Publicis is increasing its guidance again for 2024, despite uncertainties around the economy, high inflation and the upcoming U.S. presidential election. 

The holding company now expects 5.5% growth this year. It had forecast 4% to 5% growth at the top of the year, and predicted a 5% increase in July. 

“There is a lack of confidence going into Q4, and we are coming strong saying, ‘We can raise our guidance,’” Arthur Sadoun, CEO of Publicis Groupe, told ADWEEK. 

This confidence comes after a strong Q3, in which the holding company posted an organic revenue increase of 5.8% to $3.72 billion. 

Growing strength in media

Publicis’ growth comes in part from new business wins, particularly in its media agencies, after winning multimillion dollar accounts from companies Pfizer, Hershey’s, and others. 

Combined services from media and its data unit Epsilon grew 10% year over year to make up 65% of overall revenue. 

But Publicis hasn’t been a player in every big pitch, Sadoun said.

For instance, Amazon’s media business was up for grabs, and eventually went to rival holdcos Omnicom and WPP.

Sadoun seemed unfazed. “We are still doing double the revenue in terms of new business than [our competitors],” he said. “And despite that, we are still winning.”

Sadoun also noted that very little of Publicis’ business comes from taking a principal on media, a controversial practice that is once again taking hold in the U.S.

Sadoun said less than 1% of Publicis’ total U.S. media revenues come from such activities. 

“We don’t operate a black box at all,” he said. 

Big expectations in commerce and influencer marketing

Publicis made two huge acquisitions this year industry growth areas: influencer marketing firm Influential in July, and retail media agency Mars United Commerce in September. These purchases, which cost roughly $1 billion, gave the holdco access to 3.5 million creators and 1,000 commerce experts, respectively. 

According to Talia Raviv, global CEO of Publicis Media, the holding company is integrating the technology from both firms into Epsilon and linking it with consumer identities.  

Integrating data with tech has helped Publicis win market share, Sadoun said.

And unlike other holdcos, this type of investment has not hurt Publicis’ margin, which grew from 17.3% in Q2 to 18% in Q3. 

From creative to ‘intelligent content’

Publicis’ next big goal is bringing its creative agencies and production studios together with AI and data — with the end goal of being able to personalize messages. Publicis calls this “intelligent content.”

But it isn’t where it needs to be yet. “Our ability to fuel this connecting media ecosystem with great work that is personalized is still a challenge,” Sadoun said, describing this area as having “huge margin for improvement.”

ABC News’ Good Morning America widened its total viewer gap over NBC News’ Today as it remained in the top spot for the third week in a row. Meanwhile, Today stayed ahead of its rival in the advertiser-coveted Adults 25-54 demo. News on Hurricane Milton’s approach and destructive landfall almost certainly boosted both networks to gains for the week of October 7.

Viewers didn’t seem to favor CBS Mornings for weather coverage as CBS News’ morning show saw declines in both measured categories. It was the only morning to show week-to-week declines in both measured categories.

NOTE: CBS Mornings was retitled on Thursday (10/10/24) to CBS Morn. This retitled telecast is excluded from the weekly and season averages. CBS’ weekly averages are based on two days (Monday – Wednesday and Friday). 

According to live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen, GMA averaged 2.807 million total viewers and 495,000 viewers in A25-54 for the week of Oct. 7. It was up +7% in total viewers and +9% in the demo compared to the previous week. Looking at its performance alongside the same week in 2023 (the week of Oct. 9), GMA was down in total viewers by -6% with a -17% fall in the demo. 

Today was the top show in the demo with 722,000 viewers and the No. 2 in total viewers with 2.636 million viewers. That translates to week-to-week gains of +3% in the latter category and +8% in the former. Year-to-year, Today was down by -6% in total viewers but up +2% in the demo. It was the only morning show to see year-to-year growth in either measured category.

CBS Mornings saw 1.952 million total viewers and 373,000 viewers in the A25-54 demo for a third place finish. Compared to the previous week, it dipped by -2% in both total viewers and the demo. Compared to 2023, CBS Mornings was down a respective -9% and -15% in both measured categories.

Nielsen live-plus-same-day averages for the week of October 7, 2024:

Griffin Media has replaced one of its two helicopters, which was destroyed by a tornado, with a state-of-the-art replacement.

More than a year after a tornado destroyed both helicopters for Griffin owned KWTV and KOTV, said chopper pilot Jim Gardner and Bob Mills SkyNews 9 are back in the air with a cutting-edge helicopter equipped with advanced technology.

Sister station KOTV in Tulsa, will take delivery of a separate chopper later in 2024, according to Griffin.

