Thus, Publicis connects all its expertise in an integrated way thanks to the “Power of One,” to provide winning solutions to its clients.
Two events that took place in 2016 have made Publicis’ history. The goal of the first, Viva Technology Paris, run in association with the Les Échos Group, was to stage a global event in Paris that would bring together start‑ups and major stakeholders in the digital industry. This annual event is now a major event in Europe for global technology companies and start‑ups. On its 90th anniversary, Publicis Groupe launched a project named Publicis90. This idea was to provide 90 projects or start‑ups with financial aid and the support of the Groupe’s digital experts. After an initial phase of stringent selection over a period of several months, the winners were selected from among the 3,500 contestants from 130 countries and received their awards at a ceremony held during Viva Technology.
At the beginning of 2017, the Publicis Groupe Supervisory Board appointed Arthur Sadoun as Maurice Lévy’s successor as Chairman of the Management Board. Since June 1, 2017, Maurice Lévy has been a member of the Supervisory Board, which he now chairs.
2017 was marked by two themes: going further with integration and faster in the execution of the strategy prepared by Maurice Lévy. Our ambition is to become the leader in the convergence of marketing and operational transformations, through the alchemy of creativity and technology. For this, the Groupe has created two new decision‑making entities, the Executive Committee and the Management Committee.
After breaking the silos and organizing itself into Solutions, the Groupe has gone a step further by implementing an organizational structure by country, with the aim of providing clients with a fully integrated offer, from advertising to marketing, consulting, and media, with data at its core. The deployment of this organization has begun in France, the United Kingdom, China and Italy.
Sprint to the Future, the plan for 2018‑2020, was unveiled in March 2018. Built around its strategic game changers, namely data, dynamic creativity and digital business transformation, as well as its country organization, Publicis Groupe aims to become an indispensable partner in business transformation. These ambitions are matched by a sizeable investment plan, financed by a raft of cost‑savings measures.
At the same time, Publicis Groupe looked to equip itself with a system that would serve its talent. The Marcel artificial intelligence platform, developed in partnership with Microsoft, and named in tribute to the group’s founder, Marcel Bleustein‑Blanchet, was launched in May 2018. The aim of Marcel is to facilitate the transformation from a holding Company to a platform so that all Groupe employees worldwide can discuss and collaborate without barriers or borders.
2019 was a pivotal year for the Groupe with the acquisition of Epsilon, the marketing Big Data specialist. Epsilon has the technology and platforms to structure client first‑party data, round it out with an incomparably diverse range of data sources and put together personalized campaigns at scale. Now more than ever, our activities are resolutely positioned to the future, with more than 30% of our net revenue generated by data and digital business transformation.
At the same time, the Power of One strategy, initiated in 2016, is now fully effective. Through the Groupe Client Leader, clients are offered a tailored service and direct access to the Groupe’s entire range of expertise. The Groupe helps its clients to constantly innovate and grow their sales, while controlling costs.
In 2019, the Groupe completed its transformation in terms of assets and structure. The Groupe is now in a unique position to serve clients across the entire value chain. It is the only one to have large‑scale assets in creativity, media, data and technology.
2020 was marked by the global Covid‑19 pandemic, which affected all countries and sectors of activity for most of the year. This major health crisis resulted in one of the largest economic crises in recent history. The measures taken by various governments to contain this pandemic, such as lockdowns, have had a sudden and unprecedented impact on consumption and production.
The transformation that Publicis Groupe had initiated several years earlier enabled it to best meet the needs of its clients, to navigate alongside them in the crisis, define strategies to overcome it, accelerate their digital transformation and build direct links with their consumers. At the same time, the Groupe has taken important operational decisions to preserve its talent. The roll‑out of Marcel, the Groupe’s artificial intelligence platform, has thus been accelerated to meet the requirements of new working methods and enable better sharing, even remotely. Marcel has acted as a way of bringing teams together and proved to be a valuable tool during such a period.
