Publicis Groupe is betting that the fastest way to win a global account is no longer through the marketing department, but through the corner office. On its third quarter earnings call, chairman and CEO Arthur Sadoun said the holding company is pitching directly to CEOs who are anxious about AI and changing consumer behaviour.
“We are increasingly seeing CEOs involved in what we do,” Sadoun told analysts. The reason, he said, is straightforward: leaders know AI will decide whether they keep leading, and “this has to start from the top.”
Winning without the pitch
The clearest proof is PepsiCo, which Publicis won without a pitch last month. At the same time, the group chose to walk away from the competitive review for Coca-Cola’s media business. Sadoun said Publicis Sapient has been instrumental in securing “the two biggest accounts of the year without a pitch” and three AI-led transformation assignments outside traditional review processes. He did not name those clients.
Publicis is leaning into what Sadoun calls a “new market reality” created by Omnicom’s acquisition of Interpublic Group. With fewer major holding companies competing, he argued, clients are clearer about what they want and more willing to skip long formal reviews. The group says this does not increase client-conflict risk because Publicis, Omnicom and WPP are large enough to manage firewalls.
The numbers behind the story
- Q3 net revenue rose 5% year over year to €3.529 billion ($3.95 billion).
- North America grew 4.4% and contributed 59% of income.
- Media accounted for 62% of quarterly revenue.
- New business wins are expected to add about €300 million ($335.5 million), or 2% of organic growth, heading into 2027.
Publicis led the industry for new business wins in the first half of 2026, according to COMvergence. The demand story is also supported by the IPA Bellwether survey, which found 25.6% of UK advertisers raised budgets in Q3, partly on tech-related investment. Sadoun’s summary: “The imperative to adapt is immediate.”
Read the AI narrative carefully
Not everyone is convinced the upturn is an AI transformation story. Madison & Wall’s Brian Wieser said Publicis’s growth is better explained by its core business, including principal media buying, than by an AI-inspired surge in client spend. In his view, “the only real driver of increased spend is when you get a change in competitive intensity in a category.”
That caution matters because publicly listed agency groups face pressure to show AI upside, even as some clients hand media-buying tasks to AI tools and Accenture has stopped breaking out its Song unit results.
What marketers should take from it
For agencies, the pivot is clear: build a C-suite-ready AI story, preferably with a consulting or technology arm attached, and tie it to speed and market-share protection rather than media price. For marketing leaders, the risk is real — if the CEO is buying transformation directly, the CMO needs to be in that conversation with a measurable AI roadmap.
- Institute a CEO-level narrative before the formal review starts.
- Use AI readiness, not capacity, as the first reason to hire.
- Hold both numbers and skepticism in view when reading agency earnings.
The centre of gravity in new business is moving upward. Agencies that can talk to the CEO’s anxiety — with financial and technological proof — are likely to close bigger deals without ever entering a pitch.
Source: Digiday
