Speaking at the network's Global Leadership Meeting, held in China for the first time, Jones outlined the weaknesses and the direction for Euro RSCG going forward, after the loss of major accounts such as Intel took a huge bite out of its bottomline.
Jones' strategy is to position Euro as an independent shop, offering "the benefits of a large network with the agility and ethos of a small one".
For senior management, that would mean the introduction of new incentive plans to inject the type of entrepreneurial energy enjoyed by start-up agencies.
"Past years have been very difficult on a Havas and Euro level," Jones said. "There were questions on (our future) and we were left in limbo on management. We lost Intel at the end of 2004, our biggest account globally, and felt the impact in Asia-Pacific more. There were three areas where we should have seen growth but didn't -- Chicago, New York and the UK. We didn't deliver the numbers."
Havas recently reported revenues down two per cent year-on-year falling to euro 1.46 billion as the fourth quarter proved tough in Asia-Pacific, the UK and North America. In Asia-Pacific, Havas' reve nue was down 17.2 per cent in Q4, considerably worse than other markets (UK down 4.9 per cent, North America down 5.1 per cent).
Jones noted that a key area to address was raising the network's hold of global business. "Part of that will be to get invited onto the global pitch list. We were invited to two (out of eight) global pitches only (last year). We need to get on those big pitch lists," he explained. "We can win new business but the trouble is keeping it in the door."
