Interview with Aldis Ozoliņš, Chief Creative Officer at Havas Riga, is conducted by Hando Sinisalu.
Traditionally, media and creative agencies were kept separate, and most still are. What are the advantages and disadvantages of combining them?
Havas Riga brings media and creative together under one roof. We have around 40 to 50 people, most of the team is on the media side, while the creative side is a smaller team of around 12.
The main advantage is that we can go to clients with integrated proposals that come with very clear benefits. For instance, we can project expected revenue or concrete results from a campaign. That’s a significant advantage. Plus, we always have a solid grasp of what’s happening on the media side.
For example, during political campaign periods, some outdoor formats may be unavailable, and we’re always up to speed on such limitations. These kinds of insights often come from the media team and are incredibly useful for the creative side as well.
What about the disadvantages? I’ve heard that combining the two can create more client conflicts.
Exactly. Over the past three years since I joined, we’ve had to turn down around five potential clients due to conflicts, and these weren’t small names either. In practice, it just means we need to focus on working with clients who are also on the media side, so media-first. Then we add value from the creative side.
How is business overall?
We’re in a period of transformation. We’re rebuilding the core of our creative agency. For example, we hired Kaspars Staškevičs, who has experience from Guilty Ogilvy and Mooz!. The problem in previous years wasn’t that we lacked talent, but that we lacked clear focus – knowing what we’re doing and where we’re headed.
Now, we’ve targeted our strengths and identified what we can do better than our competitors.
If you compare the first half of this year to the same period last year, what’s the trend?
Revenue-wise, it’s quite similar. But financially, we’re in a much healthier position now.
In Estonia, I’ve heard that when revenue is flat and salaries increase, profitability drops. Is that the case for you?
In comparison to the Estonian market, our salary levels are slightly lower. So I’d say that issue is bigger in Estonia.
Where do you see growth potential? Every business needs to grow, so what’s your path?
Pan-Baltic projects are our biggest opportunity. We’re not ready to expand beyond that into Europe just yet, but within the Baltics, there’s strong potential.
Is that easier because your agency has the same owners in other Baltic countries? So there’s no internal competition for leadership?
Yes, that helps a lot. Usually, pan-Baltic projects suffer from internal competition, but we’ve seen good cases where, for example, our Lithuanian colleagues handle media while we cover creative. That kind of collaboration works really well.
How much support do you get from the global network? Many traditional network agencies are going independent now. You’re still owned by the network. What’s the advantage there?
The biggest benefit is access. I can reach out to anyone in the network, even the London office, to talk about data or share experiences on global projects. We can involve people and expertise that would be impossible in an independent agency.
That said, it’s not an automatic system. You need to take the initiative yourself.
So you still need to nurture those relationships. Just being part of the same network doesn’t guarantee support.
Exactly. There are definitely benefits we miss out on because of our market size. Each agency’s potential varies, and the network’s interest is not equally strong everywhere.
However, one area where the network really supports us is with artificial intelligence tools. They’re actively developing and expanding that area.
How do those tools compare to more generic ones like Midjourney or GPT?
They integrate directly with our data and strategy tools. That means we can extract insights faster and in a more actionable way. Of course, there are still many directions AI could evolve into, but that integration gives us a real edge.
I’ve seen European agencies using AI for consumer research—creating synthetic personas instead of traditional focus groups. Are you exploring that?
Yes, absolutely. But we realized early on that synthetic personas don’t work without a foundation of real data. So we always start with actual responses from real people and then build AI personas from that base. It helps streamline the process significantly.
Do you consider that a competitive advantage?
Yes. You can see it in presentations. Clients become much more confident when they see how data and personas support our strategy.
What’s your biggest challenge right now? What keeps you up at night – or maybe you sleep well?
Right now, the challenge was to build the core team during the first half of the year and see how it performs. Now, I’m thinking about what to add next to make the team more effective.
I know we need to focus on bringing in junior creatives who can offer new ways of thinking.
What about hiring from abroad? Before COVID, we saw creatives from quite exotic places in Baltic agencies. That seems to have faded. Would you hire from, say, Africa or Brazil?
It depends on client needs. Right now, I don’t see the demand to bring in foreign creatives. But in the future, it’s absolutely possible. Visiting creatives from other offices have really enjoyed working here.
Last year, someone from Germany visited our office and was genuinely impressed with the quality of the work and the design culture here.
What about freelancers? Post-COVID, many agencies downsized and leaned more on freelancers. What’s your approach?
I think it’s a great model. Right now, we’re working on a project with three different freelance art directors. Each one brought something valuable, and the collaboration worked beautifully.
To me, that’s the essence of an agency – bringing in talent. And that doesn’t mean they have to be on staff. We just need to find ways to involve them in the work.
You mentioned your main challenge is finding good people. In a small market, how do you do that? I imagine you’re often poaching talent from other agencies.
The market is actually quite favorable now. Top agencies have realized their teams are too large, so some people are leaving. We’ve learned from conversations with potential hires that Havas Riga is on their radar. That was the most important thing for me – knowing that talent from other agencies sees us as a place they’d like to work.
Looking at the Latvian market, is there a trend like in Estonia, where there have been almost no new local consumer brands recently?
Let’s wait and see. For instance, the Rimi chain will have new owners, which could shake up the market.
Each category is different. Beer, for example, is shrinking in Latvia. That’s just demographics – young people are choosing other options. But there are exceptions, too!
Last year, we launched a campaign for Cēsu Senču beer that went against the grain. Instead of targeting the usual 40-plus male demographic, we focused on Gen Z. Strategically, it may have seemed odd, but it worked. We reintroduced an old brand as a retro product, and it resonated.
We even launched a sub-brand this year – Cēsu Oriģinālais alus, dating back to 1987. It’s doing really well in terms of sales.
We also took a totally different approach to communication. We launched a vertical TV series on social media, and it paid off.
What about Latvian consumers? If someone from outside – Estonia, Germany, or Mars – wanted to launch something here, what works? What doesn’t?
Latvians don’t respond well to overpromising. We prefer honest, straightforward communication. It’s not like in the US, where everything is hyped.
People here really appreciate creative communication as well, depending on the product and target segment. For example, with Cēsu beer, we’ve seen how unexpected, out-of-the-box campaigns can completely shift brand perception.
BalticBest 2025
You can find rules HERE.
Submission deadline: 08.08.2025 -> extended until 12.08.2025 5 PM (Estonian time)
Shortlist published: 19.08.2025
Live judging and awards announced: 27.08.2025
