Award winning Manchester born healthcare communications agency, Havas Lynx, has this week celebrated its 30^th birthday, along with over 230 of its staff and a host of international clients. The event, held at Home on May 12, was followed by an after party at Gorilla, with legendary DJ, Dave Haslam.

True to its heritage of bringing medical innovations to the world’s attention, guests were invited  to play a ground-breaking new online game, Sea Hero Quest, the first mobile app  which actually aids dementia research by being played.  It was developed by Alzheimer’s Research UK, University College London and the University of East Anglia, with the backing of communications giant Deutsche Telekom.   Each guest played the game for just two minutes – the equivalent to around 172 days of clinical research.

Starting out in 1986 as a small independent studio in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, and with a team of just two, Havas Lynx has much to celebrate, having grown up to become a powerful international communications agency with offices in Manchester, London and New York.

Formerly known as Creative Lynx, the company rapidly established itself as a trail-blazer in the niche healthcare sector, out-pitching bigger, international marketing and design agencies to win high profile and lucrative contracts.  Notably, it successfully launched the first gold standard Alzheimer’s disease treatment for global pharmaceutical company, Aricept.

The company merged in 2012 with global integrated advertising agency, Euro RSCG, now part of Havas Worldwide, and today maintains its position as a leading player in Havas’ global network of 350 agencies.

Havas Lynx was last year placed among the top five Prolific North Top 50 Integrated Agencies 2015, and is recognised as a global leader in healthcare communications, with over 200 members of staff from creative, medical, technical and accounts teams, delivering ground breaking campaigns for the world’s leading healthcare companies, including AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and Sanofi.

The company employs over 70 creatives, making it the biggest creative healthcare department in Europe, and has won over 70 awards for its innovative and creative campaigns in healthcare.

In the last 3 years alone, the group has grown by 40% creating 75 new jobs in Manchester with 64% of their turnover coming from outside the UK.  The Havas Lynx group forecasts a turnover of £24m in total for 2016.

Commenting on reaching 30 years old and meteoric rise from its modest Manchester beginnings, Havas Lynx Europe CEO and official “MBassedor for Manchester”, Dave Hunt, said:

“It’s great to take a moment to reflect on what we’ve achieved. For me personally, this is a company I’ve been involved with since I was fresh out of university and I’m extremely proud of where we stand today. But I’m focused on what’s to come. Our recent investments in our creative department is a signal of intent; we’re not just hear to produce great work, but to deliver industry-defining work that puts our clients right at the forefront of healthcare, and has an impact on society.

The recent launch of Havas Village Manchester which saw sister companies, Havas Media and Havas People, join Havas Lynx and Havas PR at the offices on Princess Street, further enhanced the city’s talent.  The move firmly placed Havas Lynx, with its multi-talented network partners, as the most significant communications group in outside of London.

Significantly, the creation of #HavasVillageMCR in November, was the first Havas Village in the UK, and demonstrated that its parent company, Havas Worldwide, viewed Manchester as a key city for creativity, choosing the location ahead of London based on the success of Havas Lynx and its contemporaries.