Havas Play Names Johana Pallas to Lead Its Influence & PR Division
Havas Play has appointed Johana Pallas — a Publicis, McCann Paris and Pierre Fabre veteran — to lead its 17-strong Influence & PR division, tasked with accelerating social growth and scaling the agency's creator work internationally.
The Appointment
Pallas takes charge of a 17-person Influence & PR team, reporting to Havas Play deputy CEO Raphaël Marquenet. She arrives with a rare mix of agency and client-side experience: time within the Publicis group, the creation and leadership of the Influence division at McCann Paris, and a spell running global influence strategy across Pierre Fabre's brand portfolio.
Her remit is growth — accelerating Havas Play's social activity and extending its reach internationally. The unit sits within an agency that structures its social expertise across four divisions (Influence & PR, Social Creation, Paid Social and Gaming), works with more than 40 French and international clients including Dove, SNCF, EDF and LVMH, and produces around 150 campaigns a year with over 200 creators.
Marquenet said the hire strengthens the agency's "creative demand" and its ability to "activate creators internationally," pointing to Pallas's blend of agency and brand experience as the key asset.
Why This Hire Signals Where Influence Is Going
The detail that matters most is the structure around the role. Influence is no longer a bolt-on to social; at Havas Play it sits beside PR, paid social and gaming as one connected discipline. That reflects a wider shift — brands increasingly want influence run with the rigour of PR and the accountability of paid media, not as scattered one-off posts.
Pallas's client-side stint at Pierre Fabre is telling too. Agencies are hiring leaders who have sat in the marketer's chair because brands now expect influence partners who understand brand safety, global governance and measurement, not just creator relationships. The mandate to 'activate creators internationally' is the giveaway: clients want repeatable, cross-market creator programmes, not local campaigns.
The Takeaway for Marketers
Treat influence as an always-on channel, not a campaign tactic. The agencies investing in senior, integrated leadership are betting that creators become a permanent layer of the media plan — planned, measured and governed like any other channel.
For brands, the practical move is to structure for it: connect influence with PR and paid social, insist on measurement from the outset, and build the governance to run creators across markets safely. The organisations that do will get compounding value from creators; those that keep buying one-off posts will keep paying full price for every campaign.
Quick FAQ
Who is Johana Pallas?
An influence and social specialist with agency and brand-side experience — including the Publicis group, the Influence division at McCann Paris, and global influence strategy at Pierre Fabre — now leading Havas Play's Influence & PR division.
What will she lead at Havas Play?
A 17-person Influence & PR team, reporting to deputy CEO Raphaël Marquenet, with a brief to accelerate social growth and expand the division's international reach.
How big is Havas Play's social operation?
It spans four divisions — Influence & PR, Social Creation, Paid Social and Gaming — with 40-plus clients including Dove, SNCF, EDF and LVMH, and around 150 campaigns a year with 200-plus creators.
This appointment tells you where influence is heading. It's being folded into PR and paid social as one discipline, led by people who've sat client-side and understand measurement and governance. The brands that treat creators as an always-on channel will pull ahead of those still buying posts one at a time. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
Influence has grown up. The agencies and brands winning with it run creators like any other channel — planned, measured and governed — not as a string of one-off posts.
Is influence an always-on channel in your plan, or still a series of one-off campaigns you rebuild every time?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: Jai un pote dans la com, Stratégies and TOP/COM.
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Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
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