Marco Venturelli: “France Could Become the Leading European International Hub”
CEO/CCO at Publicis Conseil, Marco Venturelli has been instrumental in placing the agency as a leader in its market, being ranked first among French agencies at Cannes Lions awards, D&AD, and Eurobest in 2021. He has worked across well-known brands, both local and international, from Renault and Orange to Carrefour and Sanofi.
More recently, he was also announced as CCO of Publicis France, responsible for further strengthening the creative excellence and collaboration across the Groupe in France to ensure end-to-end creative solutions for clients.
On a mission to push France’s competitive edge, in this interview Marco shares his passion to build a real industry force in France, his mission to go international and what three things he believes has won the agency 85 awards in the past year.
LBB> Briefly tell us about your journey into the advertising industry, eventually becoming president at Publicis Conseil.
Marco> I started as a junior copywriter at Bgs D'arcy in Italy many years ago - which was actually bought by Publicis in the end. So I’ve had a long history with the group, winning Young Creative of the Year through them too.
I also had stints at BBDO and Euro RSCG (now Havas) where I worked mainly on Citroën. We won a lot of international pitches, awards and Cannes Lions so they asked us to come and do the same thing in Paris.
I moved back to Italy some time later to Heineken Global with Publicis. It was a big job with a lot of campaigns and a lot of travel but it was very, very interesting. And finally I came back to Paris to work with Agathe Bousquet, CEO of Publicis France. That was in 2020, so I was just starting my role as CCO when covid struck. I spent the first six months in my new role managing the agency from a close bar in a tiny mountain village in Italy!
LBB> You've spent most of your career in Milan before coming to Paris in 2019. What were your first impressions on coming to the French ad industry?
Marco> In Italy we have much smaller clients. In France, I am obsessed with building up a real French industry. The French agencies are built on competition, rankings and awards and that’s good but in the long-term it hurts us as an industry.
I would like to bring more of a collective mentality to France. I think France has a role to play and I’m passionate about helping push the country to get there. With the UK going a bit its own way after Brexit, France has a chance to become the leading European international hub if we come together as an industry. I really believe France could be a creative excellence pole for global brands and I am doing that already with many international clients, Renault with Arnaud Belloni (Global Chief Marketing Officer), AXA with Ulrike Decoene (group chief communications, brand and sustainability officer), Sanofi with Alberto Hernandez (global chief growth officer), BNPP with Elise Hermant (communication director), Garnier with Adrien Koskas (global brand president).
LBB> Publicis France is one of the most famous French companies in the world media space and has won numerous awards in the past year (85!). Can you tell us about some of your project highlights that led to these awards?
Marco> Publicis is very powerful and we are very well known in France - it’s not like it is in other countries where it can be just know as a holding agency. Here, it’s a historical institution with very long-term collaborations with our clients.
I care about awards but for me it’s not so much about how many we win - that’s not the objective. The focus is always to deliver great work for our clients. We don’t want awards just for the sake of it. So when it comes as a result of some amazing work and objectives we’ve hit for our clients, an award is much appreciated as a bonus.
A lot of the work we do is based around connection and business. We have a responsibility to do responsible campaigns for our clients. I would say that 99% of the awards we have won have been from work that bring these elements together.
LBB> What do you most love about your role at Publicis Conseil and Publicis France?
Marco> They are two very different roles. Publicis Conseil is very hands-on, working with clients daily. My role at Publicis France is more focused on coaching, building a creative community that collaborates together. It’s a big job bringing together our 30 agencies of over 5000 people but we are one big team and we believe in the power of one. We can tap into the strengths across our group to offer something of huge value to our clients.
LBB> What’s next for Publicis Conseil for 2023 onwards?
Marco> My big challenge at the moment is putting Publicis Conseil on the international map. When I first arrived on the job my objective was to make Publicis Conseil the most creative agency in Paris. Now, I want clients that are not French at heart to see Conseil as an interesting option for their business.
