Dive Brief:
- Publicis Groupe saw organic revenue increase 5.8% year over year in Q3 and again upgraded its full-year guidance, according to an earnings statement. Net revenue reached 3.42 billion euros, or roughly $3.7 billion.
- The agency’s data-marketing arm, Epsilon, and its media offerings together grew revenue nearly 10% over the period. Publicis landed several large media accounts in recent months, including that of The Hershey Company.
- The group also made two large acquisitions in Q3 that are meant to round out its full-funnel marketing capabilities: one for influencer marketing firm Influential and another for e-commerce specialist Mars United Commerce.
Dive Insight:
There were few blemishes in Publicis’ Q3 earnings report, which was boosted by large account wins, impressive organic revenue growth and the addition of two new companies through M&A. Acquiring Influential, the world’s largest influencer marketing company by revenue, and Mars United Commerce is part of Publicis’ efforts to build a full-funnel marketing engine that covers three key areas — addressable media, creators and commerce — with Epsilon providing a connective tissue of data throughout the organization.
The Influential and Mars United Commerce deals together cost about $1 billion but did not drag down Publicis’ balance sheet. The ad-holding group expects a positive Q4 and now projects full-year organic revenue growth of at least 5.5%, above prior forecasts of 5% to 6% growth. Those estimates stand well above key rivals that are fighting to stay out of negative territory in 2024. Omnicom, another one of the Big Four holding groups, also had a positive Q3, with organic revenue up 6.5% YoY.
In a statement around the earnings report, Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun attributed the gains to the agency network’s ability to capture “a disproportionate amount of client demand for personalization at scale.” The executive still cautioned of “an increasingly challenging macroeconomic environment” but said advertisers were expressing confidence in a call discussing the results with investors.
Publicis kicked off the year by pledging to invest 300 million euros over the next three years in generative artificial intelligence (AI). AI wasn’t much in the conversation around the Q3 earnings report but has yielded some wins for the business. Mondelēz International, the maker of Oreo and Ritz, last month appointed Publicis and Accenture to build a new generative AI platform focused on delivering more efficient ad production and insights for the packaged foods giant.
