NEW YORK and FREIBURG, Germany, Jan. 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — The Havas Group has acquired Bird & Schulte Advertising, an award-winning agency based in Freiburg, Germany. The German agency, which offers a full spectrum of services for Rx and OTC, including advertising, digital media, events and medical education, will continue to build on its more-than-20-year track record of serving up what its clients’ brands need to succeed.

Co-founders Jeremy Bird and Dr. Monika Schulte will continue to serve as joint managing directors of the agency, renamed Havas Life Bird & Schulte. Powered by the Havas Health global network, Havas Life Bird & Schulte will be able to service additional clients and markets while meeting the evolving health and wellness landscape with an even more complete full-service unified offering, from marketing to medical education, PR and market access focusing on professionals and patients.

“The Bird & Schulte team, its culture and entrepreneurial spirit are all a great fit with Havas Health, and I am delighted to welcome them to our group. We share roots in collaboration with clients and teams,” said Yannick Bollore, global CEO Havas. “Additionally, Bird & Schulte operates with the same focus on creativity that we strongly value across our entire Havas network.”

“Our partnership will combine industry-leading strategy and insight with highly honored creativity to deliver best-in-class results for our clients with a greater market reach,” said Donna Murphy, global CEO, Havas Health. “We believe that Bird & Schulte’s broad health and wellness brand-building expertise, its deep talent pool and its future-forward business model will add great value for our clients.”

Bird & Schulte is known for its unique mix of astounding creativity and strong scientific knowledge. Jeremy Bird, joint managing director–creative director, represents the agency’s creative delivery, overseeing the creative process from initial concept to final realization. His work has earned him honors from the New York Festivals, the CLIO Healthcare Awards, the Global Awards, Eurobest and Comprix. Dr. Monika Schulte, joint managing director–strategy & client services, holds a Ph.D. in cell biology from the University of Freiburg and has worked in the health and wellness industry for a dozen years, on both the client and agency sides.

“Havas represents a fantastic opportunity for us to leverage our innovation across a broader range of clients, markets and services within health and wellness,” said Bird. “The additional expertise available within the network will complement our core competencies and allow us to deliver increasingly unified campaigns.”

“We are excited to be joining the Havas family. Through shared strategy, planning and account resources provided by Havas Health, Havas Life Bird & Schulte will be able to fulfill the needs of a far more significant client base,” said Schulte. “It will allow us to continue our sustained growth while ensuring that we offer the same service, support and quality that our existing clients have come to expect.”

About Havas Group

Havas is one of the world’s largest and most forward thinking global communications groups. Headquartered in Paris, employing 16,000 people in 120 countries, Havas is committed to being the world’s best company at creating meaningful connections between people and brands through creativity, media and innovation, including data and mobile. To realise this, it is organised to leverage innovation and collaboration between its core teams: Havas Creative Group and Havas Media Group. Havas Creative Group incorporates the Havas Worldwide network (havasworldwide.com), 316 offices in 75 countries, the Arnold micro-network (arn.com), 15 agencies in 12 countries, as well as several leading agencies including BETC. Havas Media Group (havasmediagroup.com) operates in over 100 countries, and incorporates 4 major commercial brands: Havas Media (havasmedia.com), Arena Media (arena-media.com), Forward Media and Havas Sports & Entertainment (havas-se.com).

Further information about Havas is available on the company’s website: havas.com

About Havas Health

Havas Health houses Havas Life (formerly Euro RSCG Life), Health4Brands (H4B) and Havas Lynx, three wholly owned health and wellness communication networks, and defines policies and processes for the global group. With more than 60 offices in 50 countries, the Havas Health network has a uniquely unified model offering strategy, promotion, medical education, market access, PR and digital solutions inside each agency asset. For more information about Havas Health, visit the company’s website at havashealth.com.

About Havas Life Bird & Schulte

Havas Life Bird & Schulte, a full-service health and wellness communications agency, offers the complete spectrum covering advertising, medical education, events and digital media for Rx and OTC. In the Health Lounge we serve up exactly what is needed for the success of brands, be they pharmaceutical, healthcare or biotechnology. To generate the right ingredients for client communication mix, it draws upon more than 20 years of experience; national and international pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have benefited from its experience, as have leading consumer brands. At Havas Life Bird & Schulte the priority is maximum flexibility in a fast-changing healthcare market. Lean structures and quick decision-making are important to the agency founders so as to act effectively. For further information please call +49 (0)7 61– 88 85 48-11 or e-mail info@bird-schulte.de.

Lorella Gessa
Director of Communications, Havas Group
+33 (0)1 58 47 90 36
lorella.gessa@havas.com

Aurelie Jolion
Director of Investor Relations, Havas Group
+33 (0)1 58 47 92 42
aurelie.jolion@havas.com

Marian Salzman
Havas PR
+1 646 361 1837
marian.salzman@havasww.com

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SOURCE Havas Group