In 2019, based on 3,216 clients representing 87% of the Group’s net revenue (see Section 1.3.4 of this Registration Document), the breakdown of client business sectors/industries remained relatively in line with past year trends with no major changes.
Agencies conducted more than 10,000 client surveys, a stable number. These surveys are conducted either as questionnaires administered by agencies or as annual interviews or performance appraisals. Several key international clients also administer these customer satisfaction surveys themselves. A portion of client surveys therefore fails to come to the attention of agencies. Assessment criteria include five main themes that are monitored closely: campaign performance or digital systems introduced, the creativity/innovation provided, team competence, the effectiveness of the service offered and the quality of the relationship.
The Group has long-standing relationships with certain clients: the average duration with the ten main clients is 36 years. See also Section 6.6, Note 28 “Risk management” Section “Disclosures regarding major clients”.
The basic responsible marketing principles are founded on: truth, decency, respect, honesty, and societal responsibility. As such, this must be translated into the form and the substance of the messages, while preserving a maximum amount of creativity. Group agencies participate in the emergence of new forms of transparent, efficient and direct communication with the end consumer and with clients and promote new, more sustainable forms of consumer behavior.
Creativity & Technology for Good illustrates the Group philosophy and professional practices that underpin responsible marketing. Examples of campaigns can be found in the CSR section of the Group’s website.
The communication sector is a regulated industry that is sometimes governed by laws. The profession has always promoted professional self-regulatory mechanisms to ensure that the ethics of advertising content are respected. The Group and its agencies work hand in hand with various national bodies such as ASRC (Advertising and Self-Regulation Council) in the United States, ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) in the United Kingdom, ARPP (Autorité de régulation professionnelle de la publicité) in France, and EASA (European Advertising Standards Alliance) in Europe, or the ASC (Advertising Standards Council) in India.
In the field of digital communication, Group agencies attach particular importance to the fact that digital advertising should not be intrusive, irrespective of the type of channel used; otherwise it could cause user-rejection, and promote the use of “Adblockers” (advertising blocking devices). This principle of responsibility has long been defended by the Group, and is now widely shared by industry professionals, making it possible to establish industry standards banning certain types of formats. The Group has always defended people’s right to have control over their data. This principle guides technology choices and solutions offered to clients who need to have control over their data, just like end users who need to be able to access, correct or delete their own data. It is also part of the work carried out by an organization such as the IAB (International Advertising Bureau) of which the Group is a member (See Section 4.4.2).
Consideration of audiences and their individual peculiarities, particularly when these are children or so-called vulnerable audiences, is key since responsible communication is also reflected by the methods chosen. In France, for example, creative agencies such as Publicis Conseil, with Prodigious, have chosen to systematically subtitle films and videos for all mediums. This approach is an extension of the French Advertising initiative – AACC – to promote the universal subtitling of advertising films, www.soustitronsnospublicites.aacc.fr. This form of best practice was applied by other teams worldwide, particularly in Europe.
For digital campaigns, whatever the country, creative teams use best practices when choosing, optimizing and/or compressing images, and even select ink-saving fonts. For their part, technical teams find hybrid solutions in terms of the languages used i.e., Java, JavaScript or C++ so that the website or application uses less energy but offers users the same service quality. As a result of the Low-Tech Web Design approach taken by engineers and developers, it is possible to cut energy consumption by a factor of five, in the knowledge that final consumption always depends on the final medium (screen type, age of computer, tablet, smartphone, etc.) and the generation of electronic processors that it contains.
In 2018, Publicis Conseil was awarded the “RSE Active” label, certified by the French standards organization, AFNOR. It was awarded the maximum three stars, thereby validating the agency’s level of maturity in the fields of sustainable development and CSR for two years. This is the pay-off for the policy followed by teams and management for the last four years, as also demonstrated by its first Positive Study: “Digital conversations on CSR”. Publicis Conseil is the flagship Group agency based in Paris.
The Lead the Positive Change philosophy was built together with three main stakeholders: employees, agency clients and NGOs, with whom the path to conversion has been solidly built. For employees, internal culture incorporates CSR issues, with teams regularly trained in Positive Agency: employee listening groups, Code of Conduct, sports lessons, osteopathy, medical campaigns, waste sorting, zero plastics, responsible printing, etc. With regard to business line and client responsibility, the eco-communication process (eco-design, eco-production, eco-end for campaigns, carbon footprint and carbon offsetting with Cœur de Forêt), has proved to be a comprehensive approach.
The launch of Garnier Bio using eco-communication guidelines, which showed a clear reduction in impacts, made it easy to convince teams of the effectiveness of the initiative. With the Positive Business plan, the teams can support the agency’s clients in terms of sustainable development, upstream in their projects via specific expertise (training in eco-communication, Nudge workshop, etc.), research or discussion (Positive mornings, Positive talks, etc.), through their multi-channel communication strategies and by creating responsible campaigns.
