Havas brings AI-powered production hub POP to Australia

Havas is making Australia a regional hub for AI-enabled production, launching the first Asia Pacific origination Centre of Excellence for its global Prose on Pixels network.

POP Australia will bring traditional production, filming, editing, post-production, animation and VFX together with Havas’ AI technology, including proprietary generative AI platform Vermeer.ai and its broader Converged.AI operating system.

The move puts Australia at the centre of Havas’ push to rethink how creative work is produced and scaled as brands demand more content across more audiences and markets, often without corresponding increases in production budgets.

The business will operate within Havas Village ANZ and is being positioned as a way of using AI selectively through the production process rather than simply generating greater volumes of content.

Matt Hearn, managing partner of POP Australia, said the operation was built around a recurring frustration in production: strong creative ideas being compromised by budgets and deadlines.

“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,” Hearn said.

“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.”

The launch also sees Raoni Lima appointed head of creative technology, returning to Havas after previously working with the group in 2020.

Lima brings more than 20 years of experience across agencies, holding companies and studios in Australia and Brazil and will lead the integration of creative technology into POP Australia’s production model.

“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,” Lima said.

“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.”

Havas ANZ group CEO James Wright described the launch as a significant investment in production for the region and part of the group’s broader push to combine creative, media, technology and production capabilities.

“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,” Wright said.

“It's a significant investment in production for this region, and it's how we keep playing and winning differently.”

POP Australia will also connect with the wider Havas creative, media and customer experience network, with its production capabilities led by head of creative innovation Chavvah Stuart.

“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,” Stuart said.