Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun told an investor gathering Tuesday that the Omnicom-IPG deal was “great news for the sector.” 

He made his remarks at the UBS Global Media & Communications Conference in New York City.  

“It’s important to bring clarity to some of the players,” he said, alluding to what many believed was an uncertain future for IPG prior to its acquisition by Omnicom. 

For Publicis, it also reduces competition among its core peers by 25%, said Sadoun, reducing the four major holding companies—Publicis, Omnicom, WPP and IPG—to three.  

The way he sees it, Publicis and Omnicom bring two “very different strategies” to market. 

He characterized Omnicom’s strategy as “more of the same for the sake of efficiency.” 

Publicis has plenty of scale and the fact that Omnicom is now bigger with the addition of IPG is not a concern, he said. 

What Publicis does care about, he said, is being “MVP--most valuable partner.” 

Being that partner has been a key driver in helping the company outgrow competitors for the last several years, Sadoun said, including 2025 when the firm will achieve nearly 5.5% net organic revenue growth. 

Key elements in Publicis’ “MVP” strategy include attracting and retaining top talent. “It’s still our number one strength,” he said, referring to the company’s people. And AI won’t change that: “We put our people first,” he added, in part because “clients buy people.” 

Other elements include having a strong technology spine—which Sapient has been instrumental in helping the company create. That spine has helped the firm deploy an array of connected AI products and “end to end” capabilities that clients are able to leverage to drive business outcomes.  

If AI doesn’t drive such outcomes, he suggested, there’s not much point to it.