Havas Media Network has created a new position within its Polish agency structure. The role of head of AI transformation has been taken by Maria Zalewska, a manager with more than fifteen years of experience in business consulting. It is another signal that the Havas network treats artificial intelligence not as an add-on to its offer, but as part of the operating model of the entire organisation.
From this article you will learn what scope of responsibilities the newly created position within the Havas Media Network structure will cover, what professional experience stands behind the promotion of Maria Zalewska, and how the decision fits into the group's global AI strategy built on the Converged.AI programmes and the AVA platform.
Fifteen years of consulting for global brands stand behind the new role at Havas
Maria Zalewska has taken the newly created position of head of AI transformation at Havas Media Network. She will be responsible for setting the directions for implementing artificial intelligence at the agency, as well as for overseeing AI projects carried out for clients. Because the function was created from scratch, the network is still defining its detailed scope of responsibilities, tailored to the realities of the advertising industry.
Maria Zalewska has been involved in business consulting for over 15 years, experience she gained primarily on projects delivered for large corporations – she has worked with Scania, Coca-Cola, Michelin and Synthos, among others. She has taken part in both product and process innovation projects, which means she knows the mechanisms of implementing technological change in large organisations inside out. Her strength lies in combining consulting experience with hands-on knowledge of technology in the areas of GenAI, LLMs and building AI agents – which at a media agency translates directly into the quality of advertising projects delivered. Over her career to date she has managed teams made up of experts from various fields as well as stakeholder relationships, and in recent years she has focused on implementing AI as a tool for the strategic development of companies.
In her new role, Maria Zalewska will report directly to Beata Magdziarz, chief digital officer & board member at Havas Media Network. This reporting line shows that the AI topic has been placed at the highest level of management of the agency's digital area, rather than treated as an isolated technology project.
Artificial intelligence already supports the entire advertising workflow at the agency
At Havas, artificial intelligence has long been developed as part of the agency's working model and supports marketing activities at successive stages of the process – from strategy and planning, through content creation, campaign activation and commerce, to analytics and measurement of results, with its role going beyond the automation of individual tasks. The framework for this approach is set by Converged.AI, Havas's global operating model, which combines people, data, technology and competencies into a single work ecosystem, allowing agencies to operate more coherently – from insight and planning to activation and evaluation of results. An important element of this environment is AVA, a platform that gives teams secure access to advanced AI models, agents and organisational knowledge — a tool that in practice is meant to standardise how generative artificial intelligence is used in the daily work of planners and strategists.
The effects of this strategy are already visible in the client offer. Brand Insights AI, Havas Market's proprietary tool, helps brands measure, track and optimise their visibility on generative AI platforms, making it possible to check how a brand is presented by different models, which sources they cite and where content gaps appear. Competencies related to A2A, that is communication between autonomous AI agents, are today becoming an element that many media teams in Poland lack, and growing interest in this area is also visible in global industry research. According to a Gracenote study from August 2026, as many as 95% of media planners said that reporting at the level of individual programmes would be valuable to them, while 91% of programmatic traders indicated that the lack of data at this level limits CTV advertising opportunities. These figures show that pressure for more precise use of data and AI models in media planning is growing regardless of the market, and Havas's decision to create a dedicated position fits into this global trend.
Agency management stresses that technology should serve people, not the other way round
"At Havas we look at AI primarily through the prism of value for people and business."
Says Beata Magdziarz, chief digital officer & board member at Havas Media Network Poland.
"Maria's experience in combining technology with business transformation will be important support in further developing this direction."
Added Beata Magdziarz, commenting on Maria Zalewska joining the team.
The creation of the head of AI transformation position confirms that for large advertising networks the topic of artificial intelligence has ceased to be a pilot project and has become part of the organisational structure on a par with creative or media planning departments. Havas Media Network is not alone in this — the entire communications industry in Poland is facing the need to build AI competencies faster than traditional recruitment paths allow, which is why it increasingly reaches for specialists from outside the agency world, as in the case of Maria Zalewska's consulting experience.
The significance of this change grows in the context of data on the Polish digital market. According to a Mediapanel study from August 2026, the average daily number of internet users in Poland was 25,900,000, while in July the number of internet users reached 29,300,000 — a huge audience base for which agencies must plan campaigns ever more precisely, using AI-based analytical tools.
The challenge remains translating global tools such as Converged.AI or AVA into concrete, measurable results for local clients. The scale of corporate experience that the new leader brings — projects for brands such as Scania, Coca-Cola, Michelin and Synthos — suggests that the agency is betting on someone accustomed to implementing change in large, complex organisations, not only in an agency environment.
What Polish marketers and media planners can take from this staffing change
Those responsible for media strategy at Polish brands should start by reviewing their own processes to see which of them could benefit from tools of the Brand Insights AI class, that is monitoring a brand's visibility on generative AI platforms — the starting point is checking how the brand is currently presented by popular language models, and the signal of success will be a noticeable increase in the accuracy of the information cited about it. It is also worth watching the development of internal teams' competencies by using ready-made training programmes such as Section Coach x Havas, rather than building them from scratch — the effect is visible when a team can independently assess which tasks are worth handing over to AI agents and which require human oversight.
Marketers planning campaigns should also track industry data on audience behaviour, such as Mediapanel results on out-of-home advertising reach, where the reach of digital DOOH carriers in July 2026 reached 86.1%, and the total reach of out-of-home advertising in Poland was 90% — these figures show that media decisions based on data analytics supported by AI bring a measurable competitive advantage, and its absence is easy to spot in declining campaign effectiveness.
Havas Media Network builds a team in Poland responsible for digital transformation
Havas Media Network is part of the global communications group Havas, operating in media, creative and data. Within the Polish structure, the role of chief digital officer & board member is held by Beata Magdziarz, who oversees the development of digital and AI competencies at the agency, including the newly created head of AI transformation position filled by Maria Zalewska.
The pillar of the network's technology strategy is the global operating model Converged.AI, combining people, data, technology and competencies into a single work ecosystem, along with the AVA platform, giving teams secure access to AI models, agents and organisational knowledge. At the level of its client offer, the agency develops tools such as Brand Insights AI, Havas Market's proprietary solution for measuring brand visibility on generative AI platforms, and strengthens team competencies through the Section Coach x Havas: Basic AI Proficiency Accelerator programme, delivered in cooperation with Section AI.
This is not the first change in the network's management structures recently — the MediaRun editorial team has previously covered, among other things, a director-level promotion at Havas Media Group and Havas's new global visual identity, which together show that the network is investing in parallel in brand development, management structure and technological competencies. More about the agency's profile and its local activities can be found in the MediaRun brand directory.