Newscast Studio said KWTV in Oklahoma City brands its chopper Bob Mills SkyNews 9 as part of a naming rights deal for its weather center and helicopter with local furniture store Bob Mills. KOTV’s chopper will be known as Osage SkyNews 6, to match its News on 6 moniker, as part of a co-branding agreement with the Osage Nation.

KWTV’s onboard camera with a digital lens will bring clearer pictures to viewers, improving the camera’s performance in low light and humid conditions.

“When you’re talking about tracking Oklahoma’s severe weather from the sky, the camera is key,” said News 9 meteorologist David Payne in a story on the station’s website. “This new lens gives us the ability to really shoot any and all storms in a low light environment.”

From KWTV:

The new helicopter also features Street Scope, a feature that allows viewers to see the exact streets.

“If we’re tracking a tornado, we can pinpoint exactly what street it’s on and which houses are in the path. That means better lifesaving warnings,” said Payne.

The feature can also be used to track fires, showing how many acres are burning and in which direction the fire is moving.

For high-speed chases, the system can lock onto a vehicle and display its speed, allowing the helicopter to track it in real time.

The overall design of the helicopter is safer for Gardner and his photojournalist.

The front windshields wrap around, so the visibility is a whole lot better,” said Gardner. “You don’t have any blind spots covering you up like in the other helicopters.”

The Bell 505 helicopter is designed to handle a variety of weather conditions, including crosswinds, and can fly up to 20,000 feet at speeds of 144 miles per hour.

Happy Friday to all who celebrate. In this week’s roundup of stories we didn’t post for one reason or another, we see the usual to and fro of local talent. We also see that an Atlanta artist is paying tribute to Jovita Moore, who died from brain cancer in 2021 and a GoFundMe has been set up for WOIO reporter Winnie Dortch, who is recovering from a gunshot.

Let’s launch the news shuttle:

In Asheville, North Carolina former WLOS anchor Franck Kracher is helping victims of Hurricane Helene. After 40 years as a news anchor and reporter, Kracher is finding out what it’s like to be part of the story. Click here for more.

A new member has joined the FOX10 in Mobile, Alabama. Cameron Taylor joins Lenise Ligon as co-anchor for the evening newscasts. Click here for more.

Legendary news anchor Jack Kane passed away Tuesday night, October 8, 2024. He was 77 years old. Kane was with WOWK-TV from 1999 to 2020. Before coming to WOWK, he was a reporter and anchor for WCHS-TV and an evening news anchor for WTAP-TV in Parkersburg. Click here for the story.

Local stations are continuing to push to reclaim the 10 p.m. hour from broadcast networks, a top industry exec said Wednesday. Mike Hayes, President of Hearst Television, was asked during a panel Wednesday at the Nab Show New York about the state of discussions about 10 p.m., a topic that gained wide attention in 2022. Click here for the story.

Raleigh, N.C. station WTVD said it was an emotional Sunday morning inside the Raleigh Eyewitness News Center. Beloved weekend anchor Anthony Wilson signed off on the weekend morning show for the final time – thanking his family, colleagues, and the ABC11 viewers. Click here for more.

Ana Lastra has been promoted to the KPRC 2 Houston news director as of September 2024 from the newly created position of Manager of Content and Coverage she has held since July. Click here to see what Mike McGuff had to say.

Cincinnati media writer John Kiesewetter reports that WCPO has added reporter Taylor Nimmo to help ‘Don’t Waste Your Money’ expert John Matarese deal with more than 100 tips a week.

A graphic designer in Atlanta is using his skills to honor a deceased member of the city’s community. John-Paul Moore’s latest work pays tribute to late WSB news anchor Jovita Moore (pictured) on her 57th birthday.  The local artist told Moore’s former work home, WSB-TV, that his art does more than paint a picture. Instead, he hopes to use his gifts to tell that person’s story. Click here for the story.

KWTV, the CBS affiliate in Oklahoma City, has debuted a complete on-air makeover, including a new set and graphics. Click here for more.

Local New Orleans TV news station WVUE- FOX 8 is making changes to its daily anchor lineup and bringing back a familiar face to local news, company officials announced Friday.  Click here for more.

More than a dozen broadcast television and radio stations in Florida were knocked offline by Hurricane Milton this week, according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The Desk has more.

On October 7, 2024, Winnie Dortch was involved in a domestic violence incident in Cleveland, Ohio, where she was a reporter with WOIO 19 News. This has left her with serious injuries, requiring multiple surgeries, with more still to come. Her friends have set up a GoFundMe for her. Click here to donate.

