London-listed WPP will lose its global advertising crown to the French competition

France’s Publicis Groupe is on track to top the London list WPP to be the world’s largest advertising agency by the end of 2024, according to the marketer’s estimates.

Publicis recorded €10.1billion (£8.4billion) for the first nine months of 2024, while Ogilvy and Wavemaker owner WPP received €9.8billion.

Estimates by financial research firm Visible Alpha expect the firm to have sales of 13.9 billion this year, compared to 13.5 billion for WPP.

This is the first time the French holding company has become the number one advertising business and comes two years before Publicis celebrates its 100th anniversary.

Headquartered on Paris’ famous Champs-Elysées, Publicis is the parent company of British advertising agencies Bartle Bogle Hegarty and Saatchi & Saatchi.

It is also organizing the VIVA Technology annual conference dedicated to startups, the speakers at the latest edition are Elon Musk, the chairman of LVMH Bernard Arnault, and the former CEO of Google Eric Schmidt.

Among the group’s major client list are French brands Renault, Cartier, and supermarket chain Carrefour, as well as American giants Netflix, Burger King, and Walmart.

The group has confirmed its place at the top of the media world with a short video featuring its executive director and singer – and the star of the Paris Olympics – Snoop Dogg.

Publicis was founded in 1926 by Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, a real estate agent credited with introducing radio advertising to France.

After World War II, while fighting the French Resistance, he rebuilt the company by striking deals with big names like Shell, Colgate-Palmolive, and Sopad-Nestlé. , and started France’s first opinion polls.

Under his successor, Maurice Levy, Publicis joined WPP, Omnicom and Interpublic as the ‘Big Four’ advertising agencies when it bought Bcom3 in 2002 for $3 billion.

Publicis attempted a $35 billion merger with Omnicom at the beginning of the last decade that would have made the expanding firm the world’s largest advertising business.

However, the deal fell through due to tax and regulatory issues, opposition from China’s antitrust regulator, and disputes over who would hold key leadership positions.

During the turmoil, both firms lost many of their best-known clients to rivals, with WPP acquiring Vodafone, Marks & Spencer, GlaxoSmithKline and Comparethemarket.

Under Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP became the world’s number one advertising agency by aggressively acquiring smaller companies and expanding into developing markets.

In its last year’s results, Publicis increased its organic net income by 6.3 percent due to better-than-expected trading at the end of the period.

Total net turnover rose by 4.2 percent to 13.1 billion euros, helped by double-digit growth in Europe and strong performance in North America, its largest market by the sale.