Publicis Groupe expands country model to eight key markets

The eight markets are Asia Pacific and Middle East/Africa, North America, the UK, France, DACH (Germany, Switzerland and Austria), Northern and Central Europe, Southern Europe and Latin America.

Each market will be led by a leadership team, which Publicis Groupe said will allow it to "break down silos at the country level, accelerate cross-fertilisation and new business firepower", as well as leveraging its "Power of One" proposition that aims to break down the silos between individual disciplines and agency brands, creating a more integrated model for clients.

Publicis Groupe announced two new country leader appointments today: Loris Nold, the chief executive of Publicis Groupe APAC since February 2018, will now also oversee the Middle East and Africa; and Jarek Ziebinski, the chief executive of Publicis One, has been appointed to the newly created role of chief executive of Publicis Groupe for Northern and Central Europe.

North America is led by a unified executive committee, France has been led by Agathe Bousquet since last September, and Publicis Communications chief operating officer Justin Billingsley leads DACH (also since last September). The UK, one of the eight key markets, is led by former Ogilvy UK chief executive Annette King since she joined Publicis Groupe in May.

The company said it will make further appointments "in the next few months" in Southern Europe and Latin America, which in the meantime will have interim leaders: Gerry Boyle, chief executive of Publicis Media APAC and EMEA, will oversee Southern Europe; and Tim Jones, chief executive of Publicis Media North America, will oversee Latin America (excluding Brazil). The organisation in Brazil, as a single Solution hub country, will remain unchanged.

Publicis Groupe's reorganisation began under previous chief executive Maurice Lévy, who restructured the business into four solutions hubs: Publicis Communications, Publicis Media, Publicis Sapient and Publicis Healthcare

Arthur Sadoun, the chairman and chief executive of Publicis Groupe who took the helm last year, said: "We are progressively completing our transformation to become a platform. To succeed, we need to implement the right balance between our global practices run by the Solutions and a country led model to deliver them in an integrated way. This is why this move is a key milestone in our journey and will make our model stronger."