Havas Media Group selects Say It Now as Canada voice partner

Say It Now, the London-based, leading adtech firm specialising in voice commerce, has agreed to an exclusive partnership with Havas Media Group (HMG) to act as the group’s partner in voice commerce in Canada.

Launched in 2018, Say It Now is a voice marketing and commerce business with a unique product set in a rapidly growing sector.

Say It Now and HMG have entered an exclusive two-year partnership across Canada that involves a complementary offering of the two companies’ combined services: Havas will become the agent for Actionable Audio Ads (CTV/outdoor advertising/etc.). Say It Now will grow the creative capacity surrounding Actionable Ads, benefitting from the market-leading Havas creative, media, and investment offerings.

The objective of this dynamic partnership is to rapidly build scale and to secure a leading position in a bilingual market with a comprehensive voice ad technology offering. From interactive voice ads to proactive and responsive suggestions, voice commerce is emerging as a real source of revenue for companies looking to prove ROI on their voice investments.

The genesis of this partnership was the existing relationship in Canada between Havas Media Group and North American voice technology platform GetStarted, founded by serial tech entrepreneur Norbert Horvath. In 2021 Say It Now acquired GetStarted to accelerate its strategic growth and consolidate its market leading position; Norbert Horvarth joined Say It Now as CTO.

The collaboration from HMG in Canada was led by Nick Cedar, Director of Investments, and Scott Nelson, VP, Media Investment.

Nick Cedar, Director of Investments, HMG said: “We were impressed by the vision and ambition of Say it Now’s response to the voice commerce challenge, and we understood instantly the significant opportunity that this represents for our clients. At HMG we are constantly searching for ways to further improve the Media Experience that we build for clients and connect them with their target audience in the most meaningful ways, wherever they are and through whatever content they consume. Voice commerce, and Actionable Audio, is an exciting development in the way that brands speak with their Canadian customers and we’re thrilled to partner with Say It Now to deliver more meaningful media experiences for our clients.”

Norbert Horvath, Say It Now CTO, added: “We are truly delighted that Havas has selected Say it Now as their voice partner in this dynamic and exciting space, across the vast Canadian market. Restless, intelligent, imaginative and creative, the team at Havas is always striving for better ways to serve their extraordinary client base, and their recognition of the huge potential of voice commerce has delivered Say it Now a significant opportunity to collaborate with their exceptional teams to deliver meaningful Actionable Audio campaigns for their clients – many of the most trusted and successful brands in the world. Emerging technologies such as voice commerce stand to shake up the traditional ways that brands speak with their customers. Actionable adverts, which can be adjusted in response to real time data, will breathe new life into marketing brainstorms across Canada and beyond as teams realise the potential of this new tool.”

Charlie and Norbert, 2 of Say It Now’s co-founders recently visited Havas in Toronto and here’s an excerpt of their upcoming interview: