18 Sep Inside: Havas Kuala Lumpur
This week, we’re on a tour of Havas Kuala Lumpur. Take a look below at the nuts and bolts (and Storm Troopers) of this unique office.
The Mag: Tell us a little bit about the office.
Havas KL: The Havas Kuala Lumpur office is truly a labor of love. From finding our new home to the architectural drawings to the furniture and fittings sourcing, we can proudly say we did it all. In just six months. Which goes to show that when we face the unknown together, nothing is impossible.
Havas KL: We sort of put in practice the old adage of “the family that eats together, stays together.” We wanted our people to work for each other, just like a family would. So in came the long tables with no partitions that broke down the traditional boundaries between people and departments. We wanted to foster more collaboration and inspire people to go beyond their job scope. Everyone sits and faces each other, which means that everyone can learn and feed off each other.
We also named our rooms based on the values we want to foster, albeit in different languages: KAHA (persistence in Maori), UNITO (unity in Italian), KREATIV (creativity in Danish), COMHAR (cooperation in Irish), SOCI (partnership in Spanish), FIRASAT (instinct in Malay).
An open plan does mean a little less privacy. So we have phone booths to take private calls in. There’s a stool and a charging station in every booth.
Havas KL: Every Thursday, we have a IDEAORGY session during which one staff member will present a new finding, new perspective, or simply a passion. The goal is to empower everyone with new ideas beyond our scope of work, as well to unearth hidden talents. In addition, we now have our own nursery and prayer rooms, as well as a sleeping corner located above one of the meeting rooms.
This iDarts board located in the office pantry.
The Mag: What recent client work is most talked about around the agency?
Havas KL: Our recent win of the Energizer activation and digital business, as well as our appointment as Danone’s Digital Brand Guardian has definitely made things in the office very interesting. The digital shift has begun.
The Collaboratory or Colab is where we experiment and stick our thoughts up on the glass wall.
The Mag: What mottos or philosophies drive your team?
Havas KL: We have a local saying, “Don’t try, don’t know.” That’s what we want to spread in the office. We want to encourage everyone to just give it a shot. Hence the quote on one of our walls: “Today is a good day to try.”
Our mantra thanks to the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
service clients?
Havas KL: Diversity brings different perspectives to the table. It means we can be more personal and customized in our approach to handling various brands and client mindsets.
Our main boardroom is named SALDO, which means balance in Polish. The design signifies the seamless connection between work and play. The boardroom opens up to our pantry enabling it to serve as both a meeting room for clients as well as an area to host an event and party for all our people.
Randy Lee, our creative group head is a huge Star Wars fan. He often posts about his travels through the eyes of his two trusted sidekicks, his Storm Troopers.
Nobody is spared, not even our managing director.