Publicis is selling directly to AI-anxious CEOs as it steps away from traditional pitches
Digiday ·
Publicis boss Sadoun says agency group is skipping CMOs in more new business pitches, as Groupe notches up new business wins.
Publicis Groupe is skipping the CMO and pitching directly to CEOs worried about staying ahead of AI and shifting consumer habits, according to the French agency group’s chairman and CEO Arthur Sadoun.
“We are increasingly seeing CEOs involved in what we do,” Sadoun told analysts during the holding company’s third quarter results call, held this morning. “[We] are seeing that because CEOs are passionate about AI, and they understand that if they want to continue to lead their company, they need to understand AI,” he added. “This has to start from the top.”
C-suite AI anxieties, Sadoun argued, had driven client spending and new business wins for Publicis in the third quarter. Chief among those was PepsiCo, which Publicis won without a pitch last month, while choosing to drop out of the competitive pitch for Coca-Cola’s media business .
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