Publicis Worldwide Has a New CEO: Arthur Sadoun

Arthur Sadoun is a Publicis Groupe veteran, and has spent half of his career at Omnicom Group. His appointment is a natural career development. He will also join the P-12, Executive Committee of Publicis Groupe, and will report to Maurice Lévy, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe.

Previously to this appointment, Sadoun was Managing Director of Publicis Worldwide, after being Chief Executive Officer of Publicis France for a couple of years. Sadoun is still very young, and his appointment represents a high vote of confidence from Maurice Lévy, who has been the CEO for Publicis since 1987, and is currently 71 years old. For Sadoun, the nomination spells perfect timing and he is at the right time to grow the agency in a super major way.

Rumors of Lévy’s retirement have emerged several times in the past, and is likely to retire in the next few years. It is in his interest to name the best professionals in management positions now, to leave a strong legacy and a good managerial structure for Publicis in the years to come. No new appointment of personnel is accidental: everything is strategically planned and calculated, and the new management has to stand up to the challenges imposed by the ad industry’s largest player.

As Sadoun himself explained in a press communique:

“It is a great honor to be the CEO of the network which carries the name of the Groupe and which was the starting point of Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet. I would like to thank Maurice Lévy for his confidence. Publicis has built its success on three core values: innovation, client obsession and entrepreneurship. It is my task, in a world of radical change, to ensure that these values are lived stronger than ever and that we meet the challenge of leading change in our industry for our client.”

Publicis PR agencies include Kekst & Company, MSL Group and others.