The advertising industry has spent decades treating client conflict the way Victorian society treated ankles: something that existed, certainly, but was not to be discussed in polite company, and under no circumstances to be exposed.
Arthur Sadoun, the chief executive of Publicis Groupe, would like to update the dress code.
In an interview with Adweek, Mr. Sadoun argued that the consolidation of the holding company landscape — which has winnowed the field to what he characterized as a three-way race among Publicis, Omnicom, and WPP — has fundamentally changed how clients think about the old taboo of sharing an agency roof with a competitor.
"Clients perfectly understand how to manage conflict," Mr. Sadoun said, noting that marketers already navigate similar arrangements with technology vendors, consulting firms, and other partners across what the industry calls the marketing ecosystem.
The implication, delivered with the confidence of a man whose company has been on a rather conspicuous winning streak, is that transparency and "strict firewalls" have rendered the traditional conflict concern, if not obsolete, then at least manageable. Mr. Sadoun suggested that clients have become clearer about the distinct capabilities each major holding company offers, which has led some to skip the ritual of the competitive pitch entirely in favor of direct appointments.
(Whether this clarity has anything to do with there being fewer doors to knock on was left unexplored.)
The remarks arrive at a moment when the holding company model itself remains a subject of persistent questioning — though the questioning, it should be noted, has been going on for roughly as long as the holding companies have existed.
For Mr. Sadoun, the message seemed less an argument than a statement of current conditions: the ankles, as it were, are already visible. The question now is simply who adjusts their gaze.
Original story published in adweek.com: "With Fewer Big Holdcos, Arthur Sadoun Says Client Conflict Is No Longer a Dealbreaker"