• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, September 12, 2018

Havas Group has acquired a major stake in independent multicultural shop agency Republica, the holding company confirmed today.

While the size of the stake has not been disclosed, it must be substantial, given that the Miami-based agency is being renamed Republica Havas and the agency is now part of Havas Creative North America, led by CEO Paul Marobella.

The agency will remain headquartered in Miami, with expansion plans to other key U.S. markets including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Republica, currently with a staff of 120 works with clients such as Walmart, Toyota, Google, NBCUniversal, Telemundo, Goya Foods and others.

Yannick Bolloré, CEO Havas Group, said: “With multicultural consumers making up nearly 40 percent of the U.S. population and $3.4 trillion in spending , the current American landscape is the most culturally diverse and technologically fluent in history. Multicultural marketing intelligence needs to be in every brand’s DNA. Republica’s industry-leading expertise further expands our multicultural capability and understanding. Miami is the right place to serve as our anchor.”

Republica was founded by chairman and CEO Jorge A. Plasencia and president Luis Casamayor in 2006. They will continue to run the agency.

Plasencia stated, This is the right partnership because it allows us to continue to do what we love, staying true to our culture and our people, while being able to offer our deep multicultural expertise to Havas’ many agency partners. Luis and I are thrilled to join the Havas and greater Vivendi family on this new chapter of our journey; and we extend our gratitude to both our extraordinary team and our incredible client partners for believing in us.”