Agency Case Study · Global Media Agency Network
Media strategy that hits the ground running.
Havas Media's Middle East Performance Practice integrated SOMIN as the real-time competitive layer underneath every client brand, replacing hours of manual cross-platform filtering with always-on data. New clients now get a factual, evidence-backed category read from day one, so planners can guide media strategy from the very first conversation.
A SOMIN agency case study · Havas Media · Middle East Performance Practice · Global media network
Countless hrs
Time reclaimed
Day One
New client onboarding
The Client
A global media network’s performance practice in the Middle East.
Havas Media is one of the world’s largest media agency networks, with practices spanning paid, programmatic, and performance media across every major market. The team featured here is the Performance Practice based in the Middle East, led by Performance Director Branislav, which manages multi-brand media planning and buying across the region’s most competitive consumer categories.
The Challenge
Performance planning at network scale was buried under manual data work.
Performance media planning at agency network scale means juggling many client brands across many platforms, each with its own data layer. Manually collating real-time competitor activity across paid and organic creative is the kind of work that quietly burns hours and starves strategic thinking of the time it deserves.
- ✓ Many client brands, many platforms — each with its own data layer to track by hand.
- ✓ Real-time competitor activity across paid and organic creative had to be manually collated before planning could even start.
- ✓ Every new brief meant re-establishing competitive context from scratch — pulling and interpreting a category’s worth of data.
- ✓ The work was rigorous, but it wasn’t fast — and “fast” matters when a new account expects a media strategy in week one.
The Approach
A real-time competitive layer underneath every client brand.
Havas Media’s Middle East performance team integrated SOMIN as the real-time competitive read across their book of business. SOMIN’s Brand Tracker pulls competitor content automatically and breaks it down by activity, audience, creative territory, and seasonality — giving planners an always-on view of where each client brand stands versus its competitive set, refreshed continuously.
For new client onboarding, the team uses SOMIN to instantly establish factual context about a brand and its category before the media strategy is committed. Where the previous workflow required hours of manual research before the first planning conversation, SOMIN delivers a usable category baseline in minutes.
01
Brand Tracker
Real-time competitor intelligence, pulled automatically and broken down by activity, audience, creative territory, and seasonality.
02
Perspective Studies
Audience and messaging mapping used to establish factual brand and category context the moment a new client is onboarded.
03
Content Library
An organized, always-current archive of competitive creative the team draws on for every planning conversation.
The Outcome
From a tool the team uses, to a tool the team depends on.
SOMIN has become an integral part of Havas Media’s daily operations in the region — not a tool reached for occasionally, but one the team has come to depend on. Real-time competitive access replaces hours of manual cross-platform filtering, and conversations with clients are sharper because they’re anchored in current competitive evidence rather than dated category audits.
The runway from “new client signed” to “media strategy active” has shortened materially, because the competitive context is in hand by day one — the kind of turnaround consistent with SOMIN’s typical 13× speed-up over manual research workflows.
Platform Role
Integral
Not a tool reached for occasionally — part of daily performance operations.
Manual Cross-Platform Filtering
Replaced
Hours of manual filtering, replaced by real-time competitive data access.
New Client Onboarding
Day One
Factual brand and category data available from minute one.
Strategic Conversations
Anchored
In current competitive evidence, not dated category audits.
My team has become very dependent on SOMIN. It saves us countless hours of manual filtering, and as an agency it helps us quickly get factual data about new brands we’re trying to onboard so we can hit the ground running and guide our media strategy from day one.
— Branislav, Performance Director, Havas Media
Key Takeaways
What this case study actually proves.
01
Manual, cross-platform competitor tracking is a hidden tax on performance media at network scale — it doesn’t show up on a media plan, but it eats the hours planners need for strategic thinking. Automating that read is what turned SOMIN from a nice-to-have into daily infrastructure.
02
New client onboarding is a speed problem as much as a research problem. When a new account expects a media strategy in week one, the value isn’t just accuracy — it’s having a factual category baseline ready on day one instead of after days of manual digging.
03
“Depend on,” not “reach for occasionally,” is the real adoption signal. Havas Media didn’t add SOMIN as an extra tool in the stack — it replaced the manual workflow that used to sit between a signed client and an active strategy.
Questions
About this case study.
What challenge did Havas Media face before SOMIN?
Havas Media’s Middle East Performance Practice was manually collating real-time competitor activity across paid and organic creative for many client brands on many platforms — rigorous work that burned hours and left less time for strategic thinking. New client onboarding compounded it, since every brief meant re-establishing competitive context from scratch.
How does SOMIN help with new client onboarding?
SOMIN gives the team a factual, data-backed baseline on a new brand and its category before the media strategy is committed. Where the previous workflow required hours of manual research before the first planning conversation, SOMIN delivers a usable category baseline in minutes — factual brand context from day one.
What results did Havas Media see?
SOMIN became integral to daily performance operations rather than a tool reached for occasionally. Real-time competitive access replaced hours of manual cross-platform filtering, client conversations are anchored in current evidence instead of dated audits, and the runway from signed client to active media strategy has shortened materially.
What SOMIN modules were used?
Havas Media’s Middle East team uses three SOMIN modules: Brand Tracker for real-time competitor intelligence, Perspective Studies for audience and messaging mapping, and Content Library for organized competitive creative.
Is this typical of SOMIN agency clients?
Yes. Havas Media is one of SOMIN’s agency partners, alongside Dentsu, OMG, GroupM, and Publicis, and this kind of always-on competitive read is typically 13x faster than manual research workflows.
About SOMIN
SOMIN is a Singapore-based deep-tech platform that turns real-time competitor and audience intelligence into market-ready creative ideas — typically 13× faster than manual research workflows. SOMIN serves clients including P&G, Audi, Ferrari, Gojek, Abbott, Citi, KFC, Nestlé and McDonald’s across 11+ markets, through agency partners including Dentsu, OMG, GroupM, Havas and Publicis.
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