First Anniversary Lookback: Publicis Le Pont Reflects on its Journey of Wins, Expansion, and Learnings Along the Way

Publicis Le Pont, Publicis Groupe's one-stop hub for digital transformation with speed, efficiency, and consumer-first approach, will soon be celebrating its 1st anniversary in business. The world's 3rd largest communications group's new formation connects the talent and capabilities of commerce, content and production, data, technology, and creativity in Hungary, Poland, and Czech Republic. Almost 12 months in, Publicis Le Pont’s relatively new path has been paved with successes as it serves some of the biggest brands across the globe.

Q> Let's start at the beginning: what is Publicis Le Pont exactly?

Konrad Dorabialski> At Publicis Le Pont, we are connecting three European Centres of Excellence of Publicis Groupe: Commerce & Production in Poland, Data & Technology in the Czech Republic, and Content & Creativity in Hungary. Being a Centre of Excellence means that all Publicis offices around the world can reach out to us to get full strategic and operational support in scopes that involve any of these capabilities.

Barbara Grabiwoda> Basically, we connected three already super-performing offices to deliver a very sought-after approach to digital – bringing scale to operations but never missing quality. On a high level -by creating Publicis Le Pont- we are truly activating Publicis Groupe's 'Power of One' approach.

Q> How do the three offices work together? Have you introduced a new methodology?  

Barbara> We're at the beginning of the journey, but we don't want to be in a 'fast & furious' mode. Or, to put it differently, we're taking the 'furious' out of the equation. Using what we call the 'Circle' framework has been helping a lot. It's a non-hierarchical, agile, and efficient model of working on projects - people from the hubs, no matter which one, connect to solve a particular business challenge or come up with a new product. In practice, every new product has a Circle – a dedicated project team – that has its mission, plan, and deliverables. Launching Circles ensures that teams take time to learn, create and conceptualise the next big thing.

Konrad> It's a great way to unlock new business opportunities, connect and get to know each other. And we empower all talents to come up with their Circle ideas – everyone can lead a new initiative, big or small. We are also doing our best to inspire and educate our people - our in-house series of inspirational events called 'Age of Makers', where the most well-known superstars of the industry guide our clients and us through their secrets of success, is a great example. Sneak-peak: the next Age of Makers will be in Warsaw on 15th September where we’ll discuss the trends that are shaping the world of commerce with heavyweight experts of the biggest commerce brands of the sector. 

Q> What are the Polish team's key capabilities in this ecosystem? What is the Polish team's USP?

Konrad> Here in Poland, we are Centre of Excellence for eCommerce and Production. In eCommerce practice, we bring together strategy, content production, technology and deployment know-how to help brands win the eCommerce-race on biggest global eRetailers.

Our eCommerce processes are powered by eContent Suite - our proprietary synchronised set of software solutions that help to develop and maintain eCommerce content – both written and visual – on a mass scale. We also use Publicis Predictive Intelligence tools, proprietary and fully automated eRetailer keyword research solutions, and end-to-end online content management. The set of these capabilities, and the fact that we can deliver end-to-end global eCommerce processes 'under one roof' is unique on a global scale.

In Poland we are also proud of our production capabilities for global ATL, BTL, and digital campaigns, We also use a state-of-the-art in-house production studio in Hungary (more to come on that in another article) that is leveraged for global productions across multiple global clients.

To put it simply – we are tapping on a lot of Publicis Groupe’s global capabilities, but we have also created our own, mainly in tech and data, to support the multinational scale of operations.

Barbara> I’m really proud of our tremendously efficient global eCommerce content services. For instance, for one of our clients, we take care of nearly 100 brands in seven markets by building global and local eCommerce standards for them, creating content, and launching it on eRetailers. It's a massive job, leading to nearly 3000 product cards being launched every three weeks.

Q> Why should a client choose Publicis Le Pont?

Konrad> Clients are seeking partners that can work on a regional and global level to bring efficiencies of scale. But at the same time, they do not want to compromise on quality. By building Publicis Le Pont, we found a solution on how to connect scalability and quality, which until now, often sounds like a paradox.

Barbara> Focusing on the Polish office, we are taking production and eCommerce content operations to the next level..  Brands understand that eCommerce is becoming a substantial touchpoint in consumer journeys and eCommerce content is one of key drivers for product visibility on crowded digital shelves. In Publicis Le Pont, we understand both the need for efficient production at scale, but we never let go of data-based, qualitative and consumer-centric approach. This is a crucial differentiator, because at the end, it is the consumer who decides if what we create is worth their time.

Konrad> And also, as we are keeping up with the speed of growth, we can prove that faster can mean better. By bringing automation, tech, and data to our processes, we can bring higher value to clients while maintaining higher speed to market.

Q> What are you the proudest of? And what would you say is a key learning from the year?

Konrad> I know it may sound like a cliché, but it is our team. Alongside my fellow partner and Publicis Le Pont co-lead, Helga Sásdi, we have more than doubled the size of the team since its inception. And we are still growing, with plans to add 50-100 more people by the end of 2023. Thanks to our team, we have won several crucial tenders recently and we’ve started to work with some of the biggest global brands in the beauty, spirit and automobile categories. We have the winning mentality as a team - as a self-professed natural-born salesman, this is extremely important for me!

I would say, 'repetition is key'. Studies show that people need to hear a message seven times before it truly sinks in. In hindsight, we now realise more patience is needed with launching internal communication about changes in our company and structure – a year is a really short time to launch a new formation with a new brand. And it takes time to build full trust and understanding of the role and goal of every single team member.

Barbara> Beyond Publicis Le Point, it is also very gratifying for me that we have demonstrated once again that Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) where we are situated for Le Pont is one of the most dynamic regions globally. Our work is another proof that CEE is truly the hotbed of talent and expertise in the marketing communication industry, servicing some of the biggest brands in the world, operating on a world-class level.

A key learning is that bigger muscle-build is needed for talent teams during an intense year of growth. It’s probably accurate to say we are in a talent-driven industry. Due to the rapid speed of our growth, we need to have extremely efficient talent acquisition programme, followed by super effective onboarding. Talent teams have been severely overwhelmed at the beginning of the process, but now, we see how much work has been and is needed to steer programme from the HR perspective. All in all, we definitely feel like we are headed for the second year with a more robust foundation in place for the demands of the business.