Publicis launches luxury content and tech platform with Google, Condé Nast

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Headed by Charles Georges-Picot, CEO of Publicis 133, La Maison is a “premium service platform” that, thanks to its partnership with Google, will provide data showing the digital habits of affluent consumers, including interests for brands and products. The data will be broken down by activity on desktop, mobile and tablet devices. It will also explore YouTube video consumption and search query trends on luxury brands and deliver monthly reports.

The Condé Nast relationship promises to bring in the publisher’s content producers to aid with content strategy and original content creation, as well as to provide licensed editorial content to La Maison clients. The team will build content programs with local market customisation aimed at building relationships with consumers.

The service offering also extends Publicis Worldwide’s reach into the realm of media with both Google and Condé Nast working with the agency and its clients to distribute their branded content across the best Google, YouTube and Condé Nast media channels.

La Maison also proposes to act as the interface with Publicis Groupe Digital networks, including Digitas LBi, Razorfish, Rosetta and Publicis Modem.

The offering, commented Arthur Sadoun, CEO of Publicis Worldwide, is a total end-to-end service for luxury-brand clients and is a platform by which clients can “understand and reach globally the most prized consumers.”

In Asia-Pacific, Publicis 133 and AR work with clients such as DFS Galleria, the Sands in Macao, Lancome, Cartier and Mont Blanc. The network also has plans to launch a Publicis 133 office in Hong Kong soon, said Georges-Picot.

These clients will access La Maison services through the Publicis agencies they already work with. “As a concrete example, let’ say you’re in Hong Kong and your clients are talking to you about digital and content—skill sets you don’t necessarily have in-house," said Georges-Picot. "You can easily turn to La Maison and access those abilities."

La Maison solves a dilemma faced by agencies specializing in luxury, he continued. “Luxury clients want to work with small and intimate agencies, but with certain offerings like digital, you need scale. This is how we’re answering that client need.”

At present, La Maison has established teams at Google and Condé Nast worldwide, but largely headquartered in Europe (Google) and New York (Condé Nast). These teams will, like agency personnel, be paid based on billed time. In the case of Condé Nast, it will have access to the additional revenue stream of selling its existing content.