Publicis Groupe and Tencent Sign Historic Global Partnership

The joint agreement was signed by Maurice Levy, Chairman & CEO of Publicis Groupe and SY Lau, Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent and President of Online Media Group, who marked the event with the scanning of a WeChat QR code, an action familiar to the 762 million users of WeChat (Active monthly user accounts as of March 2016) during a ceremony held at Viva Technology Paris.

This agreement will cement the two groups’ relationship at a global level with a mission to breed innovations whilst offering clients all of Tencent’s innovations through a unique borderless approach built on three pillars:

• Future Capabilities: Through this partnership, Publicis Groupe and Tencent will launch a ‘Drugstore’ incubation facility, to curate, invest in and cultivate the start-ups of the future. This will provide breakthrough offerings to our clients in data and ad tech as well as across new VR and AR enabled platforms
   
• Data: Through its connected strategy, Tencent will offer Publicis Groupe access to its vast and rich online behavioral data, benefiting clients through improved programmatic offerings, cross-screen planning capabilities and conversion performance.
   
• Content: The two companies will partner on the co-creation and co-investment of web native content to drive unique content opportunities and new content models for key clients.

“China continues to lead the world in advertising growth especially in digital and mobile and we increasingly see new ideas and technology that leapfrog the West. Tencent is a company that embodies this strive for growth and innovation and we are honored to be their first-ever global partner and look forward to everything we will achieve together for the ultimate benefit of our clients.” Maurice Lévy, Publicis Groupe Chairman & CEO further commented, “Today we are at Viva Technology Paris, the leading event devoted to start-ups and innovation, and I am very proud to have Mr. SY Lau and his team, among other brands with China origin, to share more on the Chinese Digital Revolution.”

“This bold new partnership with Publicis Groupe, the first of its kind across all of our assets, that will lead the global trends and deliver new ways to meet the needs of our clients and business partners. In parallel, this collaboration will give brands and organizations around the world a better understanding of China's unique and dynamic mobile Internet development, while creating huge business opportunities associated with this new market.” SY Lau, Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent and President of Online Media Group commented, “Tencent is one of the world's most influential digital media platforms and Publicis Groupe is one of the global leaders in marketing and communications; together, we will define the new era for the media industry and unveil a new partnership model.” 

Photo caption: Maurice Levy and SY Lau scan a WeChat QR code to officially mark the start of the partnership: an iconic action on Wechat, the most popular social APP developed by Tencent.