To provide a single offering in each country combining all the Groupe’s areas of expertise, Publicis has defined 10 core markets: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), Asia-Pacific & Africa-Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Latin America (excl. Brazil) and Brazil.
This country-based organizational structure breaks down silos so we can provide our clients with an integrated solution that is seamless and innovative, born out of the alchemy between creativity, media, data and technology. These 10 countries or regions are each run and supervised by a single person and overseen day-to-day by a single Executive Committee, bringing together members with different expertise, and have shared support functions. They are thus structured to offer our clients a broad-based solution that meets their needs.
Given the size of the Groupe’s operations in the United States, which represent nearly 60% of the Groupe’s net revenue, a special organization was defined in 2019, with the establishment of an Executive Committee chaired by Arthur Sadoun. The purpose of this committee is to accelerate the implementation of Groupe strategy through the power of all our expertise combined into a single offering, and ramping up revenue synergies through cross-fertilization.
Clients have always been central to the Publicis Groupe strategy. To make sure they get the very best we have to offer, in 2016 the Groupe reshaped its organization around Client Leaders, account managers dedicated to clients. Major clients that use Publicis Groupe services in more than one market or across a range of expert areas are each assigned a Groupe Client Leader (GCL). Major clients that use Publicis Groupe services in only one country or region are assigned a Country Leader.
This structure translates into an uncomplicated client relationship, managed by a single point of contact. But it is also the ideal organization to increase cross-fertilization and offer the entire array of solutions to its clients horizontally: Creative, Strategic communications and influence, Production, Media buying and strategy, Data, Commerce, Performance, Digital marketing, Digital business transformation, and Healthcare. All the services offered to a client are consolidated in a single income statement, managed by the GCL.
The GCL’s role is a key one: establish closer, lasting relations between the Groupe and its clients, across all our services and wherever they are in the world. They also orchestrate access to the diverse range of talent and expertise on offer in Publicis to simplify how client relations are organized.
Global Services designs and deploys the global tools critical to ensuring the Groupe offers a consistent range of services in its 10 key markets, to improving our performance and generating economies of scale. Established in early 2020, Global Services has four departments: Media, Commerce, Production and Content, and is headed up by Steve King, Publicis Groupe COO.
Located mainly in India, Mauritius, Costa Rica and Colombia, these centers serve the Groupe’s other entities, in particular Publicis Sapient, Epsilon, Média and production. The 650 talent of Tremend, a company based in Romania whose acquisition by the Groupe was announced in January 2022, will thus complement the capabilities of Publicis Sapient in Europe.
Re:Sources is the backbone of our collaborative model and provides digital, administrative and logistics support in the Groupe’s main markets. To help Publicis Groupe’s agencies transform, innovate and increase productivity, Re:Sources provides cutting-edge solutions, streamlined technological platforms and efficient “processing plants”. Publicis Groupe’s shared services (digital: infrastructure, process systems and business systems, the Marcel collaboration and artificial intelligence platform, purchasing, real estate, media invoicing and payment, accounting, treasury, legal, human resources, purchasing, real estate, etc.) collaborate with agencies to serve clients. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the strength of Re:Sources enabled almost all employees in all Groupe countries to work immediately from home, demonstrating the resilience of the model.
Publicis Groupe SA is the Groupe’s holding company, whose main activity is, together with dedicated subsidiaries, to provide consulting services to the various Groupe companies. The central consulting costs are spread out over all of the Groupe’s operational companies according to the cost of services rendered.
In addition, the parent company and the dedicated holding companies receive dividends from their subsidiaries. The parent company also carries most of the Groupe’s medium-and long-term financial debt. Lastly, financial companies within the Groupe also manage the financing operations and liquidity investment transactions of the subsidiaries.