Domino’s is fueling gaming sessions and solving beauty emergencies with a novel buy one, get one free offer in the second flight of its “Emergency Pizza” campaign from agency of record WorkInProgress.

Domino’s Rewards members who spend $7.99 or more through Jan. 19 will receive an offer in their account for a free medium, two-topping pizza. The chain is also running several brand partnerships to suggest emergencies that the deal can solve.

Domino’s will make its gaming debut as one of the initial partners of The Glitch, a world within Fortnite developed for branded collaborations with Twitch streamers.

Starting Oct. 14, players will be able to compete for control of a Domino’s storefront on a custom “Red vs. Blue” map, where they can collect an emergency pizza to fully restore their health. Gaming influencers will explore the experience in their live streams.

The company is also partnering with nail brand Olive & June to solve beauty emergencies, offering a limited-edition manicure kit that includes red and blue nail polishes, a quick dry top coat, and pizza topping nail stickers. The kit and three pizza-themed press-on nail designs will be sold through oliveandjune.com starting June 17.

Free pizza to the rescue

The clever marketing around a conventional BOGO deal proved highly successful when Domino’s introduced it last year. The campaign brought in millions of new members to the loyalty program, reengaged inactive customers, and contributed to a 2.8% increase in same-store sales in Q4 2023, according to WorkInProgress co-founder and chief creative officer Matt Talbot.

“We tapped into Domino’s belief that a free pizza can fix just about anything and emphasized the power of what a free pizza can do,” Talbot said. “This led us to look at different categories from gaming to entertainment and more, all of which already have such a strong tie to enjoying your favorite pizza.”

Domino’s will extend the program by partnering with a major entertainment brand in the next few months.

CREDITS

Client: Domino’s
Chief executive officer : Russell Weiner
President, U.S. & global services: Joe Jordan
Senior vice president, chief brand officer: Kate Trumbull
Vice president, marketing: Lindsay Hettling
Director, advertising: Elaine Philippart
Director, national calendar and activation: Jorge Sanabria
Associate manager, advertising: Gaby Del Cueto Luna
Manager, advertising: Katie Pohlman
Senior director, communications: Jenny Fouracre-Petko
Manager, public relations: Danielle Bulger
Specialist, public relations: Katelyn Mcquillan
Manager, brand media: Danielle Stevens
Director of media: John Hughes
Associate media manager: Jordan Shipman
Senior manager, digital performance media: Toni Morris
Associate manager, digital marketing: Nick Azzopardi
Associate manager, advertising: Lori Hissick
Associate social media manager: Lauren Bryden

Agency: WorkInProgress
Partner/chief creative officer: Matt Talbot
Creative director: D’arcy O’neill
Creative director: Kelly Mccormick
ACD/AD: Alex Berry
ACD/CW: Tyler Burton
Associate design director: Jimmy Rosen
Senior designer: Tyler Merritt
Senior studio designer: Brian Cadamagnani
Partner/director of production: Stafford Bosak
Director of video production: Molly Schaaf
Executive producer: Rachel Noonan
Producer/production: Joey Orizczak
Junior producer/production: Liz Quintero
Partner/account+strategy: Alex Guerri
Partner/account+strategy: Evan Russack
Group account director/account+strategy: Sally Kubancik
Director, account+strategy: Brad George
Supervisor/account+strategy: Matt Theis
Manager/account+strategy: Lauren Jouriles
Partner/technology: Harold Jones
Director of interactive production: Dan Corken
Integrated producer/production: Jessica Ralph

With less than a month to go until the election, Democrats continue to invest more in presidential advertising than Republicans.

Since Joe Biden dropped out of the race in late July, the Harris campaign and outside Democratic groups have spent $820.4 million on paid media, according to a new report from advertising intelligence and analytics firm AdImpact.

The Trump campaign and outside Republican groups, meanwhile, have spent a total of $510.4 million.

In addition to ads already aired, Democrats also hold an advantage on future ad inventory. At present, the party has booked $266.5 million in advertising until November 5. That’s nearly 50% more than their rivals.

Prior to the Democratic National Convention in August, the Harris campaign announced plans to spend at least $370 million on advertising, with $170 million dedicated to television and $200 million going to digital channels.

“By reserving early, the Harris-Walz campaign is securing inventory during high-viewership moments like major sporting events and other national programs before they sell out,” the Democratic campaign said in a statement. “By buying later, Trump is spending more per ad buy and getting worse ad placements, particularly for high-viewership programming like live sports.”

More numbers from AdImpact show Democrats have outspent Republicans in every battleground state since July 22, with Pennsylvania receiving the largest share of presidential ad spend, followed by Michigan then Georgia.

