Our investments focus on digital expertise and creative excellence in order to enrich content, strengthen our teams and promote innovation and new service offerings. The strengthening of our agencies and the development of strategic partnerships and initiatives with major Internet players allows Publicis Groupe to anticipate the changes and evolution of communications industries towards digital technologies. The aim is to offer the most innovative solutions to our clients, in phase with the rapid changes in consumer behavior and technologies.
2017 was in line with 2016. With the focus on the transformation of Publicis Groupe, the number of acquisitions remained limited.
On January 23, Publicis Communications acquired two digital agencies via Leo Burnett: The Abundancy and Ardent. These agencies will add to Leo Burnett’s arsenal of data, creative and technological capabilities. Ardent provides proprietary technology that uses search data to understand behavior and predict consumer intent, while The Abundancy applies these learnings to inform customized content. Together, these two agencies count 60 professionals who have now joined Leo Burnett under newly appointed CEO Andrew Swinand in the United States.
On July 1, Publicis Communications announced the acquisition of The Herd Agency, which is one of the largest and most recognized Australian agencies. This acquisition enables Publicis Communications to offer its clients a wider range of public relations services, including strategy, public affairs, earned media, investor relations, integrated campaigns, crisis communications, social media and marketing content. The Herd Agency is attached to MSLGROUP in Australia.
On July 19, Publicis Communications completed the acquisition of Ella Factory, a French corporate communications consulting agency created in January 2012 and chaired by Clément Léonarduzzi. Ella Factory is attached to Publicis Consultants, of which Clément became Executive Chair in October 2017.
On July 27, Prodigious, Publicis Communications’ production platform announced the acquisition of Translate Plus, a global supplier of linguistic services and expert in transcreation. Transcreation is the complete adaptation of the brand message for a product or an advert for a target market, and takes part in major global advertising campaigns. Created in 2008, Translate Plus employs over 130 people in 10 international offices, in London, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Bulgaria, Washington DC, China and Japan. Its client portfolio includes Mondelez, Porsche Consulting, Reckitt Benckiser, Rentalcars and Ricoh.
