Back in March, global media specialist Havas launched its Havas Play global network to focus on music, sports, culture and other areas of fan activation. Now, it has brought the agency to the UK.

Havas Play UK will bring together 100 market-leading specialists and expertise across strategy, ideation, activation, production, project management and distribution. It says the agency will provide clients with a diverse, integrated offering that includes partnerships, influencer marketing, sponsorship and rights holder activation, experiential, content creation and branded experiences.

The move has caused Havas to move the deckchairs around in the UK. As such, it will see its creative agency Cake, which specialises in sport and culture, merge with Havas Media Network UK’s content and partnerships division JUMP. The new entity will also leverage the data and measurement expertise of Havass parent brand Vivendi.

Existing Cake clients such as EE, Jaguar Land Rover, Major League Baseball, JBL and The FA, will continue to work with the same teams that make up Havas Play.

Rosie Holden, previously CEO of Cake, has been promoted to president of Havas Play UK. He said: “I’m so proud to have been part of an agency that created such groundbreaking work consistently over its 25-year history. Our transformation into Havas Play is the obvious next step and by joining forces with a brilliant team of specialists across content, media partnerships and production and leveraging the power of the Havas Group and Vivendi, we’re in a position to all deliver big, bold, beautiful work at scale.”

Following the UK launch, Havas Play now covers 17 markets including Australia, France, US, India, Spain, Italy, China, Germany and Mexico.