The latest national figures from poll aggregator 538 place Harris ahead of Trump by a slim margin, 48.5% to 45.9%.

Chris Ruggeri has added station manager to his current role as vice president of sales at CBS owned Boston station WBZ.

He’ll take on additional management responsibilities in the new role, which includes overseeing the station’s day-to-day operations across departments, when gm Johnny Green is in New York.

Former WBZ president and general manager Justin Draper left the station at the end of September, the same time Green took over as regional president and gm of both WBZ and WCBS in New York.

Ruggeri has worked at WBZ since 2015. Before WBZ, he led the sales team in Denver and, earlier in his career, served as an account executive at WBZ, eventually rising to sales manager.

“I had the pleasure of working closely with Chris when I first joined WBZ in 2015. I can attest to his laser-focused approach and his ability to keep an eye on future opportunities while maximizing the present,” Green said in a note to staff. “This forward-thinking mindset will be crucial for all of us as we navigate the rapid changes in our industry—and beyond.”

This is a similar set up to how CBS Stations is running CBS Detroit, where Jennifer Lyons is the regional GM for Chicago and Detroit, while Kennan Oliphant is the vp of news and station manager based in Detroit, Tim Wieland is regional GM for CBS Colorado and CBS Los Angeles and news director Kristine Strain is vp of news and station manager based in Denver.

With Election Day getting closer and closer, both presidential campaigns are stepping up their media game. Here’s TVNewser’s round-up of where you can expect to see former President Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance sitting for interviews this week. (All times ET.)

Click here to see the TV schedules for their Democratic rivals Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz.

Monday, Oct. 7

Trump will make a pre-recorded appearance on The Ingraham Angle Monday at 7 p.m. Host Laura Ingraham interviewed the former president at his rally in Butler, PA over the weekend, the first time he visited that area since surviving an assassination attempt in July.

Don’t Miss It!

Tune in tonight at 7 p.m. ET on @FoxNews for an exclusive interview with @realDonaldTrump on “The Ingraham Angle.” https://t.co/VBZWDtG77G pic.twitter.com/DC8e5s3EGr

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) October 7, 2024

One place you won’t see Trump on Monday is the election-themed episode of 60 Minutes scheduled to air at 8 p.m. Trump cancelled his planned appearance ahead of last week’s CBS News vice presidential debate. Harris will still be interviewed on the program.

Meanwhile, Vance appeared on Fox & Friends on Monday morning to mark the one year anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the aftereffects of Hurricane Helene.

Wednesday, Oct. 9

Trump will participate in a Univision town hall at 10 p.m. moderated by Enrique Acevedo. The event was originally set to air Tuesday night, but was rescheduled due to Hurricane Milton. Univision expect to host a town hall with Harris on Thursday.

Due to the anticipated landfall of Hurricane Milton, @UniNoticias‘ townhall with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has been rescheduled for Wed, Oct. 16.

The network’s townhall with VP Kamala Harris will continue as scheduled on Thursday.https://t.co/udMt2fvgWU

— Anna Negrón (@ItsAnnaNegron) October 6, 2024

Two general managers are retiring from Gray Media.

Laura Long is retiring as the general manager of KNOE in Monroe, Louisiana effective October 4, 2024.

In Sherman, Texas, Rick Dean will retire as the general manager of KXII effective December 31, 2024.

Long began her television career 35 years ago in Monroe, after earning a degree from the University Louisiana Monroe. She started at Cablevision in 1992 where she rose to general sales manager. In 1999, she was hired as local sales manager at WUPL, which was the CBS Owned station in New Orleans, after working for Cablevision. She was promoted to the role of general sales manager at WTOG in Tampa. In 2006, CBS named Long vp and station manager and director of sales at WTOG and in 2010 she rose to vp and general manager. She returned to Monroe in 2014 as vp and gm of KNOE.

Dean started his media career in 1979 at a Radio station in Oklahoma City. His radio career spanned six years as he worked his way from sales into sales management with three different stations. In 1985, he joined KXII and worked for multiple owners until Gray acquired the station in 1999. During his tenure with KXII, Rick worked as an account executive, assistant sales manager, and general sales manager until being promoted to general manager in 2002.

“Laura and Rick exemplify the high quality of leadership and commitment to excellence this company strives for in each of our stations,” Gray’s chief operating officer Sandy Breland said. “On behalf of Gray, I thank them for their years of service and wish them the best in their retirement.”

Gray said it will “carefully search for well-qualified successors to lead these legacy television stations, both of which are strong institutions in their local markets.”

