Publicis' Arthur Sadoun Sees Opportunity in Omnicom-IPG Deal

Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun is enjoying his company’s position as the world’s largest advertising holding company—for now. If Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG passes regulatory scrutiny, Publicis will return to its challenger No. 2 position amid the “big six,” with the new Omnicom as its larger competitor. But for Sadoun, Omicom’s proposed takeover of IPG creates more opportunity for Publicis than not, he shared with ADWEEK ahead of the company’s Q4 and full year 2024 earnings call on Feb. 4. “This acquisition by Omnicom [of] IPG is really, for the industry, back to the future,” he said, adding that the new Omnicom will match WPP in size when it was Publicis’ largest opponent, with a roughly $20 billion market cap. “We're going to move back into the challenger position,” he said. Still, Publicis is on its front foot in that a smaller number of competitors in the market means more business for it to potentially win. Citing figures from COMvergence, Sadoun said roughly 93% of global pitches in 2024 were won by one of the top four holding companies: WPP, Publicis, IPG, and Omnicom. “By definition, the competitive landscape is going to be reduced by 25%,” he said. “So where we had a one in four chance [of winning] in the past, we're gonna have a chance out of three.” The distraction of merging According to Sadoun, it could take up to five years to see if Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG will pay off. “You have basically three years that they're going to face restructuring that is going to lead to thousands of job cuts, and then, as John [Wren, CEO of Omnicom] said, there will be succession,” he said. “That's a period that will, of course, create opportunities.” While Omnicom and IPG are “very busy integrating more of the same in the name of cost efficiencies,” Publicis will be focused on innovation, he added. “I can continue to build that category of one [offering] in a competitive landscape that is going to be reduced by 25%,” he said. Publicis has invested billions in data and technology over the last decade, with acquisitions such as Epsilon, Sapient, Mars Commerce, and Influential, and said that on average, these acquisitions have been growing 40% organically since 2020. “We invested $10 billion in data and technology over the last decade, while our competitors have invested roughly the same amount in share buybacks,” Sadoun said. Publicis will continue to invest between $800 million and $900 million in 2025 in areas like first-party data, production, digital media, and in technology that “bring new kinds of innovation for our clients to differentiate, and a new source of growth for us,” Sadoun said. This includes Core AI, a connective AI layer Publicis is building across its tech stack. The firm will invest roughly €300 million over three years to build it out. “At the moment where AI is knocking at every door … you can't afford to spend years integrating more of the same for the sake of cost efficiency,” he said. “You need to focus on innovation, on bringing the best talent, on building new go-to-markets, and basically, on reinventing this industry.” Talent for grabs As talent at Omnicom and IPG question their futures at the new combined entity, Publicis is betting it can entice a handful of them over with a more secure offer. It’s already started to work: Since news of the merger broke, Publicis has recruited Geoff Calabrese as chief commercial officer and Matt McNally as global CEO of Publicis Health, both from Omnicom. “For talent, now you have two very different journeys in this industry: Omnicom vs. us,” Sadoun said. “On one side, and they said it very clearly, you have a series of restructuring and job cuts to bring together more of the same. And on the other, it's a growth journey.” Publicis shared during its earnings report that its employees received a 7% raise last year on average and its bonus pool is €540 million, which leads the industry. Of the 200 staff cuts it made late last year across its digital agencies, Sadoun said: “We have some agencies that are not performing, that we have to rescale, for example, if you lose a client. And then there are people that we believe are not following what we think is important for us, for example, coming back to the office three days a week,” he added. “When Publicis grows, people know that they will grow. And we believe that, particularly at this moment, culture is super important,” he said. CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect that Publicis plans to invest €300 million into Core AI over three years, not $20 million as previously written.

Agencies

'Back to the Future': Publicis' Arthur Sadoun Smells Opportunity in Omnicom's IPG Takeover

The CEO spoke with ADWEEK ahead of its Q4 and 2024 earnings report

Alison Weissbrot

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