region in France. CIVA houses more than 950 winemaker operators including private cellars, cooperatives, merchants to help revive the traditional wine-making industry in the region.

By registering on the event’s dedicated platform, visitors can discover all the wineries and access the wines’ technical sheets. A filter system allows visitors to select the wines that best match their criteria from among the 100 wineries and 400 wines listed. There are wine-related filters (color, sweetness level, vintage, grape variety, appellation) and winery-specific (distribution circuit, environmental practice, country of export, importer search).

When ordering the wine samples that they can taste simultaneous the event, each visitor can choose between 2 options to suit their needs and receive them free of charge at the address of their choice:

  • 5 boxes = 4 selected boxes + 1 ‘discovery’ box (i.e. 5 wineries, 20 wines)
  • 10 boxes = 8 selected boxes + 2 ‘discovery’ boxes (i.e. 10 wineries, 40 wines)

Visitors will also be able to receive ‘discovery’ samples added by Millésimes Alsace DigiTasting® to their wine orders. 

“The wines are bottled in their region of origin in a small glass shaped like a traditional Rhine flute. A unique technological process guarantees the wines’ integrity: bottled in an inert atmosphere, they retain their most subtle qualities and aromas. By staying as close as possible to the original product, this process respects Alsace wines’ very essence,” the event organizers said in a press statement.

During the virtual event, winemakers will be able to share their know-how with the visitors, discuss grape varieties and Alsatian terroirs while tasting the wines together. Naturally, visitors will be able to chat virtually with any of the producers, even if they did not order a tasting box. 

“Having been the first vineyard to put together a major response to the current situation right from the first lockdown, Alsace is once again the first to innovate in the strategic field of trade shows! We remain a small vineyard globally, but we are ambitious and determined to achieve our goals. Alsace has a strong history and is resolutely turned towards the future,” said Didier Pettermann, chairman of the Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins d’Alsace (CIVA).

‘Millésimes Alsace DigiTasting®’ also showcases a real large-scale trade show with conferences, workshops, and themed events about wine, terroirs, the economy, and consumer trends. Visitors will also be able to share their experiences thanks to integrated networking features on the platform and social media.

According to Philippe Bouvet, marketing director at CIVA, the event was launched in response to not having the current global state as an ‘excuse’ to forego the event. He also noted that the event aims at wanting to combine century-old know-how with cutting-edge technologies.

“Digital technology is not an end in itself: its primary purpose is to bring people together and make the virtual and physical worlds work together. Wine is not a product like any other. It is both intangible because of the emotions it evokes and very real thanks to its terroirs and the men and women who produce it,” Bouvet stated.

He added, “Millésimes Alsace DigiTasting® aims to generate synergy between the real and the virtual worlds and create a relevant and successful exhibition designed to provide a quality experience for visitors and exhibitors alike.”

The event will take place on 7 and 9 of June this year, with a dedicated website to be launched on 29 March, where wine-tasting professionals can register for free. Wine-tasting orders from the 100 exhibitors will be made available from 29 March to 2 May.