The jury’s out on Publicis restructure

Despite thousands of well-paid bosses around the globe, the lucrative world of marketing consultancy only really has four “mega beasts”. The pack is led by Sir Martin Sorrell (WPP boss and last week confirmed as Britain’s highest-paid CEO), John Wren (Omnicom), Michael Roth (Interpublic Group) and Maurice Levy (Publicis).

On Thursday Levy announced a major restructure of Publicis Group, the biggest for a decade and its most significant move since the planned merger with Omnicom collapsed embarrassingly 18 months ago.

Levy announced that Publicis would cease to be a conglomeration of agency networks such as Starcom and Leo Burnett, instead re-forming into four hubs: creative agencies (advertising and PR); media agencies; healthcare; and digital consultancy – each of which will be led by a very senior executive with expanded responsibility.

From the restructure an intriguing quartet of potential successors arises. Currently enjoying the shortest odds is Arthur Sadoun, who will run the new creative division, and Steve King will take over the media buying operations. And another hot tip as future CEO is the American Alan Herrick, who will run the Publicis.Sapient digital division. Herrick was CEO of Sapient, which Publicis purchased for $3.7bn (£2.45bn) earlier this year.

Thankfully, there is also a woman in the running for one of the biggest jobs in marketing. Laura Desmond, the successful head of Starcom, takes on the new role of Publicis Groupe chief revenue officer. Desmond will manage the top executives handling Publicis’ clients, as well as new business development; a pivotal position in any consultancy business.

Publicis has had a tough year revenue-wise and the jury is out over whether the new structure can turn things around.