EDF Turns 80 With Naza, Havas Media France and BETC — A Textbook Anniversary Play
Updated: Sep 1
TL;DR: EDF's 80th anniversary work with BETC (creative) and Havas Media France (media), scored by rapper Naza, is a textbook lesson in how a French legacy brand can use an anniversary to reset perception with younger consumers.
What EDF is doing
For its 80th anniversary in 2026, EDF has activated an integrated brand platform led by BETC on creative and Havas Media France on planning and buying, with a bespoke musical piece by French rapper Naza. Covered by CB News, La Réclame, Viuz and LADN in April and re-amplified through the summer, the platform reframes EDF as 'the electricity producer France depends on' rather than a utility supplier.
The 30-second and long-form spots by La PAC director Gary Freedman follow the story of EDF's infrastructure since 1946, ending on a single act — a slice of toast — that reframes decades of engineering as everyday domesticity. The Naza track sits underneath and is the youth-recruitment lever.
Why the anniversary play still works
Legacy French brands (EDF, La Poste, SNCF, Peugeot) all face the same problem: brand-warmth data among under-35s decays every year while product utility scores hold up. An anniversary is the rare culturally sanctioned excuse to re-tell the founding story to a generation that never chose the brand. Done well, it converts warmth back into consideration.
EDF's choice of Naza — currently one of France's most-streamed hip-hop artists — is the smart part. The typical mistake with anniversary campaigns is nostalgia casting: reunite the 1970s celebrity, replay the archive. EDF has instead used a modern artist to make the story feel like something happening now.
Marketing Minute's read
For French CMOs of brands over 50, three lessons. First, use an anniversary as permission to make new work — never as an excuse to relive old work. Second, cast contemporary talent rather than legacy talent; the anniversary is for the audience you need next, not the one you had. Third, split the brief across a creative agency (for the story) and a media agency (for the reach) rather than trying to consolidate — because anniversary campaigns benefit from specialists on both sides.
The wider lesson is that France's public and semi-public sector brands (EDF is majority state-owned) can compete with private-sector storytelling when they invest. EDF's spot is already among the best-received brand pieces of the year in France, per Kantar's post-airing survey data. That's a bar Engie, Orange and SNCF should measure themselves against for their own upcoming anniversaries.
Quick FAQ
Q: Which agencies worked on EDF's 80th anniversary?
A: BETC led creative, Havas Media France handled media planning and buying, and rapper Naza scored the campaign's original track.
Q: What is the campaign's core message?
A: That EDF is 'the electricity producer France depends on' — a reframe from utility supplier to national infrastructure story.
Q: Why cast a contemporary artist?
A: Because anniversaries are the opportunity to speak to the next generation of customers, not to relive the last one — casting a modern hip-hop artist makes the story feel current, not archival.
Every French company over 50 years old has an 'anniversary campaign' in a drawer somewhere — usually a photobook and a sizzle reel. EDF's move is smarter because it treats 80 years as a reason to make new work, not to relive old work. That is the anniversary play worth stealing. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
The takeaway: legacy French brands should treat anniversaries as an excuse to make new work for a new audience, not to relive old glories.
If your brand's next big anniversary landed in 2027, would you cast the artist your teenage niece listens to — or the one your father grew up with?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: CB News, La Réclame, Viuz, LADN, Kantar.
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Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
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