Havas Sports & Entertainment (Havas SE), the global brand engagement network of Havas, has today announced a strategic partnership with Vincent Gaillard, a former Coca-Cola senior global sponsorship executive and former Director General of SportAccord, who recently launched the global sports consultancy, SportCom Ventures.
With SportCom Ventures based out of Switzerland, home to the majority of international sports governing bodies, this partnership will enhance Havas SE’s strategic consulting expertise at global level and strengthen connections with sports rights-holders and top sponsors.
Havas SE will also benefit from the sports sustainability and event management knowledge of Vincent Gaillard, who, during his tenure as Director General of SportAccord, the union of international sports federations, focused on sport’s social and environmental responsibility, as he did alongside Coca-Cola when he steered their sustainability efforts around the Beijing 2008 and the London 2012 Olympics.
This will further boost Havas SE’s expertise and offer in sustainable event management, which includes a tool developed by Havas SE and ignition called “Havas ISE” (Indicator of Sustainability Engagement), a service to help brands embed sustainability into all of their experiential programs and events.
Lucien Boyer, Global President & CEO of Havas SE, commented:
“This partnership will up-weight the strategic consultancy services we offer to brands, particularly in terms of rights-acquisition and sponsorship strategy, as well as to our other clients, which includes over 50 sports governing bodies, clubs and bids worldwide. We therefore hope to take advantage of the natural synergies from our common expertise and knowledge of major sporting events, complementing that of another one of our partners, bid campaign and content specialists Seven46. The fact that SportCom Ventures is based out of Switzerland will mean further proximity and closer relationships with sports stakeholders.
Highly experienced and knowledgeable in the sports world, Vincent has contributed extensively to one of our top clients: The Coca-Cola Company, where he held several roles managing FIFA and Olympic partnerships around the world. We are already working together on a number of exciting projects around sustainability and we look forward to collaborating further through this new partnership.”
Vincent Gaillard, Founder of Sportcom Ventures, added:
"Our partnership with the Havas Sports & Entertainment network comes at an important time in the development of SportCom Ventures. It will allow us to strengthen our core communications and brand engagement expertise, ultimately creating greater value for our client-base on an international level. I am excited that our existing relationship has grown into this promising collaboration and I am confident about the successes we can achieve together."
About Vincent Gaillard
Beginning his career at adidas International, BBDO-Sports and the NBA, Vincent joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1998, where he held several roles managing Coca-Cola’s FIFA and Olympic partnerships around the world. Throughout those roles, he has been widely credited for contributing to the professionalization of Coca-Cola’s global sporting event administration and for the strengthening of their corporate reputation and brand equity in relevant host markets.
In 2011, Vincent joined SportAccord as Director General, with a mission to develop an ambitious agenda of services for the benefit of 100+ international sport federations. Main activities included multi-sports games; doping-free sport; sport’s social / environmental responsibility, sport’s integrity and good governance. During his tenure, Vincent triggered a notable improvement of SportAccord’s corporate governance, the professionalization of its administration and business model, as well as a significant increase in its corporate/brand awareness globally.
Vincent acquired sports sustainability and sustainable event management expertise throughout those roles, initially by steering Coca-Cola’s sustainability efforts at the Beijing 2008 and the London 2012 Olympics, which earned the company the first “green medal” by Greenpeace, and one of the first ISO 2012-1 certifications for Sustainable Event Management. At SportAccord, Vincent explored new ways for sport to adopt sustainable practices, and initiated the launch of a service supporting SportAccord’s members in the planning of their events.
In 2013, Vincent was appointed member-expert of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Sport & Environment Commission, Strategic Advisor to the WWF International and Board Member of the World Flying Disc Federation. In 2014, he became Strategic Advisor to The Coca-Cola Company Worldwide Sports & Events Management Group (FIFA World Cup, Olympic Games, Rugby World Cup & NBA management).
Julia Feldman
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