BETC's 'powerhouses and satellites' plan: from Pantin hub to Riyadh Air (interview)
In an Adforum interview, BETC's Bertille Toledano laid out the powerhouse-and-satellite strategy that grew the Pantin hub to 1,200 people and won Riyadh Air.
What was changed
In a 3 December 2025 Adforum interview with Mark Tungate, Bertille Toledano described her new role — President of Havas Creative Network and CEO of Havas Middle East — as recognition of BETC's success inside the Havas network. She says the agency counts 1,200 people in its building in Pantin, the Paris suburb where the strategy has always been to build one world-class agency, with people from 33 nationalities, and with the BETC name extended to London, Shanghai, São Paulo and New York, where Maison BETC specializes in luxury.
Her vision for the network is 'powerhouses and satellites': a handful of creative powerhouses in key zones, each with its own production facilities, supported by smaller satellite agencies strong in social media, influence and strategy. She sees no relevance today in a bulky network of 80-plus agencies: 'Clients don't buy 80 agencies around the world. They buy creative excellence.' She recalls that Rémi Babinet and Mercedes Erra built BETC in Paris by embracing people with a wide variety of skills, and insists the job is a people job that follows charismatic teams.
The model is being applied in the Middle East, where Havas has operated in partnership with the Chalhoub Group since 2007. BETC and Havas jointly pitched for the Saudi Tourist Authority in Dubai and Riyadh as the Kingdom opened to tourism from 2019, producing the film 'This Land is Calling' with a third cinematic opus to come. BETC has since won the launch of Riyadh Air, the new national carrier that flew its inaugural flight to London Heathrow in October and aims to serve more than 100 destinations by 2030, and added Diriyah, the heritage and luxury development, as a client.
Why it worked
BETC bet from the beginning on one world-class hub in Pantin instead of scattering small offices, concentrating scale, production and prestige in one building.
The network model is being reshaped from many agencies into a few self-sufficient powerhouses plus satellites for social, influence and cultural work.
Cultural proximity is treated as core capability: without local insight into how people eat, dance and play, the work may be world-class but never culturally relevant.
The Middle East push leaned on a two-decade Chalhoub partnership and aimed at flagship national projects — tourism, a new airline, a heritage city — where investment was high.
What can be applied
In agency networks, depth beats breadth: a few creatively self-sufficient hubs rooted in local culture can outserve global clients better than an 80-office sprawl.
Aftermath
As of the December 2025 interview, Toledano was President of Havas Creative Network and CEO of Havas Middle East; Riyadh Air had launched its inaugural London Heathrow flight in October with a 100-plus destination target for 2030, and a third Saudi tourism film was in the pipeline. She acknowledges the region's investment level may eventually fall: 'we are prepared to invest our creativity.'