Havas Buys Crowdsourcing Agency Victors & Spoils

Global ad network Havas has acquired a majority stake in US-based idea creation specialist Victors & Spoils (V&S), which digitally connects, manages and curates a crowd of more than 6,000 creatives who participate in crowdsourcing initiatives. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

V&S was founded in 2009 by John Winsor, former VP and Executive Director of Strategy and Innovation at Crispin Porter + Bogusky; Claudia Batten, a co-founder of gaming ad network Massive; and Evan Fry, former VP and Creative Director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Their company uses crowdsourcing principles for collaboration and co-creation projects managed through its proprietary 'Fan Machine' platform.

Havas CEO David Jones comments on the acquisition: 'When an industry goes through a revolution you can either sit and watch it happen, or embrace the exciting new business models at the forefront of that revolution. Victors & Spoils is one of those new models that is challenging our entire industry and I'm delighted to welcome the firm into the group.'

Following the transaction, V&S will become part of the Havas Worldwide business unit, and one of the first joint Havas and V&S projects will be to use the latter's proprietary technology to create a 15,000 person professional Havas 'crowd' from which to source ideas.

In addition to his role as CEO at V&S, Winsor will assume the key role of Chief Innovation Officer at Havas, while the rest of the V&S management team will remain unchanged and continue to own a minority stake in the agency.

Winsor states 'In this new world of digital abundance, where great ideas can come from everywhere, the future of advertising is radically changing. David's vision for Havas is something I deeply believe in and will only accelerate our vision to change the advertising industry for the better.'

Web sites: www.havas.com and www.victorsandspoils.com .