Havas has unveiled the Conran Design Group network, combining the talent of Conran Design Group with Havas’ premier creative agency in France, which is to be renamed W Conran Design.
The network’s team of 250 global strategists and creatives will use their expertise in brand strategy, brand design, experience design and communications to help businesses achieve balanced growth.
The network launch coincides with the introduction of Conran Design Group’s latest proprietary study, Citizen Brands.
This evidence-based framework identifies brands achieving balanced growth and revealed that the top 20 “citizen brands” generated £8bn more in revenue compared to their lowest-performing counterparts.
The top brands included Google, Amazon, Nike, Walmart and Microsoft, who achieved a 37% higher revenue growth rate than their lowest performing brand counterparts.
The study identifies six drivers that can help brands facing “expectation inflation”, and help business to achieve balanced growth in spite of it, and found that eight in 10 struggle to balance shareholder expectations around people and planet.
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It found that 96% fear not being seen to be doing enough when it comes to key societal and environmental issues, while 88% feared being perceived as “too woke”. Moreover, consumers felt trapped with 71% feeling forced to choose between price and sustainability.
“Conran Design Group is uniquely equipped to lead this new network with more than 60 years of experience in strategic brand and design, a holistic approach, and the benefit of global scale with a local touch,” said Havas chairman and CEO Yannick Bolloré.
“W is the natural partner to support the success of this initiative in France with its 25-year track record of helping companies transform to remain at the heart of the conversation and make a positive contribution to society.”
Conran design group Global CEO Thom Newton added: “We’ve entered the era of expectation inflation – and brands are under huge pressure to deliver growth and good. This will only intensify amid ongoing uncertainty and heightened economic and environmental pressures. Brand leaders will be expected to take an even more active role in how their brands meet and balance these pressures.”
“Our study shows that all companies across all sectors need to find a way to achieve balanced growth, critical in an increasingly unbalanced world. But rather than prioritising growth alone – growth ant any cost – the focus should be on progress, progress that’s both balanced and sustainable.”
