Maurice Levy visits India; no big action though!

When France-based Publicis Groupe, then ranked as world number three, announced its merger with then world number two US-headquartered Omnicom Group about six months back, the ad and media went abuzz with what was touted as the ‘merger of equals’. The $35 million merger of the two power-houses of the media and advertising space was followed by a few acquisitions that the Publicis’s India outfit carried around the year. The merger was in principal aimed as an attempt to unseat and take over the No. 1 position from the current ruling agency - WPP. However, WPP maintains a good hold on its numero uno position in India, making Publicis-Omnicom fit in at No. 2.

In a press meet conducted in Mumbai, Maurice Levy, Chairman and CEO, Publicis Groupe spoke about the ‘big merger’, India as a market, and plans for the future.
With 2013 heading to its closure, an unforeseen visit of Levy, had the speculations bones triggered. His visit to India, had rumour mills talk about a rumoured takeover of the Madison. While we know that Madison World (which completed 25 years in 2013) remains largest home grown media agency; we also know that Sam Balsara, Chairman and MD, Madison World in an earlier conversation had endorsed that the agency is not prepared for a sell-out, but is open to collaboration. Setting rumours aside, Levy clearly denied that his company was in talks with the Madison Group for a possible acquisition in the media space. Continuing his denial and evasive mode, Levy also did not indicate anything on how the Publicis-Omnicom merger would pan out in India. “We are yet to sit and chalk out a plan on how the merger would unfold in different markets. This will happen as we go forward”, he stated. 

Speaking about the much-hyped merger, the ‘coming together process’ is likely to take time as the two networks cross regulatory hurdles across markets. He informed that the company awaits permissions for the merger from the market regulators in the European Union, Colombia and China. "We expect to hear from the European Union sometime soon; while the Chinese regulators have indicated a time-band of mid-January next year (2014) and from the Colombian regulators by the end of January 2014. Thus by the second quarter of 2014, the merger between the two should happen”, he said. However, Levy pointed out that the merger with Omnicom was moving along quite nicely.

Sharing his thoughts about the give-and-take that would follow the merger, Levy believes that it is a win-win situation for all. “From this merger, What Omnicom gets our expertise and prowess in digital and e-commerce and we get access to Omnicom's abilities in customer relationship management (CRM) and other areas”.

Speaking about how emerging markets contribute to Publicis revenues worldwide, Levy stated that emerging markets contributed roughly 25% to the group’s turnover, while their aim is to bring it to 35% by 2017. He backed his estimations based on a forecast by the World Bank which stated that India will have the world’s largest middle-class population by 2030. This, Levy believes would me increased opportunities for his clients to up their ad spends in an unexploited market like India. He said, “The Indian market has a lot of untapped potential. As the market is growing, this is a geography where we can still invest and grow as much. Markets such as India are expected to take the lead as the group's turnover is expected to double by the end of next year in the country”. He also stated that while they have made and will continue to make substantial investments in India, some of these shall be made known to all in the next few months. While India continues to remain their focus and commitment, talking about other important emerging markets, Levy mentioned that Brazil and China are also markets where we have doubled the size of their operations in the last few years.

Levy reiterated that India continues to remain a strategic market for them, but at the same time refrained from affirming any numbers or targets that the group that aimed to achieve. He said, “While we shall continue making acquisitions, but we are also looking at growing organically. Though there are areas that we can do better, however, I am satisfied with some results that we have achieved so far”.

He opines that India has offered a great knowledge base in IT and digital, which is vital for the advertising business. “Our group had an extremely solid grip on its digital capabilities and that would hold the key for it to win in the future as well.

When asked about what he thinks of Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP, his staunch rival being critical about the Publicis Groupe’s activities, Levy joked and said, “Sir is spending a lot of time speaking about the merger and other things related to us. This is part of his job. The day he stops doing this, he will lose 20-30% of his work!”

Besides assessing India operations of Publicis Groupe entities like Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi and flagship Publicis India, media agencies Starcom and ZenithOptimedia and digital agencies Razorfish and Digitas during his current trip, Levy will also speak on India's brand image at an event organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on Saturday, 21st December 2013.