• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, March 4, 2008

Paris-based Havas bolstered its burgeoning digital media organization Monday, naming Gabriel Saenz de Buruaga worldwide COO of Havas Digital. Saenz de Buruaga, who has most recently been a regional manager for Havas Digital Southern Europe, will now manage eight regions, including: North America, Latin America, APAC, the Middle East, and Southern, Northern, Central, Eastern Europe.

The appointment comes as Havas Digital emerges as the fastest growing unit, within one of the fastest growing advertising agency holding companies, and one with an entrepreneurial spirit that is beginning to get notice on Madison Avenue and among some client circles.

Havas Digital is essentially a holding company within a holding company overseeing all of Havas Media's digital assets, such as Media Contacts in the U.S. market, but also a range of global digital advertising and media services brands worldwide, some of which are expected to migrate to the U.S. soon. They include, Lattitud, iGlue, Mobext and One-to-One.

During a rare public presentation at an investor's conference in New York, Havas' top brass tipped their hand at just how entrepreneurial Havas Digital was becoming, alluding to a variety of new products and services being incubated within its organization, including a new Havas-owned online advertising network that would leverage Havas' proprietary Artemis data processing system, which has profiles on about one-third of the global online user population. The agency is believed to have deployed the system internally for its clients and in-house organizations, but has not yet commercialized it to outsiders.

Saenz de Buruaga originally joined Media Contacts as the country manager for Spain in March 2005, and launched the Lattitud, Mobext and iGlue in Spain. Prior to that, he spent seven years at Spanish strategy consulting firm Europraxis.