Publicis announces a good first quarter on the heels of major account gains

Diving brief:

• Publicis Groupe posts overall organic growth of 10.5% in Q1 2022, according to its latest earnings report. Organic growth for the quarter, a key measure of the health of the category, was well above the 2.8% figure recorded in the first quarter of 2021.
• The agency holding company grew organically across all regions, with its business transformation practice, Publicis Sapient, growing 18.5% globally. During the quarter, Publicis won several major pitches, including accounts for AB InBev, McDonald’s and Pepsi.
• Publicis attributes its success to growing client demand for first-party data, digital media and commerce, and is confident it can achieve its targets and the upper end of its organic growth target, despite continued uncertainty caused by the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the effects of inflation.

Overview of the dive:

Publicis Groupe posted another strong quarter, a year after organic revenue growth was just 2.8% as the agency holding company — and the broader economy — began to exit. from the worst effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The company credits its “really good” start to the year to its ability to combine data, creative, media and technology for existing and new clients.

“Once again, we are proving our capabilities to capture shifts in customer spending towards first-party data management, digital media and commerce,” Chief Executive Officer Arthur Sadoun said on the call. to the results.

Sadoun spoke of the outsized growth of Publicis Sapient, which recorded 18.5% growth, and organic growth in all regions, including the United States (8%), Europe (15%) and the Asia (14%). During the quarter, Publicis also landed major account deals, securing global media for AB InBev, global creative for Siemens, North American media for McDonald’s and China media for Pepsi, among others.

Sadoun recalled that Epsilon and Publicis Sapient are at the heart of the Publicis model, responsible for a third of the group’s activity and clear drivers of its overall growth. Fully integrating these practices leaves Publicis well suited for the cookieless future, which it has prepared for with partnerships around new identity solutions and the growing retail media space.

Publicis expects to reach the top of its organic growth target in 2022, close to 4% to 5%, despite the continued uncertainty caused by the pandemic, inflation and the war in Ukraine. Publicis suspended operations and investments in Russia in March and ceded ownership of its agencies in the country to local management, with its Russian operations “deconsolidated” effective April 1, according to the earnings report. On the call, Sadoun described Publicis’ actions as a “people-focused approach,” not a PR focus.