2020 Annual Financial Report

The top 30 clients account for 37% of consolidated revenue.

Client satisfaction

Client satisfaction is a core value of the Groupe. In recent years, Publicis Groupe and its agencies have set up various systems to closely monitor client satisfaction. At the end of a project and during the quarterly face-to-face review, the satisfaction assessment makes it possible to assess at least five main themes: 1) the performance of the campaigns or digital systems implemented, 2) creativity the innovation provided, 3) the competence of the teams, 4) the effectiveness of the service offered, 5) the quality of the relationship. Several hundred clients are interviewed in this way every year, at least once a year. In addition to this local qualitative approach, there are questionnaires administered by the agencies or by the clients themselves for annual performance reviews based on rational indicators to assess the objectives and results achieved; more than 12,000 clients responded in 2020.

Finally, given the speed and the multitude of projects, the relationship between the client and the agency is central; in recent years, the Groupe has been using an independent third-party service, TRR (The Referral Rating) which administers a flash survey to clients three times a year, which takes less than a minute to complete, in order to capture the “emotional temperature” of the moment. The main advantage is to immediately detect any points of weakness and implement a corrective action plan. More than 10,000 people are thus interviewed three times a year, covering nearly 330 clients. This external tool also enables agencies to compare themselves with their competitors in their market.

4.2.2    Communication and Responsible Marketing

4.2.2.1   Definition, rules and best practices

Responsible Marketing is based on a few key principles to be applied in the expression of communication: truth, decency, respect, honesty and societal responsibility. This must be translated into the form and the substance of the messages, while preserving a maximum amount of creativity. Groupe agencies participate in the emergence of new forms of transparent and direct communication with the end-consumer, to promote new, more sustainable forms of consumer behavior.

Responsible marketing is based on a set of voluntary rules, which the Groupe follows and based on which it wishes to raise its own professional standards. In this context, the following are examples of some initiatives carried out in this area and monitored by the Groupe over the last few years:

Regarding professional self-regulation, on an international scale, the Groupe works with professionals and all the competent authorities of the ecosystem to advance standards and best practices. For more than 80 years, the communications sector has been governed internationally by the Marketing Code of the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce – www.iccwbo.org). This code is the benchmark in self-regulation and best practices for advertising and marketing (Advertising and Marketing Communication Practice – ICC Code). It sets the standard in terms of self-regulation and best practice in advertising and marketing. It covers digital communication and mobile apps. The 2018 version reiterates the founding principles: all communication must be legal, decent, honest, truthful and socially responsible. This Code sets out to be neutral in terms of technology and media and so no players are exempt. This Code sets out a clear framework for advertising aimed at children (under 12) and adolescents (between 13 and 18), takes vulnerable people into consideration and incorporates challenges associated with data collection and protection and the right to privacy, as well as subjects linked to climate change and respect for the environment:

• Groupe agencies play an active role in national and international professional organizations. Worthy of note is the work carried out with the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and the MRC (Media Rating Council) on the visibility of digital advertising, and how this can be quantified (viewability). Publicis Media was the first agency to be Gold standard certified in 2018, 2019 and 2020. This work is done in close cooperation with other professional organizations such as the 4As (American Association for Advertising Agencies), particularly the 4A’s Privacy Committee, the ASRC (Advertising Self-Regulatory Council) in the United States, as well as the EASA (European Advertising Standards Alliance). The Groupe took part in the launch of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media in Cannes in 2019, at the behest of clients belonging to the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA). In August 2020, Publicis Groupe was one of the founding members of PRAM (Partnership for Responsible Addressable Media), with the protection of consumers a priority. PRAM is a consortium positioned on inclusion by developing principles and standards to properly address consumers in a constantly changing digital environment. These projects require the Groupe’s commitment, in the same way as the work done collectively on Online Behavioral Advertising and Native Advertising, both in the United States and in Europe;