MxMIndia

Tag: Maurice Levy

  • He will be involved over the next six months during the transition, mentoring and guiding the teams

    Praveen Kenneth to exit L&K Saatchi & Saatchi

    By A Correspondent

     

    Praveen Kenneth

    Praveen Kenneth, Founder and Chairman of Law & Kenneth, which was the largest and one of the most successful Independent communication companies in India, before becoming a part of Publicis Groupe in January 2014,  to create L&K | Saatchi & Saatchi, announced his retirement from active engagement on the sidelines of the final sale of his shareholding, in Paris. That’s officialese for Kenneth’s earn-out period ending and his decision to move on from the group. He will be involved over the next six months during the transition, mentoring and guiding the teams

     

    Anil Nair, CEO and Managing Partner, has been groomed over the past two years and will take the company forward.

     

    Commenting on this from Paris, Maurice Levy, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Publicis Groupe said: “Praveen has been with us slightly after opening Publicis in India (in 1999) and had led the agency to growth and creative excellence. He then decided to launch Law & Kenneth ( 2002),which also has been a great success. The acquisition of his agency and the merger with Saatchi and Saatchi ( in 2014), has allowed building a superb agency we are all proud of. Praveen is a leader, a real ad man, always led by the interest of the clients. I developed a great personal relationship with Praveen and wish him the very best.”

     

    Commenting on his retirement from Paris, Kenneth said: ”The incredible success story of Law & Kenneth and L&K| Saatchi & Saatchi,  has been nothing less than a magical testimony of “making the Impossible, possible”.

     

    It speaks volumes for Kenneth’s capabilities and the fact that Levy and the world recognised it that even as Publicis Groupe acquired Law & Kenneth, it merged with the beleaguered India operations of Saatchi & Saatchi and gave Kenneth and his team management control of the merged entity.

     

    Kenneth is said to be starting life anew and increase his investments in the media ecosystem.

  • Positions Sapient Razorfish to help clients drive customer-centric digital transformation across the enterprise from CMO to CIO

    Publicis.Sapient launches new enterprise business transformation offering

    By A Correspondent

     

    Publicis Groupe and Publicis.Sapient unveiled a new set of integrated offerings from SapientRazorfish designed to help clients transform their businesses in the connected world.

     

    The integration of Sapient Razorfish, part of Publicis.Sapient, now culminates with the launch of a new brand identity and six best-­of-­breed offerings, which clients from across all industries will benefit from:Digital Business Strategy & Innovation; Customer Experience; Data & Artificial Intelligence; Marketing Modernization; IT Modernization; and Commerce.

     

    “The market clearly needs a partner that drives real and sustainable business transformation for the connected age through an obsessive focus on the customer,” said Maurice Lévy, Chairman & CEO of Publicis Groupe. “Today’s business leaders are realizing that a bifurcated approach of leaning on agencies to transform experiences and on consulting partners to transform business processes no longer works – it’s too slow, too fractured, organizationally unsustainable and most importantly, the focus on the customer gets lost in the complexity.”

     

    “Our clients want skills and capabilities across the entire spectrum, from customer experience to deep technical implementation and strategy and consulting expertise for transforming in the connected age,” added Sapient Razorfish CEO Alan Wexler. “The new economic era requires putting digital at the core of business, including new operating processes and new ways of deploying technology. Innovation is increasingly important as clients look to evolve business models and leverage the bundling opportunity of platform effect.”

     

  • Known for his creatively done Christmas messages, this year’s video by Publicis Group boss Maurice Levy is a winner. You'll love seeing it over and over again

    Can any of the Indian ad honchos do this?

     

    Okay, given the fact that most of our biggie ad gurus belong to international networks, it may be tough to do this, but you’ve got to hand it to Publicis Group bossman  Maurice Lévy to present his annual Christmas message in a fun way. As the Guardian commented, he is “well known for delivering a bit of a tongue-in-cheek Christmas video message, but this year he’s outdone himself”. Indeed he has.

    Here’s the link: http://publicisgroupewishes2016.com/

     

    In the video, Levy (whose coffee mug says “Yes… I am the BOSS”), talks about the times being tough.  He says that normally people like to skip the ads and watch the content, but here’ they should skip him and watch the ads.

     

    We recommend watch the entire message as is, without clicking on ‘Skip Maurice’. Refresh the screen. And then click ‘Skip Maurice’ as it plays on.

