Publicis Groupe, Tencent Strike Global Accord

Publicis Groupe today announced at its “Viva Technology” event in Paris that it has signed a strategic partnership with Tencent. Publicis is the second big ad holding company to strike an accord with the Chinese Internet giant this week. Earlier WPP said it signed a memorandum of understanding with Tencent to create a social marketing lab.

Described as a first, the Publicis-Tencent alliance involves all of Tencent’s platforms and all of Publicis’ major units -- Publicis Media, Publicis Communications and Publicis.Sapient.

The joint agreement was signed by the holding company’s CEO Maurice Levy, and SY Lau, senior executive vice president of Tencent and president of Online Media Group.

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The alliance is designed to spur innovations through an approach built on three pillars:

Future Capabilities: Through this partnership, Publicis Groupe and Tencent will launch a ‘Drugstore’ incubation facility, to curate, invest in and cultivate start-ups. The intent is to provide breakthrough offerings to clients in data and ad tech as well as across new VR and AR enabled platforms.

Data: Through its connected strategy, Tencent will offer Publicis Groupe access to its vast online behavioral data, benefiting clients through improved programmatic offerings, cross-screen planning capabilities and conversion performance.

Content: The two companies will partner on the co-creation and co-investment of web native content to drive opportunities and new content models for clients.

Of the deal, Levy stated: “China continues to lead the world in advertising growth especially in digital and mobile and we increasingly see new ideas and technology that leapfrog the West. Tencent is a company that embodies this strive for growth and innovation and we are honored to be their first-ever global partner and look forward to everything we will achieve together for the ultimate benefit of our clients.”

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