Publicis Groupe Bespoke Team Retains Novartis

Publicis Groupe says its $4-plus billion acquisition of Epsilon earlier this year is already paying off as the game-changing asset that just helped the Groupe to retain the Novartis account.

Starcom has served as the pharmaceutical brand's media agency since 2010.

Novartis placed the account — with an estimated $520 million in annual spending — in review to accelerate a broader business transformation.

The company had indicated that one key area of interest is to leverage science-based innovation to deliver better patient outcomes.

Novartis products reach more than 750 million people globally.  

The competitive pitch involved four holding groups: Havas, WPP and Omnicom, with Publicis ultimately selected over the other finalist, WPP.

“Just as Novartis seeks to reimagine medicine, we too seek to reimagine and transform how we deliver data-driven marketing strategies for our clients,” explains John Sheehy, global brand president, Starcom Worldwide. "We can now "deliver capability that is agile, collaborative and relentlessly focused driving business outcomes, along with delivering personalized experiences at scale for Novartis’ complex and evolving consumers."

advertisement

advertisement

The combined Starcom and Epsilon team will serve the client by way of a newly dedicated unit called NovartisONE2. It will handle media planning, buying, data and analytics for 60 markets globally.

Next story loading loading..