     

    Now will someone from our own country do something like this?

     

  • The giants have announced their decision to terminate the proposed mega-merger of the advertising and marketing services giants

    It’s final. Publicis and Omnicom will not merge

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    There’s one man who must be guffawing at this piece of news. Publicis and Omnicom have agreed to terminate the proposed merger of equals.

     

    The much awaited merger of the two advertising and marketing services giants isn’t happening. A news release that MxMIndia received around dawn today gave a very clear message:

     

    “Publicis Groupe S.A. and Omnicom Group Inc jointly announced that they have terminated their proposed merger of equals by mutual agreement, in view of difficulties in completing the transaction within a reasonable timeframe. The parties have released each other from all obligations with respect to the proposed transaction, and no termination fees will be payable by either party. This decision was unanimously approved by the Management Board and the Supervisory Board of Publicis Groupe and the Board of Directors of Omnicom.”

     

    Maurice Lévy
    John Wren

    In a joint statement, Maurice Lévy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Publicis Groupe, and John Wren, President and Chief Executive Officer of Omnicom Group, stated: “The challenges that still remained to be overcome, in addition to the slow pace of progress, created a level of uncertainty detrimental to the interests of both groups and their employees, clients and shareholders. We have thus jointly decided to proceed along our independent paths. We, of course, remain competitors, but maintain a great respect for one another.”

     

    When Mr Levy was in India in December 2013, he seemed very bullish about the merger. It had been cleared by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and was awaiting similar clearances from the European Union, China and Columbia, Mr Levy said. He indicated that the merger should happen around the second quarter of 2014 and made light of the comments of arch rival and WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell on the merger as “part of his job”.

     

    When asked whether the Publicis group was on course of its target of doubling revenues by end-2014, Mr Levy said post the merger with Omnicom, it will be more than a doubling.

     

    Meanwhile, in an interview to Adveristing Age, Sir Sorrell said he wasn’t too surprised at the eventuality. When asked why they (Publicis and Omnicom) made the decision in the first place, he said: “I think it was an emotional decision. Wren and Levy wanted to knock WPP off its perches. Any deal was doomed to fail. Secondly, it was Gallic charm. Wren was charmed by Levy into believing Levy would ride off into the sunset. That clearly was not the case if you look at the structure. The third thing: Their eyes were bigger than their tummy. On the quarterly earning calls for Q1, both made the case for separate [companies] being as good as they are together, which begs the question, why did they put the deal together in the first place, if they’re as well off separately as they were before.”

     

    And what does this mean for WPP, Adage asked. Sir Sorrell said: “We obviously made hay while the sun was shining. [On new business] we won Marks and Spencer, Vodafone, E-Trade. There will be further opportunities as a result [of the collapse]. I’m sure there will be repercussions.”

     

    Evidently the last hasn’t been heard on the tu tu main main between the three. As for the various Publicis and Omnicom group agencies in India, it’s going to be business as usual. “For the last year-odd, things have been in a bit of a limbo and we weren’t sure of how we would be going in the months to come,” said a CEO of one of the group companies, requesting for anonymity.

     

  • The new structure to have both companies working under the L&K Saatchi & Saatchi brand

    Publicis takes majority stake in Law & Kenneth, merges it Saatchi & Saatchi India [Updated]

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s not an acquisition like various others. Paris-based Publicis group has acquired a majority stake in Mumbai-headquartered full-service independent agency Law & Kenneth (L&K). In turn, L&K has merged with the India operations of the group’s Saatchi & Saatchi and taken full management control of the agency.

     

    Anil S Nair (CEO & Managing Partner, L&K S&S), Sandhya Srinivasan (CSO & Managing Partner, L&K S&S) and Anil K Nair (CEO & Managing Partner, Digital L&K S&S)

    The baton was in fact passed on to the L&K bosses some two months back, and once Saatchi’s key clients like Procter & Gamble were taken into confidence, the deal was announced on Thursday. Saatchi & Saatchi India will be re-branded L&K Saatchi & Saatchi.

     

    Law & Kenneth Chairman and Managing Director Praveen Kenneth will manage the new entity in the same role. He will join the Saatchi & Saatchi Asia-Pacific board and will work with Chris Foster, Chairman and CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi APAC. L&K’s core team of managing partners – Anil S Nair (CEO), Sandhya Srinivasan (CSO) and Anil K. Nair (CEO, Digital L&K) will take charge of the new company.

