• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, August 10, 2022

Forrester is out with its latest “Wave” report, finding that Publicis Groupe is the number one-ranked global marketing services firm, followed by WPP and Omnicom (2nd and 3rd respectively) while all three achieved the top performing "Leader" category. 

Four firms made it into the study’s next tier, known as “strong performers” and include Accenture, Dentsu, Deloitte and Interpublic. Forrester noted that IPG did not participate in the evaluation process.

A third tier of performers, labeled “contenders,” included Stagwell, Havas Group and Media.Monks, part of S4 Capital. Like IPG, Havas Group did not participate in the evaluation process.

The report credits Publicis Groupe with fostering “integration with a connected tech and services approach,” which is what marketers are looking for today.  

It also credits the holding company with being an “early adopter of agency transformation, which included consolidation of multiple media operations.”  

The report states that Publicis Groupe “has some of the strongest marketing capabilities in the evaluation, especially for media and data. The company uses a growth approach to media, benefits from its proprietary CORE ID product, and effectively leverages Publicis Sapient’s business consulting and experience development. Epsilon’s strong data privacy features make the Groupe a privacy thought leader.”

WPP is credited with pioneering “end-to-end marketing solutions with global creativity and scale... It has a strong and well-balanced presence across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. WPP’s vision — to be a creative transformation company — is comparable to those of its peers and reinforced by exceptional new business performance in 2021 and high growth expectations. The company notably won responsibility for The Coca-Cola Company’s integrated marketing responsibilities in November 2021.”

Omnicom, per the report, “advances marketing experience with audience platform intelligence [and] stands out for its innovation and integrates media, content, and performance. The Omni audience platform merges insight, workflow, execution, and activation in one OS, and the company’s innovation plans for a universal taxonomy, deeper marketing automation, and commerce intelligence will accelerate its global marketing capabilities.”

Summing up the findings, Jay Pattisall, principal analyst at Forrester and lead author of the report noted that the three leaders achieved top grades for different reasons: "Publicis for its structure. WPP for its scale and practice and Omnicom for its technology integration and structure."

In response to the report, Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun stated, “The strength of our truly differentiated model continues to stand apart from the industry.”  It’s the fourth “Wave” report this year that Publicis Group has been recognized as a leader. Earlier reports assessed data capabilities, providing digital experiences and media.

John Wren, Chairman and CEO of Omnicom Group, stated, “Clients are looking for their partners to turn disparate capabilities into integrated, global marketing solutions. We believe these criteria show we are well equipped to design end-to-end campaigns that brands need to reach consumers wherever they are.”

Omnicom Media Group achieved “Leader” status in Forrester’s recent Wave report on media and Omnicom Precision Marketing Group was top-ranked in the Wave report on marketing creative and content services released last month.