EuroBusiness Media (EBM): Publicis Groupe, the world’s third largest communication and advertising group, posts Q3 revenue. I am joined by the group CEO, Arthur Sadoun. Arthur Sadoun hello. Thank you for being with us.
Arthur Sadoun: Bonjour Nadia. Thank you for being here.
EBM: Publicis Groupe reported Q3 revenue this morning, what are the key figures to look out for?
Arthur Sadoun: When it comes to Q3, we said very clearly in July that we were committed to find a sequential improvement on growth, on Q3 versus Q2. As you know, in Q1 we reported -1.2%. In Q2 we had a +0.8%, which was actually better than expected, and I’m pleased to tell you that in Q3 we are +1.2%. So, we actually delivered what was promised. The main reason for this number comes from something that is very important for us, which is a kind of dynamics, actually the kind of recovery we are having in the US where we are posting +3%. This +3% is mainly due to the Power of One that we put in place making sure that our team work together to win more. And we had good wins in the last months starting with Lowe’s, USAA or Walmart that have made a big impact in the dynamics of the team and obviously in our results. We see a slight decline in Europe with -1.5%, which is actually to compare with a tough comparable last year at the same period, which was almost at +8%. All in all, I would say that first of all we have delivered what we promised, which was obviously very important for us and in a challenging industry context, we are quite pleased with this result.
EBM: And what are the other highlights of the last few months?
Arthur Sadoun: The numbers are something but it’s also interesting to look at new business and the way we can attract talent. Why? Because it shows our competitiveness, our power of attraction and more importantly it shows the kind of direction we want to give to the company. When you look at new business – I’m not going to list you everything that we won – I will just take three examples because they are very significant when you think of the way we want to position ourselves, whether it be in Creative, in Media or in Technology. In creative – and we all know that having big ideas that change the future of our clients is extremely important – we have been winning the Diesel account at a global level. It’s a highly creative account and it was won against very creative agencies and it means that in what is still our raison d’être we are very competitive. The second win is in Media. I’m not going to list you all the wins we had, but two significant in the US. Southwest Airline, very important account, and Lionsgate that we just won recently. And I will finish in what we do in digital business transformation. We have this very important win that we are sharing with Capgemini on McDonalds and the way we are going to reinvent the restaurant experience. So, as you can see, a very broad scope of wins, in different sectors, always using the Power of One. Same thing for talents. Convincing new clients to joint Publicis is obviously extremely important. But as important is to retain and bring the best talent in the industry and we are very pleased with the talent that has joined in the last months. I will start with Agathe Bousquet, who is now running France, and already starting to have a strong impact. As you might have seen, we did exactly the same thing as Agathe in the UK, putting a CEO for the country with Annette King, who comes from Ogilvy and I said in July that I wanted to find a Chief Talent Officer to actually help us out to manage, train, retain and attract the best talent and Emmanuel André, who was the former president of TBWA/Worldwide, just joined. What is important there is obviously our power of attractiveness. But I would say more importantly, for me it’s a great sign to see this kind of very strong leaders to join Publicis because they feel that by joining us they will have an opportunity to actually invent the future with us and turn what are the challenges of our industry into their opportunities.
EBM: You just used that word challenges and listing to analysts and investors, it does seem that your industry is facing huge challenges. What are your thoughts on that?
Arthur Sadoun: I won’t say that I was not working during summer, obviously I was, but I was also reading the press and I have to admit that the news flow was quite worrying, at least for the financial market. Maybe I’ll give my point of view in a few seconds . First of all, it’s true, our industry is facing a lot of challenges. The consumer is changing, the media landscape is being disrupted, we see a new kind of competition and yes, our clients are facing difficulties when it comes to growth, when it comes to margin and when it comes to brain trust but there is nothing new there. This has been the case for years. So, the question is, should we continue to list our difficulties, sometimes to justify our own problems, or should we in an urgent and committed way, change for better? This is the choice that we have made – it’s not an easy choice by the way – but as you have seen with the acquisition of Sapient we are already at the core of the digital business transformation of our clients. With the Power of One, we are breaking down the silos and this is why you see the dynamics in the US today. Since 4 months we have really shifted from being a company that spends for communication to a true partner in transformation. We have moved from being a holding company to being a platform and we are really putting a big focus on our talent to make sure we have the right team. And, as you see, it’s too early to say that everything is fine, obviously there are bumps in the road and change, as I said, is difficult. But we are incredibly optimistic about the kind of dynamics we are putting in place.
EBM: And finally do you have any visibility on Q4 and perhaps even on 2018?
Arthur Sadoun: Q4 is a quarter of adjustment for our clients, so I will stay on what I said in July which is we want an H2 that is better than H1. And concerning 2018, we are giving you a rendezvous, as we say here, for an investor day that will happen on the 20th of March in London.
EBM: Arthur Sadoun, thank you very much.
Arthur Sadoun: Merci beaucoup Nadia, thank you very much for coming.