     

    Interesting Kenneth was CEO of Publicis India from 1999-2003. In 2004, he and British adman Andy Law founded L&K along with investor and co-founder Anita Roddick of The Body Shop. Pre-merger, the agency served a cross-section of local and global clients, including Renault, Dabur, Tata AIG Insurance, Godrej, ITC, Reliance, Idea and Hero MotoCorp.

     

    According to industry estimates, the combined entity will have a turnover upwards of Rs 100 crore, with more than 75 per cent contribution from the erstwhile L&K’s clients.

     

    Said Maurice Lévy, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe in statement: “”We are excited to be adding the breadth and depth of talent and resources of Law & Kenneth to  the Saatchi & Saatchi network in  India. We are glad to be welcoming Praveen back into the Publicis Groupe family.”

     

    Praveen Kenneth

    Said Kenneth: “L&K was born out of passion and our story is an example of the Saatchi & Saatchi spirit of ‘Nothing Is Impossible’.” While what Publicis brings to the table is the financial muscle and international scale, Kenneth & Co will drive the enterprise hard. “The combination of L&K’s stability, size proven success and experience in India’s dynamic marketplace, together with Saatchi & Saatchi’s iconic status and mystique, results in a creative powerhouse that is L&K Saatchi & Saatchi,” Kenneth added.

     

    The Publicis group has been on an acquisition spree in recent years and employs 3000 professionals across 10 global media service networks in India.

     

  • Maurice Levy, Chairman and CEO of media services conglomerate Publicis Groupe quashes all rumours of buying Madison + interview

    He came, he met, he made no announcements

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    I have had no meetings with Sam Balsara,” said Maurice Levy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Publicis Groupe, quashing all speculation of his media services conglomerate acquiring Madison World, Balsara’s homegrown and successful advertising behemoth. “I have a lot of regard for the work he has done,” Mr Levy said on Mr Balsara.

     

    Mr Levy is in India after a gap of two years, a period in which various entities of his group have made many acquisitions. While confirming that he is looking at more investments in the market by way of buying existing entities, he did not reveal any specifics. “India is a strategic market for us. We want to invest here and investing,” he said.

     

    In India, the Publicis group has varied interests in creative and media buying and planning agencies, public relations and a variety of marketing services interests.

     

    The France-based transnational group had announced its merger with the US-based conglomerate Omnicom. The merger has been cleared by the Competition Commission of India and is now awaiting similar clearances from the European Union, China and Columbia, Mr Levy said. He indicated that the merger should happen around the second quarter of 2014 and made light of the comments of arch rival and WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell on the merger as “part of his job”.

     

    When asked whether the Publicis group was on course of its target of doubling revenues by end-2014, Mr Levy said that post the merger with Omnicom, it will be more than a doubling.

     

    Mr Lévy joined Publicis in 1971 in charge of IT and In 1975 was appointed President of Publicis Conseil and took responsibility for the international development of the group from the early 1980s, piloting a series of important acquisitions as well as the Groupe’s pioneering strategic focus on digital. Mr Lévy has been Chairman and CEO of the Publicis Groupe since 1987.

     

    Amazed by the time Sir Sorrell is spending discussing the Publicis-Omnicom merger: Maurice Levy

    The Pubicis Groupe Chairman and CEO on how his group is doing in India, its investments in digital, the merger with Omnicom and WPP chief Sir Martin Sorrell

     

    By Amit Bapna & Pritha Mitra Dasgupta

     

    French advertising major Publicis Groupe plans to make some major investments in India, including acquisitions, right after its merger with Omnicom to create the world’s largest communication conglomerate is complete mid next year, its chief executive Maurice Levy said. Currently in India to review the operations of Publicis entities, Levy said that India is not growing fast enough due to a host of reasons, including political and infrastructural. Edited excerpts of an interview:

     

    Publicis Groups started investing heavily in digital much before many others. Yet in India it has had a relatively slow growth story.

