Havas Media Group has forged a global partnership with content marketing platform NewsCred, to capitalise on what it views as the “year of content”.

NewsCred’s clients – including PepsiCo, Diageo and Visa – use the business to commission and license original editorial content from 5,000 publishers worldwide, such as Bloomberg, CNN, The Economist, Forbes and Reuters. The New York-based company employs over 210 people.

Havas first began working with NewsCred nine months ago, with the arrangement already having resulted in “more than a dozen” commercial leads.

It comes amidst a content drive at Havas Media Group – only last month, the agency signed a global deal with Universal Music to use music artist fan data to create targeted marketing opportunities for brands.

“2015 is the year of content for Havas,” said Dominique Delport, global managing director of Havas Media Group. “This has been an incredible nine months of working together and we are so pleased to formally add the team at NewsCred to our future.

“Brands need more relevancy and consistency than ever. Our partnership with NewsCred provides our clients with the sort of agility and speed that can mean the difference between success and failure.”

Havas is far from the only global agency groups focused on sharpening its content marketing tools. Yesterday (16 February), Publicis Groupe announced plans to acquire Paris-based press agency Relaxnews in a €15m ($17.1m) deal.

As well as developing content and technology platforms for media and brands, Relaxnews also offers clients content management services. Since 2009 it has been partnered with AFP, a deal which it recently renewed.

“Bringing Relaxnews into the Groupe would allow us to combine our leadership in digital with their unmatched expertise in today’s content revolution,” said Sébastien Danet, global managing partner at ZenithOptimedia.

“The synergies between these two pillars will transform media platforms for the benefit of our clients.”