Havas Market Appoints Pedro Ramos as Head of Ecommerce

Havas Media Group UK has today appointed Pedro Ramos as head of ecommerce for its specialist ecommerce consulting agency Havas Market. The hire completes the management line-up for Havas Market following the acquisition of full-service ecommerce and Amazon consultancy Expert Edge earlier this month, a move designed to accelerate Havas Market’s global expansion.

Bringing fifteen years’ experience in marketing, the majority within performance media and ecommerce, Ramos joins Havas Market following four years at Omnicom Media Group, where he rose to EMEA executive director of performance, overseeing a team of 20+ to partner with clients such as SAP, Philips and Mercedes-Benz on ecommerce, paid social, paid search and programmatic.

Ramos’ remit is to help deliver growth for Havas Market and its clients by navigating the crossover between traditional performance media and ecommerce specific outcomes. He will also support the continued development of Havas Market’s market-leading ecommerce offering, spanning direct-to-consumer, marketplaces and data and analytics. As part of this, he will work closely with Havas Media Group’s local leadership and global product teams.

Ramos will report into David Jennison, who became managing director of Havas Market alongside his existing role of CEO of Expert Edge following the recent acquisition.

On Ramos’ appointment, Jennison said: “Following Expert Edge joining Havas Media Group UK earlier this month, Pedro is an exciting addition to the team on Havas Market’s journey to becoming the go-to ecommerce partner for clients. He has an uncanny ability to join up the dots across ecommerce, from performance media and marketplaces through to customer experience and tech solutions. With such a diverse skillset, I’m excited to see how he brings everything together to create even more meaningful shopping experiences for consumers and drive meaningful growth for brands in an increasingly complex ecommerce market.”

Originally hailing from Portugal, Ramos came to the UK in 2016, taking on a strategy role at creative agency Wunderman Thompson. He subsequently spent a year working client-side at Sainsbury’s, overseeing overarching digital campaign strategy for its Nectar loyalty programme, before joining Omnicom Media Group to work on global digital strategy for Unilever in 2018.

Last year, Ramos was featured in the PerformanceIn Top 50, which celebrates exceptional individuals who are pushing boundaries in the performance marketing space. He has also contributed to multiple award wins for clients, most notably a Grand Prix at the WARC Media Awards for his team’s work on Specsavers, as well as Campaign Media Awards, Media Week Awards, Campaign Tech Awards and Festival of Media Global Awards.

Pedro Ramos, new head of ecommerce, Havas Market, added: “Since moving to the UK, I’ve been lucky to work with brands from a multitude of different sectors, gaining client and agency-side experience across creative, performance media and ecommerce. This new challenge at Havas will enable me to harness all of this experience, with the opportunity to influence all phases of the purchase funnel, from demand generation to conversion, whether in a physical or online store. Our industry has rigid perceptions of what ecommerce is, so I want to help expand the definition and show how it encompasses every stage of the retail experience.

“I’m joining Havas Market at an exciting point in its evolution, with the opportunity to leverage specialist capabilities from all agencies within the group to drive even more growth for our clients.”

Outside of work, having completed training in Performance Coaching for Leadership in 2018, Ramos has volunteered with young graduates to help them overcome insecurities and embrace their entrance into the job market, helping with everything from CV and interview preparation to mentoring during their initial months within the industry. During Covid-19, Ramos was involved in the ContaConnosco.pt project and sessions with General Assembly, a training programme Ramos cofounded to help those affected by the pandemic to return to the job market and overcome difficult times.

Ramos is passionate about changing mentalities by educating people on how to overcome obstacles creatively and unexpectedly, something he also brings into his professional life and his work with clients.