According to a report, John Farrell, president and CEO of Publicis Groupe's specialised agencies and marketing services units, which include the global direct marketing agency Publicis Dialog and Arc in the UK, has laid out plans for a shake-up of senior agency management in New York.
He is understood to have made case for how Publicis should organise its marketing services business to a board meeting late last week. It is thought the changes could be revealed in the next few weeks.
Publicis has been reorganising itself following its acquisition of Bcom3 in September. The agency is now bending over backwards to accommodate its biggest clients, with a tough profit margin to be met in order to please investors.
Such a move would echo that of The Interpublic Group of Companies, which recently announced it was to merge a number of below-the-line agencies, which could include direct marketing agency DraftWorldwide and the interactive consultancy Zipatoni, in what chairman and CEO John Dooner called "close alignment".
For Interpublic, the move is designed to allow Lowe to offer clients services across all marketing disciplines. It is thought that the thinking is similar at Publicis.
It has already said it will be setting up an as-yet-unnamed global network of agencies to work specifically on the General Motors account. GM is the biggest advertiser in the US, followed by Procter & Gamble. In 2000, the Interpublic Group of Companies created a special agency, PentaMark Worldwide, solely to handle DaimlerChrysler's advertising.
Yesterday, Publicis was reported to be expecting revenues to rise by 23% for 2002, following its acquisition of Bcom3. Revenues are expected to be up to €2.98bn (£1.97bn).
Maurice Levy, chairman and CEO of the merged Publicis Groupe, has been promising shareholders that it can maintain a profit margin of 15% for 2003, and has said that the figure for 2002 is likely to be 14.1%. The consensus among analysts is 14%.
At D'Arcy, the final shake out has arrived as 130 staff head to Publicis Worldwide, New York; 50 go to another sister agency, Saatchi & Saatchi, New York; and 70 have been axed.
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