Publicis floats, IPG sinks in Q2 earnings

Publicis and IPG reported Q2 earnings this week; the former posted continued growth and the latter revealed another dip in revenue.

Publicis posted a 7.1% increase in organic revenue, while IPG saw a 1.7% decrease during the quarter.

Both holding companies revised their full-year forecasts: Publicis bumped its organic growth guidance to 5% from the 3%–5% range it forecasted last quarter. Meanwhile, IPG decreased organic growth expectations to between 1% and 2% for 2023, after forecasting 2% to 4% growth last quarter.

In an earnings release, IPG CEO Philippe Krakowsky said ad spend within the tech sector has weighed “significantly on growth” this quarter. Krakowsky also cited the impact of “modestly heightened macro uncertainty,” though he said the company saw growth in sectors including healthcare, PR, and experiential.

According to Publicis, new business wins, as well as its data and tech offerings, contributed to growth in Q2. LVMH North America awarded Publicis its media accounts in May, and the company won Adobe’s global media accounts in March.

Arthur Sadoun, chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe, said in a press release that its recent investments in technology like AI have “uniquely positioned [the company] to lead the future of our industry. It will inevitably be shaped by data, tech and AI.”

AI seems to be taking the marketing world by storm. Recently, Omnicom’s CEO touted a focus on AI during its Q2 earnings call.

In May, Publicis fully acquired Publicis Sapient AI Labs, an AI venture created in 2020 with consulting groups Elder Research and Tquila. According to Adweek, Publicis claimed its AI offerings and investments, like its internal AI platform, Marcel, have helped it score “major business deals” over the past year.

IPG also invested in AI this year. Its PR agency, Golin, rolled out an AI incubator called Spark across the APAC region in March. In June, Huge debuted its own AI platform, Live, which it said can analyze billions of data points for clients.