Arthur Sadoun, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe, brushed off concerns over Meta’s AI-powered ad creation system after the holding company report strong H1 2025 results.
The French ad company report stronger-than-expected Q2 with +10% revenue growth, leading to +5.9% net revenue organic growth, despite a tough macro-economic environment.
Publicis Groupe reported strong global performance with the U.S. up 5.3%, Europe up 4.6%, and the APAC region to +5.7%.
The company also had a successful first half of the year with “unprecedented new business run”, including wins with Coca-Cola, Nespresso, Lego, Paramount, and Spotify.
It also upgraded its 2025 organic growth forecast to close to 5%, up from the previous range of 4% to 5%, after reporting 5.9% net revenue organic growth in the second quarter.
Sadoun said: “Despite the ongoing uncertainty of the global context, our unprecedented new business run of over a dozen material wins in the first six months of 2025 means we are raising our organic growth guidance to close to +5% for the full year, up from our previous +4-5% range.
“Now, in what is a particularly disrupted industry, we are looking ahead to the rest of the year and beyond with confidence and a single focus: executing on our strategy. We are uniquely positioned to continue to win market share by bringing clients the immediate business solutions they need to grow in an uncertain global context.
“We are reinforcing our status as a Category of One with a targeted M&A strategy to further accelerate on AI-led capabilities. And we will continue to invest to attract and retain the best talent in the industry. I’d like to thank our outstanding teams for their efforts in a challenging business landscape, and our clients for their trust.”
Arthur Sadoun
Publicis Groupe squaring up to Meta
Meta aims to have its AI-powered ad creation system up and running by the end of 2026, according to the Wall Street Journal. Brands and advertisers can upload product images or business URL with a budget, and the AI-powered platform will generate a fully formed ad campaign – along with creative and media plan across Meta’s family of apps.
However, Sadoun downplayed Meta’s power in an earnings call. He said that he think Meta is “completely underestimating the intelligence of our customers, who, moreover, are not fooled”, as reported by Reuters.
“I’ve been hearing for nine years that the platforms are going to ‘eat us for breakfast.’ Honestly, I think it’s time to stop talking about how platforms are going to replace us, because it’s not a reality.”
Publicis Groupe has made strides in adopting AI in recent years with its €300 million ($A493 million) investment in AI in 2025 over three years in a new AI platform called CoreAI, and the launch of Marcel, its AI platform created with Microsoft, and the acquisitions of Epsilon and Lotame.
Top image: Arthur Sadoun