2020 Annual Financial Report

2020: a year in the new abnormal era

When news of the pandemic spread and lockdown measures were taken across the world, three imperatives were imposed on us: preservation of the physical and mental health of employees, service continuity for our clients under unprecedented conditions and the immediate implementation of plans to limit the consequences of this crisis, the extent and duration of which no one could have yet imagined.

The most alarming news circulated about the impending collapse of the global economy and, in particular, of our industry. Advertising? Digital? The media? In the spring of 2020 forecasts were predicting a 25% fall in revenue for our industry.

Although past experience enabled certain immediate reflexes to be triggered, this crisis was not comparable because its health nature meant it affected the whole world.

The Management Board, with the support of the Supervisory Board, has worked to achieve, literally, a real tour de force. Any misjudgment could have consequences throughout this extraordinary year and beyond.

Faced with the challenges, starting with the most important, that of ensuring the safety of our employees and providing them with the means to work in this abnormal world that was taking shape, Management, under the leadership of Arthur Sadoun, responded in a determined, creative and efficient manner.

The world has witnessed a real disturbance of the global economy and, at the same time, the strength of companies that have been able to react. Thus, throughout the year in this new normal, it was remarkable to see people adopt new habits in all areas.

Our employees put in a huge amount of effort by changing their way of life, inadvertently imposing the intrusion of professional life on their families and juggling the day-to-day imperatives and deliverables for our clients. The psychological pressure associated with the various uncertainties has been a severe test for everyone.

For our clients, the challenges were no less and our teams had to show even more creativity, wit and talent to revise meticulously crafted campaigns simply because they were inadequate in this world of emergencies and anxiety, and to propose solutions that were better suited and adapted to the new psychology of consumers.

It was also necessary to rethink the Groupe’s plans for this very unusual year in order to enable it to face up to the upheavals while preparing for the time when the world would emerge from this crisis. It is not enough to just get through a crisis minimizing the damage; it is also necessary to maintain the ability to rebound, to conquer and to grow.

All the teams around the world, without exception, have shown an iron will, an extraordinary talent and human qualities that have enabled Publicis to provide all its clients with innovative solutions to succeed in this period of intense turbulence. At the same time, they had to continue Epsilon’s integration programs, rethink our internal operating model by putting data at the heart of our proposals and make ad hoc decisions according to the news of the day, to limit the negative effects on the Groupe’s fundamentals.

A new abnormal?

Without a doubt.