Havas Play

Specialist sports, gaming, and entertainment marketing arm within a major global holding company (Havas Group), competing with both independent sports agencies and rival holding-company units.

Havas Play is the dedicated sports, entertainment, gaming, and sponsorship marketing division of Havas Media Group, rebranded from its former identity as Havas Sports & Entertainment. The agency specializes in connecting brands with consumers through their passions — whether in sports, music, gaming, esports, or broader entertainment culture. It operates as a global network with offices across multiple continents, offering integrated services that span sponsorship consulting, rights negotiation, experiential marketing, content creation, and fan engagement strategies. The agency's core offering sits at the intersection of culture and commerce, helping brands identify, activate, and measure the value of sponsorship and entertainment partnerships. Havas Play works with major rights holders, leagues, teams, and entertainment properties to broker and activate deals that drive meaningful brand outcomes. Its gaming and esports practice has grown significantly, reflecting the broader industry shift toward engaging younger, digitally native audiences. As part of the larger Havas Group ecosystem — itself owned by Vivendi — Havas Play benefits from deep integration with media planning, creative, and data capabilities across the network. This positions it competitively against standalone sports marketing agencies and other holding-company-owned specialists. Its significance in the AdTech and marketing ecosystem lies in its ability to blend traditional sponsorship expertise with modern data-driven measurement and digital activation capabilities.