Dive Brief:
- Ad firm Publicis Groupe is restructuring its management largely to remove silos across its agency holdings.
- The move comes after three years of poor financial performance.
- Even though management is being shuffled, according to Publicis Groupe there are no plans to consolidate any of its agency holdings.
Dive Insight:
"We have decided to get rid of silos. I’m obsessed by this. Silos are counterproductive in serving our clients well," Publicis Groupe CEO Maurice Lévy told the Wall Street Journal.
Removing separations at Publicis Groupe is seen a way to coordinate its agencies to drive more business across the entire firm.
Publicis Groupe’s creative agencies, such as Saatchi & Saatchi and Leo Burnett, will be part of hub led by Arthur Sadoun, CEO of Publicis Worldwide. Steve King, CEO of Publicis-owned ZenithOptimedia, will head the firms media companies including Starcom MediaVest Group, and Alan Herrick, CEO of digital platform Publicis.Sapient. takes the helm over Publicis’ digital companies.
Sadoun is seen as Lévy’s likely successor when he steps down in 2017 as previously announced. In October Lévy was one of two ad execs named as “best performing” CEO’s of the year based on shareholder metrics by the Harvard Business Review.
The management changes at Publicis were suggested by Lévy.