    The Indian market is not a digital market. If we look at the Publicis Groupe as a whole, our journey so far has been excellent. I am not saying we cannot do better. Our position in this market is hampered by the fact that we have not yet offered the full range of services and we still need to make more investments. We need to strengthen some of our agencies. We have to develop some integrated services and we need to continue to invest in digital and mobility. And we are doing this irrespective of the merger. So I think the merger and the fusion will be complete by the second quarter (of 2014) and right after that we will make some investments in India – both organic and some acquisitions – to complete the frame.

     

    You have said in an interview that “the other emerging markets, with the exception of India, seem to be in very good health. India has a specific problem”. What is that problem?

    It has a specific problem due to the fact that it is not growing fast enough. This has to do with some political issues. It has also to do with the fact that India does not have the infrastructure that this market deserves. India also needs to open the market to some of the sectors like banking and insurance. And we expect that India will take some measures, which will be extremely positive for the growth of India.

     

    When can we see the benefits accruing out of POG (Publicis Omnicom Groupe)?

    We have got most of the authorisation and the ones that are still awaited are for Columbia, China and European Union, which should be coming soon. Then there are the stockmarket regulators in the Netherlands and France. We believe we will be done with all the authorisations on the merger by the second quarter. Then we will call the AGM, the stockholders vote and we will come to a final agreement and complete it by latest June 2014, that is my estimate. Only after the merger happens will we be able to sit down and decide what we are going to do in specific markets, how we can have better presence, how we can help clients better, etc. The merger is seen from two standpoints: one at the corporate level, for which we have almost clear idea of what we are going to do, and the second at what we call the work streams: we today have 70 work streams working on specific issues.

     

    Sir Martin Sorrell (WPP CEO) has gone on record saying the POG structure is “clunky” and that “strategically and structurally it does not make any sense at all” because both companies have been going in opposite directions. How do you react to these critiques?

    I am amazed by the time Sir Sorrell is spending discussing the Publicis-Omnicom merger. If it is so clunky and terrible and does not make sense, he should rejoice because we are going to make a big mistake, which will be good for him. I don’t understand his spending 2-3 hours a day just speaking about Publicis, and during that time we take care of his clients.

     

    There have been rumours that you are visiting the Law & Kenneth office while in Mumbai and that Saatchi India and Law & Kenneth might come together.

    I can neither confirm nor deny anything. I cannot say anything about acquisitions. Praveen Kenneth is somebody I know since many years; he is an ex-colleague at Publicis and I’m very pleased to see the success he has enjoyed. He had asked me to invest in Law & Kenneth even in the early days.

     

    What are your plans for the recently announced Project Blue? Do you plan to bring it to India as well?

    Yes, we have plans for it. But we expect to make it work first in Europe and in the US also, to make sure it’s working well, see the results in two years’ time and then decide (how we’ll take it to other markets). It just shows that besides the merger and acquisitions, we are also investing in start-ups. And besides the media business, Project Blue will also have other services.

     

    Can we specifically talk about the performance of Starcom MediaVest and ZenithOptimedia in India?

    There are some aspects that went extremely well and on some we had some issues. We lost some accounts and it is part of life. There is a bump and it is important to acknowledge that. What is interesting in our life and in advertising is that you can never rest. Simply because we are in people’s business, client relationship can be shaky, people can leave, which can disturb the course of action of an agency. In the media business, in a market where size matters, we don’t have the size that we should have. That’s clear and we have to build the size. We are building it and it will take time.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2013, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     
  • MxMIndia will bring you livetweets of the all-important Maurice Levy press conference from 3.50pm (1550 HRS India)

    LiveTweets of Maurice Levy presser from 3.50pm @mxmindia

    As Maurice Levy gets set to say “Bonjour” to mediapersons at a presser today (Thursday, December 19), there has been much speculation on his visit.

     

    Will it mean the announcement of an acquisition of Sam Balsara’s Madison World? Or a smaller agency… Law & Kenneth? Or is it just a coffee-and-cookies meet-the-press our friends in Mr Levy’s PR agency MSLGroup say it is?

     

    We spoke to a few Publicis Groupe captains and they said Mr Levy is in Mumbai and Delhi purely for reviews and meeting with major clients.

     

    Perhaps. But it’s not always that the bossman of one of the world’s largest advertising conglomerates comes calling to India. It’s not one of the various Exchange4media group conferences.  It’s not for a Storyboad special interview session. And there’s no FICCI/CII/IAA conclave at this time.

