Has Publicis Groupe found a secret sauce that’s eluding its holding firm rivals? Its Q3 2023 numbers exhibiting natural development of 5.3% (after 7.3% within the earlier quarter) look properly forward of any numbers its rivals are more likely to submit. Progress is slowing on this planet financial system, with tech purchasers particularly reining again.
CEO Arthur Sadoun credit this to his “go to market” technique, which could imply something. What appears to be the case is that its income is neatly divided 3 ways, as seen right here in one of many slides from its current investor presentation.
Clearly its huge $8bn guess on Sapient and Epsilon is paying off, though it must after paying these costs. It appears to have been at incorporating them than Interpublic with its huge knowledge buy of Acxiom. WPP has gone the opposite means, decreasing is stake in Kantar to 40% to pay down debt.
If the sector as an entire doesn’t present development traders are more likely to ask what’s incorrect. On the one hand the advert holding firms monopolise many areas of advert communications regardless of the efforts of smaller outfits like S4 Capital, Stagwell, Model Tech Group and the nonetheless quite a few array of independents. They’re so huge they’re virtually unavoidable for a lot of purchasers.
On the similar time they appear to present the advert business a foul case of constipation: blocking anyone who tries to do issues otherwise.
Accenture Music appears to be like like the one outfit with the firepower to problem ($14bn in income reportedly) though it lacks media, which is the place a lot of the advert holding firm development is coming from.
It’s hardly wholesome regardless of Publicis’ current efficiency (it’s been tops for a couple of years now.) The business clearly wants an enormous shake-up. However the place’s it coming from?
