Publicis Groupe’s secret sauce to leading the world in the advertising business is simple: winning more and losing less.
The France-based group continually beats expectations for revenue growth, mainly on the back of gaining market share, winning accounts, against competitors including WPP but still believes the industry as a whole can grow.
CEO Arthur Sadoun, in upgrading full year organic growth guidance to plus 5%, took a dig at competitors, WPP and Omnicom.
WPP earlier this month issued a profit warning in the face of weak sales, client losses, a pull back on spend and a shrinking pitch runway.
Omnicom reported a 21.5% fall in profit for the June quarter as costs increased from the IPG takeover and from cutting employee numbers during restructuring.
“We will all agree that our industry is currently very disrupted,” Sadoun said during an earnings call with analysts.
“Our two main competitors are focusing on restructuring, cost cutting and leadership changes.
“At the same time, our clients have never been more in need of our partnership, particularly at the moment when AI is reshaping the marketing landscape.”
Sadoun believes Publicis, and the industry as a whole, have reason to be optimistic.
He said clients want to thrive in a complex AI-driven world, to own their own data and not be prisoners of the walled garden, to connect their entire media ecosystem and not depend on any single platform.
And to protect and grow brand value and differentiation as AI threatens to commoditise.
“Only our industry is capable of connecting and delivering on those imperatives. At Publicis, we are doing that every day,” Sadoun said.
“We are making a clear demonstration that there is a lot of value to be unlocked for our clients, for ourselves, but also for those in our industry who are able to transform.
“This is even more true in a competitive landscape that will be reduced and improved with the move from four main players to three (when Omnicom and IPG become one).”
Sadoun said Publicis was in a position of strength, with a strong performance over the last five years, and net revenue to be used as firepower to invest in the model and in people.
“The best demonstration of the superiority of our model is the increasing gap in net new business we are creating versus competition,” he said.
In the JPMorgan new business tables, Publicis net billings reached a total of $5.2 billion in the half year, up 68% compared to the same six months in 2024, with an acceleration in the June quarter.
“The rest of the industry is close to zero or negative,” he said.
Publicis is focusing on three key objectives: gaining market share; doubling down on AI strategy; further accelerating bolt-on acquisition; and retaining and attracting the best talent.
Sadaoun said there are two reasons why Publicis is growing faster than the competition.
“We are winning more and we are expecting new business again in the second part of the year,” he said.
“But the thing that we don't discuss enough, and by the way, we don't celebrate this kind of win enough, is that we are losing less than competition. Not only are we winning more, but we are losing less.
“And again, I think this is what is the most remarkable about our performance because so far, and I'm touching wood, of course, we haven't lost one big client in the last years. Actually, in 2025, despite the macro, we are growing revenue with our existing clients.”
In a call with market analysts, Lisa Yang at Goldman Sachs asked about the level of pitch activity in the second half of the year and how much of what you won so far this year will be contributing to 2026.
Sadoun said he probably spent 80% of his time in the June half pitching.
However, the second half doesn’t look as busy.
“It's almost a good thing because our primary focus is really to integrate what we have won,” he said. “I's really about integrating.
“And by the way, one of the reasons why we are winning today is because now we have a track record of five years being #1 in new business.
“Every client we win today can call the client we have won in the past and realize not only that the transition has been smooth but that the upgrade in terms of capabilities and performance is significant.”
Slides from the analyst presentation:
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