The culture within the Group and its agencies has historically placed a high value on respect for the confidentiality of client data and projects. Teams may have access to sensitive information so it is usual to ask employees to sign more specific confidentiality agreements (NDA – non disclosure agreement). Intellectual property, whatever the type of creation or output, is also protected. Experts in trademarks or copyright or data base rights, provide input in the very early stages of a project, in all countries. Data protection specialists are involved in all projects to ensure that these issues are properly understood. (See also Section 4.3.1).
As the preferred partners of major digital platforms, Publicis Groupe has also formed technological partnerships with numerous businesses whether established companies or promising start-ups. The aim is to better understand the technical possibilities and work together to find new, intelligent solutions, and to meet client and consumer expectations.
On the basis of their expertise, Group entities have also developed different analysis and research methodologies, in particular for consumer behavior and sociological developments, and have developed software tools and specific systems to assist in serving clients. Most of the tools concern media planning activities.
In partnership with the Les Échos group, Publicis Groupe organized the 4th annual Viva Technology event in Paris. This global event has become an unmissable event for all digital transformation players. The objective is two-fold: to promote innovation by encouraging dialog between large groups and start-ups or project leaders and to foster growth by pooling ideas, resources and technologies.
In May 2019, over a three-day period, Viva Technology welcomed 124,000 visitors from 125 countries, including hundreds of managers (3 Heads of State and 23 ministers) and opinion leaders, thousands of professionals and students, 13,000 start-ups and 3,300 investors, to discuss and get involved in transforming the economic, social, technological, human and organizational aspects of companies. The third day was open to the general public who were able to visit 21 Open Innovation Labs, to learn more about the ecosystem and discuss it with professionals, as well as the hundreds of conferences and workshops on offer.
Some of the Group’s digital agencies have internal “Labs” which aim to create the optimal testing conditions for multi-disciplinary teams, particularly, with regard to augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and everything relating to the Internet of Things (IoT). Technical partners have joined forces to co-develop innovative solutions.
Since 2012, Publicis Groupe has been a partner of the Iris Capital fund. This fund supports 50 or so companies with an overall revenue totaling 2.3 billion euro and a total headcount of 10,800 people. Iris Capital focuses on firms with strong potential to radically transform their sector, specializing in Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things, Cyber Security, 5G networks, as well as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and the Cloud, etc. (see www.iriscapital.com).
The Group’s Procurement and CSR Departments continued their program of work to develop the supplier monitoring system, based on the following:
1. Policy: CSR Business Guidelines (replacing the CSR Procurement Guidelines) were clarified in order to make them more explicit and more demanding in three areas relating to the application of the Duty of Care Law: human rights and fundamental freedoms, personal health and safety and environmental impacts.
This policy is a formal appendix to all contracts signed by Publicis Groupe and its suppliers. The new version (available to the public in CSR Smart Data – https://publicisgroupe-csr-smart-data.com/fr/) is sent to suppliers when contracts are renewed. Non-compliance with any one of these 12 guidelines is a non-selection criterion.
For certain activities, such as security and cleaning, which are carried out by small local businesses, the Group makes sure that it regularly assesses its local suppliers regarding their respect of human rights, and all social and societal criteria;
2. Supplier CSR self-assessment via PASS (Publicis Groupe Platform for Providers’ Assessment for a Sustainable Supply chain). The proprietary Group platform replaces the current questionnaire in use since 2010 and will enable Group and agency purchasers to ask suppliers to conduct a free of charge CSR self evaluation. This platform was created for SMEs that are less familiar with the process of third-party CSR assessment;
This transparent self-assessment based on around 40 key questions, is reviewed by the CSR Department to confirm whether or not the supplier actually meets the criteria and priorities set by the Group;
