Arthur Sadoun on media masterplan and the role of creativity to Publicis today

The Publicis chair and chief exec is doing so from a position of strength after reporting 5.8% organic growth during a “very busy and very strong” third quarter. This has once again allowed the bullish boss to revise upwards the holding company’s full-year organic growth guidance, which has this time been raised from a floor of 5% to 5.5%.

The question now is how long Publicis can maintain this momentum in a macroeconomic environment that Sadoun himself accepts is becoming tougher.

That’s why he’s today presenting to his investors his newly bolstered media model, which he describes as a “category killer” and feels is key to sustaining the group’s momentum moving into 2025 and beyond.

But before addressing them, Sadoun walked The Drum through his pitch alongside Talia Raviv, global chief exec of Publicis Media.

‘What has really changed is the media landscape’

During Q3, Publicis Groupe “went shopping,” as Sadoun puts it, investing $1bn in acquiring influencer marketing platform Influential and commerce marketing company Mars United. “These give us the opportunity to grow, of course, but more importantly, we think, help us to build a connected media ecosystem,” he says.

This ecosystem is essentially the combination of expertise in addressable media, creators and commerce, underpinned by the 2 billion individual profiles that sit within its first-party data powerhouse, Epsilon.

“I don’t think there’s any question that, on their own, all three of these areas are explosive,” says Raviv, who oversees media trading and buying across the group. “The problem is that they remain completely siloed. So even if our competition goes in and does something in each individual space, this isn’t enough. They really need to be unified, or they simply don’t work together. So, the way we’re solving for this is by having a connected identity at the core, through Epsilon.”

It will take around “nine to 15 months,” by Raviv’s estimation, for the new acquisitions to be fully integrated and for the mammoth outlay – Publicis’s biggest investment since its $4bn purchase of Epsilon in 2019 – to be realized. Hence Sadoun’s eagerness to rationalize the investment and what he calls the “simplicity” of its model.

According to its investor deck, 65% of group net revenue comes from its ‘connected media ecosystem,’ 20% from ‘intelligent content’ (ie, creative and production) and 15% from technology (Sapient). The Drum points out to Sadoun that while that may please the market, it may leave advertising traditionalists wondering to what extent Publicis is still an advertising business.

“Let’s be clear, the reason why we are talking about media is because we have spent a billion on media during the summer,” he says.

“Where you have a point is that it’s media that obliges us to truly transform all of our operation because what has really changed is the media landscape. So, the reason we’re going through intelligent content versus pure creativity is because the content we deliver not only needs to be very creative, but it needs to be intelligent enough to live and be fluid in a context that has completely changed.

“What we said from day one, when we took the job, is we never pitch as a media agency or a creative agency. We pitch as a transformation partner. When we go into a media pitch, we come with a creative idea. When we go to a creative pitch, we come with a media model. When we pitch with Sapient, we come with a marketing transformation idea and we consider that we can link data to content, to media to technology in a unique way.”

Maintaining momentum in tough times

The group’s success over the summer can’t yet be attributed to its new acquisitions, which are still bedding in, but owe much to new business and retention. It is this continued client success that has allowed it to defy economic headwinds and raise guidance at a time when its holding company rivals have seen their growth slow, Sadoun says.

“When we went over the [Q2 figures], we said 5% is the floor if the conditions don’t get worse – actually, the macroeconomic condition got worse. Despite that, and basically thanks to new business, we’ve been able to raise our guidance to 5.5%.”

Macroeconomic volatility only looks set to increase in Q4, not least in North America, where net revenue was up 4.7%, thanks to the uncertainty wrought by the US election. Sadoun is not complacent about what’s on the horizon but says that “Q4 being an adjustment quarter” and “possible instability after the election” have already been baked into his forecasting.

“This is something that we are watching out for and that we have monitored in our numbers, which makes our numbers even stronger.

“When it comes to the election, that represents a rise in revenue for some because they are participating in it. We don’t. We don’t do any political marketing in any way in any country. And believe me, as we are the number one media player in the US, it is not as if all political parties are not asking every day, but we have a simple rule of conduct, which is that we never participate in political marketing or communication.

“So for us, it had no impact this year at all, except maybe for some difficulties if instability comes after the election, which, again, is anticipated in our guidance.”