Honda literally flips the script on a poem about failure in an emotional brand campaign about Formula 1 drivers that includes a partnership with Netflix.

“Unstoppable Dreams,” created by independent agency RPA, is narrated by actor and professional wrestler John Cena, a longtime partner of the brand. It shows footage of Ayrton Senna – who is considered to be the greatest Brazilian Formula 1 driver of all time – and current F1 World Champion Max Verstappen as they experience setbacks.

The film also depicts challenges faced by Honda engineers working on new products like the hybrid-electric Prelude Concept and eVTOL electric.

Meanwhile, Cena recites: “My doubts will destroy my dreams. The more I seem to learn, the more I seem to lose.”

As the poem ends at the point of giving up, it then reverses to show drivers and engineers recovering from failure and finding success. It concludes on a triumphant note, with footage of Senna and Verstappen lifting their trophies.

As part of the campaign, Honda is the title sponsor for Netflix’s upcoming series Senna about the Brazilian F1 legend. The six-part series, which premieres on Nov. 29, will include a “presented by Honda” label and feature a new ad during the show with archival footage of Senna.

Honda’s ads will also run across social media, cinemas, and broadcast television, debuting during Sunday’s Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers game and continuing throughout the NFL, college football, and NBA seasons.

In November, the auto brand will stage a takeover at the Miracle Mile Shops during the F1 Las Vegas race.

“We want the viewer to understand what the Honda brand is all about, whether creating a product that helps make people’s lives better, to winning at the pinnacle level of racing, is often the result of overcoming adversity or critical obstacles,” Phil Hruska, American Honda senior manager, automotive marketing, told ADWEEK.

Cena has been the voice of Honda since 2020, starring in narrative films and projects such as 2022’s “Forever Determined” and last year’s “Keep Dreaming.”

CREDITS

Client: American Honda Motor Co.
Vice president and business lead: Ed Beadle
Assistant vice president, Honda and Acura marketing: Jessika Laudermilk
Senior manager, Honda marketing: Phil Hruska
Manager, Honda national advertising: Hundy Liu
Assistant manager, Honda national advertising: Phillip Lee

Agency: RPA
EVP/chief creative officer: Joe Baratelli
SVP/group creative director: Ken Pappanduros
VP/creative director: Sarah May Bates
Associate creative director: Max Wang
Associate creative director: Craig Ross
SVP/director, video production: Selena Pizarro
Executive producer: Ryan Radley
Assistant producer: Cami Ramseyer
SVP/director, business affairs: Maria Del’Homme
Associate director of business affairs: Lisa Nichols
Senior business affairs manager: Marlys Pulos
SVP/executive account director: Fern McCaffrey
SVP/group account director: Jane LoSasso
VP/management supervisor: Jacob Gentry
Account supervisor: Kelly Hu
Account executive: Alex Pineda
Product information manager: Marco Fantone

Production Company: Morton Jankel Zander
Director: Rupert Sanders
Executive producer: Alex Fisch
Line producer: Adriana Cebada Mora
Director of photography: Steve Annis
1st assistant director: Todd Thompson
Production manager: Lori Hoffman

Production Service Company: Kinema
CEO: Jose Ludlow
VP of production/line producer: Dalia Sierra Corona
Production supervisor: Lola Ovando
Production coordinator: Gina Vallejo
UPM: Dante Casas
1st assistant director: Arturo García
Photographer: Christian Salvatierra

Offline Edit: Arts Academy
Editor: Peter Wiedensmith
Executive producer: Carolina Padilla Towery
Producer: Jessica Mann
Assistant editor: Charlee Mackee

VFX: House of Parliament
VFX supervisor: Phil Crowe
VFX supervisor/creative lead: Tom Bardwell
Production: Henrie Thompson
Production: Scott Boyajan
Production: Will Jellicorse

Title Sequence: Elastic
Creative director: Benjamin Woodlock
Designer: Sky Bird
Animator: Laura Reedy
Animator: Lucy Kim
Animator: Trix Taylor
Producer: Amy Lee-Suits
Head of production: Paul Makowski
Executive producer: Kate Berry
Managing director: Eve Kornblum

Color: Company3
Colorist: Tom Poole
Assistant colorist: Dustin Wadsworth
Head of production: Kevin Brehemy

Mix: Lime Studios
Audio mixer/sound Design: Dave Wagg
Assistant audio mixer: Matthew Conzelmann
Executive producer: Susie Boyajan

Celebrity Talent
Voiceover: John Cena

Music
Licensed track: “Ascension”
Composer: Rob Simonsen
Composer: Duncan Blickenstaff