Havas unveils AI-powered POP hub in Australia

The launch comes as brands face growing demands to adapt creative work for different audiences and markets while managing production costs and timelines.

Havas has launched POP Australia, the first origination Centre of Excellence in Asia-Pacific for Prose on Pixels (POP), its AI-powered global craft-at-scale network.

The Australian operation will combine traditional production expertise with artificial intelligence and creative technology to help brands produce more tailored work within existing budgets and shorter timelines.

POP Australia will operate across film, advertising, editing, post-production, animation and VFX, integrating AI-enabled workflows with conventional production. The operation will use POP’s proprietary generative AI technology, including Vermeer.ai, alongside Havas’ Converged.AI approach.

Havas launches POP Australia as regional production hub

POP Australia is designed to help preserve the core creative idea while enabling more executions and variations.

The operation forms part of Havas ANZ’s Deliberately Different positioning, launched in 2025, and brings together a local production team with three decades of experience across film and advertising.

Matt Hearn, Managing Partner, POP Australia: "I’ve watched the best idea in the room lose to the budget more times than I can count. Trimmed down, made safe, sent out to everyone. That’s the thing we wanted to fix, so we built POP Australia to fix it. Real craft, and the AI chops to match, with a global network behind a team you can actually get in a room."

"The big machines make you fit the work to the system. We built it the other way round, closer and faster, by people who’ve spent their whole lives making the work. Because the best thing you can give a good idea is the time to stay good."

Raoni Lima joins as Head of Creative Technology

Raoni Lima has joined POP Australia as Head of Creative Technology, bringing more than 20 years of experience across agencies, holding companies and studios in Brazil and Australia.

He has previously worked on AI production initiatives within major holding companies and returns to Havas, having previously been with Havas Host from 2015 until March 2020.

Lima will oversee the integration of creative technology into POP Australia's production model, with a focus on applying AI selectively across the creative process rather than using it solely to increase content output.

Raoni Lima, Head of Creative Technology, POP Australia: "Anyone can generate images and video. The real value comes from knowing which tools to use, when to use them and how to integrate them into the creative process to achieve better outcomes."

"Real change starts at the root, a complete redesign of the entire process from the ground up, and that is exactly the bet we are making with the POP model. The focus is not simply producing more content or accelerating production, but using the technology selectively to extend what is creatively and commercially achievable while keeping craft and intent in human hands."

POP Australia combines craft, AI and production expertise

James Wright, Group CEO, Havas ANZ: "POP Australia is exactly the kind of deliberately different move we’ve been building towards. The market keeps being told that scale is the answer, but scale alone has never been a guarantee of better work.

"Clients want agility, integrated capability and production that delivers real outcomes, and that’s what POP gives them: global craft and genuine AI capability, purpose-built and close to the work, backed by the full Village. It’s a significant investment in production for this region, and it’s how we keep playing and winning differently."

POP Australia will operate within Havas Village ANZ and connect its production capabilities with the group's creative, media and customer experience network. The production operation will work alongside capabilities led by Chavvah Stuart, Head of Creative Innovation.

Chavvah Stuart, Head of Creative Innovation, Havas: "The goal isn’t volume, it’s relevance. It’s about smarter content that cuts through, connects, and lands when it matters. That is where craft and technology finally pull in the same direction."

www.havas.com

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