AD Agencies
Mindshare named Agency Network Of The Year: Festival Of Media Asia Pacific Awards 2016
MUMBAI: Mindshare, the global media agency network that is part of WPP, has been named the Agency Network of the Year at the Festival of Media Asia Pacific Awards 2016.
The agency won 12 awards across multiple categories, markets and clients in the regional competition, and took home the most Gold trophies on the night:
· Best Targeted Campaign (Gold) for KFC – How KFC Won with China’s Gamers, China
· Best Use of Mobile (Gold) for Heineken – Where Next? Let Heineken Lead You, Malaysia
· Best Use of Mobile (Bronze) for Unilever, Sunlight – Sunlight Mobile Campaign, Sri Lanka
· Best Content Creation (Bronze) for Brooke Bond Red Label – Stories of Togetherness, India
· Best Social Media Strategy (Silver) for Showcase – Foxtel Game of Thrones -Home of Thrones, Australia
· Best Use of Digital Media (Silver) for KFC – How KFC Won with China’s Gamers, China
· The Creative Use of Media Award (Silver) for Walt Disney, Marvel – Marvel’s Ant-Man: Heroes Don’t Get Any Bigger, Singapore
· Best Experiential Campaign (Silver) for Hindustan Unilever, Surf Excel – Eco Ganesha, India
· The Effectiveness Award (Silver) for Hindustan Unilever, Kissan Tomato Ketchup – Kissanpur – Where Experiences Happen, India
· The Utility/Public Service Award (Silver) for Hindustan Unilever, Surf Excel – Eco Ganesha, India
· Twitter Live Marketing (Gold) for PepsiCo, Lay’s – When Google Maps went beyond giving directions to people. It unlocked a treasure. Thanks to Lay’s, India
· Twitter Live Marketing (Silver) for PepsiCo, Pepsi – Pepsi’s Preemptive Strike on Social Media, India
In addition to the APAC title, Mindshare Indiawas also awarded Agency of the Year.
Ashutosh Srivastava, Chairman & CEO of AMEA & Russia/CIS at Mindshare said: “I’m delighted to see work being recognized from such a large number of our offices in the region. It underlines the fact that our network continues to be streets ahead of others on quality and depth of talent in this part of the world and lead the market. The India team was outstanding again. It was also great to see the caliber of the winning and shortlisted work from China, Malaysia, Australia, Singapore, the small yet highly talented Sri Lanka team. Big congratulations to our teams and equally to our clients who back their ideas, and encourage their creativity. ”
Mindshare South Asia CEO Prasanth Kumar commented “It is a great honor and encouragement to have competed and won against some incredible work across the APAC media industry. The effort of each and every team member has contributed to our success at the Festival of Media Awards 2016. It is our constant endeavor to raise standards, challenge staus quo and innovate marketing frameworks to create landmark campaigns for clients. We have had a fantastic 2015 and the agenda for 2016 is to keep the momentum going.”
Mindshare just ended 2015 with accolades ofMedia Network of the Year by Campaign Asia Pacific and Mobile Agency Network of the Year in the APAC MMA Smarties awards.
AD Agencies
Publicis posts €4.19bn Q1 revenue, 6.4 per cent growth; backs FY outlook
Ad giant signals Q2 acceleration as AI and new deals power momentum
PARIS: Publicis Groupe continues to outperform the industry, delivering a strong start to 2026 under Chairman and CEO Arthur Sadoun. Despite a volatile global macro environment, the company has now outpaced the industry for nearly 20 consecutive quarters.
For Q1 2026, total revenue reached €4,191 million, up from €4,161 million last year, with organic growth of 6.4 per cent. Net revenue, which excludes pass-through costs, stood at €3,460 million, reflecting organic growth of 4.5 per cent.
Exchange rates had a negative impact of €268 million, mainly due to a weaker US dollar and pound sterling. Acquisitions, including Adge.AI and 160over90, contributed an additional €46 million.
Performance across regions was largely positive, with some variation:
- North America, accounting for 59 per cent of net revenue, grew 4.7 per cent
- Europe recorded growth of 3.9 per cent, led by the UK at 6.2 per cent, while France grew 1.6 per cent
- Asia Pacific posted 5.9 per cent growth, driven by China at 11.7 per cent
- Latin America grew 13.3 per cent
- Middle East and Africa declined 5.1 per cent due to geopolitical challenges
AI-powered marketing services, which now make up 86 per cent of the business, grew 5.6 per cent. However, the technology segment, representing 14 per cent of revenue, declined slightly as clients reduced spending on large-scale transformation projects.
Sharing his outlook, Publicis Groupe chairman and CEO Arthur Sadoun said, “Publicis had a very strong start to the year, outperforming the industry for almost 20 quarters in a row despite the volatile macro environment. Organic revenue growth reached 6.4%, leading to 4.5% in net and further increasing the gap with our peers.” He added that the company remains confident of delivering industry-leading performance. “We are confirming our industry-leading organic growth guidance of 4 to 5%, with the 4% rock solid, and a sequential organic growth acceleration in Q2 despite a higher comparable.”
Publicis continued its expansion with the acquisition of Adge.AI in March, followed by 160over90 in April to strengthen its sports and culture marketing capabilities.
Net financial debt stood at €1,156 million at the end of March, reflecting a seasonal shift from the net cash position at the end of 2025. Average net debt over the past twelve months was €1,035 million.
The company has reaffirmed its full-year guidance, expecting net revenue organic growth of 4 to 5 per cent in 2026. It also anticipates an operating margin slightly above 18.2 per cent and free cash flow of approximately €2.1 billion.
With expectations of stronger performance in the second quarter, Publicis remains well positioned to sustain its growth momentum.
