Three top executives from Publicis Groupe have left the French advertising company to form a new firm financed by Havas' chairman Vincent Bollore. Fred/Farid/Lambert will open in January. It will be
based in Paris and headed by Christophe Lambert, who previously led Publicis' flagship office in Paris. The two other executives, Frederic Raillard and Farid Mokart, come from Publicis-owned Marcel,
the agency that handles the France Telecom Orange account. Bollore is chief shareholder of both Aegis and Havas; the latter holding company's primary agency, EuroRSCG, shares the Orange account with
Publicis. Elsewhere, WPP denied new rumors that it would move to acquire Havas.
--Tom Siebert
