In March 2002, Publicis Groupe announced its acquisition of the US Group Bcom3, which controlled Leo Burnett, D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, Manning Selvage & Lee, Starcom MediaVest Group and Medicus, and held a 49% interest in Bartle Bogle Hegarty. At the same time, Publicis Groupe established a strategic partnership with Dentsu, the leading communications Group in the Japanese market and a founding shareholder of Bcom3. The acquisition established Publicis Groupe in the top tier of the advertising and communications industry, making it the fourth largest advertising Groupe worldwide, with operations in more than 100 countries and five continents.
From 2002 to 2006, Publicis Groupe successfully integrated Bcom3, following Saatchi & Saatchi, and brought together a large number of entities. At the same time, it made a number of acquisitions to create a coherent range of services that would address clients’ needs and expectations, particularly offering different types of marketing services and access to the principal emerging markets. In late 2005, Publicis Groupe obtained its first official rating (“investment grade”) from the two leading international rating agencies, Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s. In late December 2006, Publicis Groupe launched a friendly tender offer for Digitas Inc., a leader in the digital and interactive communications sector in the United States and worldwide. This operation, which was completed in January 2007, was the first step in the Groupe’s remarkable advance into digital technology. At the time, the Groupe correctly foresaw the profound changes that the arrival of digital communications would have on the media world and, with the acquisition of Digitas, it immediately positioned itself as a market leader in that space. With the launch of “The Human Digital Agency” project, the Groupe clearly indicated its intention to integrate digital technology into the heart of its business, thereby reaffirming the desire and vision of its founder to make the Groupe a “pioneer of new technologies.”
During 2007 and 2008, Publicis Groupe undertook a profound reorganization of its structures and operational methods in order to adapt to the requirements of the digital era. It has thus added digital services to its well‑known holistic service offer, while simultaneously pursuing the consolidation of its positions in fast‑growing economies, both of which will be major challenges in the years to come. 2007 was the year of Publicis’ integration of Digitas Inc. This rapid and successful integration triggered a series of acquisitions in the digital domain in order to complete the Groupe’s global offer in the fields of interactive and Mobile Communication. 2008 and 2009 saw Publicis Groupe pursue the drive to develop in the fast‑growing area of interactive communications and expansion into emerging markets.
In January 2008, Publicis Groupe and Google publicly announced a collaborative project. This collaboration, which began in 2007, is founded on a shared vision of using new technologies to develop the advertising business. The arrangement is not exclusive and is expected to complement other established partnerships with leaders in interactive media.
Amid brisk growth in the digital arena, the most visible sign of the Groupe’s transformation was undoubtedly the launch of VivaKi, a new initiative aimed at optimizing the performance of advertiser investments and maximizing Publicis Groupe’s market share growth. This initiative allows clients to reach precisely defined audiences in a single campaign and across multiple networks.
The global economic crisis in 2009, which saw numerous economies enter into recession and global trade shrink by 12%, did not hinder the development of Publicis Groupe’s strategy.
The acquisition of Razorfish the number two interactive agency in the world after Digitas from Microsoft in October 2009, brought new strengths to the Groupe’s digital activities, notably in e‑commerce, interactive marketing, search engines, strategy and planning, social network marketing and the resolution of technological architecture and integration issues.
During 2009, Publicis Groupe and Microsoft entered into a global collaboration agreement defining three core objectives for the development of digital media. Microsoft’s and VivaKi’s respective teams will be able to provide clients with greater added value and effectiveness in all the domains of the digital sphere: content, performance, definition, targeting, and audience ratings.
In 2009, Publicis Groupe became the world’s third‑largest communications firm, overtaking its competitor IPG. This position as number three has been considerably strengthened since then.
Thus, having confirmed the success of its strategy, in 2010 the Groupe continued its investments in digital activities and in developing areas of the world such as China, Brazil and India.
Despite the economic disruption in 2011, which was primarily due to sovereign debt in the eurozone and another financial crisis in August, followed by the United States’ debt rating downgrade, Publicis accelerated the development and implementation of its strategy, prioritizing digital businesses and developing countries. The Groupe acquired New York‑based Big Fuel, the only agency specializing in social networks, thereby solidifying its position in the digital sector, and also acquired the Talent and DPZ agencies in Brazil and Genedigi in China.