     

    Whatever be the reason, we’ll bring you a ringside view. No breaking news mailers, until there’s something major. You know we don’t like to intrude into your all-important moments at work.

     

    Follow our livetweets at @mxmindia from 1550 HRS. We’ll bring you text and pictures. All the khabar in under 140 characters.

     

    Until then, go and watch this gathering some people around you. Ensure you have a machine with a working webcam: http://www.publicisgroupewishes2014.com/

     

    And, yes, it takes 1487 balloons to cover Monsieur Lévy.

     

  • 'Merger of equals' to create Publicis Omnicom Group, with combined 2012 revenue of $22.7 billion and a combined market capitalization of $35.1 billion

    It’s a done deal. Omnicom & Publicis to merge

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Omnicom Group Inc and Publicis Groupe SA announced on Sunday evening India time that they  have signed a definitive agreement for a merger of equals, creating the world’s leading company in communications, advertising, marketing and digital services, with combined 2012 revenue of $22.7 billion / €17.7 billion. Based on closing prices on July 26, 2013, Publicis Omnicom Group will have a combined equity market  capitalization of approximately $35.1 billion / €26.5 billion.

     

    The merged group of more than 130,000 employees will be exceptionally well positioned to serve clients’ evolving needs, helping them to build their brands and grow their businesses in the  rapidly changing communications landscape, notes a communiqué.

     

    The combination, which has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies, brings together leading agency brands as BBDO, Saatchi & Saatchi, DDB, Leo Burnett, TBWA, Razorfish, Publicis Worldwide, Fleishman Hillard, DigitasLBi, Ketchum, StarcomMediaVest, OMD, BBH, Interbrand, MSLGROUP, RAPP, Publicis Healthcare Communications Group (PHCG), Proximity, Rosetta, CDM, ZenithOptimedia and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners amongst others.

     

    Said Maurice Lévy, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe, said: “The communication and marketing landscape has undergone dramatic changes in recent years including the exponential development of new media giants, the explosion of Big Data, blurring of the roles of all players and profound changes in consumer behaviour. This evolution has created both great challenges and tremendous opportunities for clients. John and I have conceived this merger to benefit our clients by bringing together the most comprehensive offering of analogue and digital services. Equally important, it will offer our talented people new avenues for growth and success at the crossroads of strategic intelligence, creativity, science and technology.”

     

    And this is what John Wren, CEO of Omnicom, said: “Both Maurice and I believe this new company reflects our vision of  retaining the best talent, attracting an incredible roster of clients and leading innovation. Omnicom and Publicis Groupe are reshaping the industry by setting a new standard for supporting clients with integrated messaging across marketing disciplines and geographies. This combination will enable us to leverage the skills of our exceptionally talented people,our broad product offering, enhanced global footprint, and tremendous roster of global and local clients. In short, we believe this is a merger that will set our new company on a path to accelerated growth, with long-term benefits for clients, employees and shareholders.”

     

    Messrs Wren and Lévy said jointly: “For many years, we have had great respect for one another as well as for the companies we each lead. This respect has grown in the past few months as we have worked to make this combination a reality. We look forward to co-leading the combined company and are excited about what our people can achieve together for our clients and our shareholders.”

     

    Publicis Omnicom Group has been structured with balanced corporate governance consistent with the spirit  of a merger of equals. Publicis Groupe and Omnicom’s CEOs will lead the company as co-CEOs through an  initial integration and development period of 30 months, following which Mr. Lévy will become non-executive Chairman and Mr. Wren will continue as CEO. The company will have a single-tier board with 16 members, consisting of the two co-CEOs and seven non-executive directors from each company.

     

    For the first year following the closing of the transaction, Bruce Crawford, currently Omnicom Chairman, will be the non-executive Chairman of Publicis Omnicom Group. He will be succeeded by the current Publicis Groupe Chairperson, Elisabeth Badinter, as non-executive Chairperson for the second year following the closing of the transaction.

     

    According to the communiqué, the future scalability and internal synergies of the combined company are expected to generate efficiencies of $500 million / €377 million. The transaction is a cross-border merger of equals under a holding company, Publicis Omnicom Group, in The Netherlands. The Group’s operational head offices will continue to be based in Paris and New York.

     

    The transaction is subject to approval by the shareholders of both companies as well as numerous  regulatory approvals. It is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2013 or the first quarter of 2014.