Publicis Worldwide Australia Keeps Name, Post-Leo Merger, As “Little Tiger of The Group”

Publicis Worldwide will keep its name in some markets within APAC, South America and Europe, “because we’re strong,” its Australian execs have told LBB.

At the start of the year, Publicis Groupe globally merged the agency with Leo Burnett to create Leo, but in the local market, both Leo and the Queensland-based Publicis Worldwide will continue as brands.

Publicis Worldwide Australia ECD Ryan Petie told LBB a compliment from Publicis Groupe APAC CEO, Jane Lin-Baden, summed up the local operation’s strength; she “called us the little tiger of the group.”

“We have it really good because we have our own identity here in Australia, but we're powered by the biggest group in the world now. So it's basically the best of both worlds,” he said.

During an interview with Ryan,  MD Simone Waugh, and CSO Simon Murphy during a visit to Sydney from their Brisbane base, the trio was clear they have no shortage of work. Queensland is in the middle of a boom that isn’t predicted to slow down any time soon, especially with Publicis named content partner for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic bid.

“For quite a number of years, Brisbane and Queensland have seen incremental growth, but this is unfair growth,” said Simone. “For the 2032 bid, we had to dive straight in and literally work hand in hand as a partner with the bid team, 24/7 for 30 days and 30 nights to get that bid together.”

Ryan added, “We created something like 30 different films in 30 days for the bid process, and one of them was the final film before the IOC [International Olympic Committee] jury had to press the green button or the red button. So probably the most stressful creative brief we've ever been given. And luckily, we're successful in the bid.”

As part of the bid, Queensland is aiming to make $44 billion in overnight visitor expenditure annually by 2032, which Simon described as “phenomenal statistical growth”. The agency will also be capitalising on that economic injection in its  work with Tourism & Events Queensland. 

“Momentum is huge in Queensland – it comes from tourism, it comes from immigration, it comes from talent that we can see …That has an impact on the business we're getting and the ambition of the clients that we're getting.”

In its 2025-26 state budget, the Queensland government forecast its economic growth will jump to 2.75% in 2025-26. The most recent Tourism Research Australia data estimates the state’s tourism sector is the second-largest in the country, making up 23.8% national tourism output.

With 2032 in sight, Simon pointed out a big part of the Publicis Worldwide story “started well before” the announcement of Brisbane’s Olympic win. The business is “well established to capitalise on the changes around us,” he said. 

“Our story, our understanding of each other, our reflexes when it comes to developing the work is relatively well honed to continue that momentum.”

Ryan laughed, “We've always had that secret ambition – maybe not so secret – but we've always had the ambition for what the state of Queensland could become, and what we could become as an agency. Now it's actually getting fulfilled.

“We were never happy just to get 2% growth each year and a couple of local clients. We've always had this ambition to create world class creativity from Queensland, because it's the best place in the world.”

“Pull Versus Push”: Expanding Nationally

Outside of Queensland, Publicis Worldwide works with clients from all over the country. Simone attributed this to the fact that “we are absolute challengers.”

“We challenge each other. As a strategic and creative client team we will go deep into a business with the senior leaders of the business and find the real problem, challenge the problem, and then actually start looking at solutions.”

She added, “We're absolutely creative first, we believe in creativity as the multiplier effect. It's the one thing that's going to give businesses an unfair advantage going forward. 

“Then we'll look at awards after that, we’ll say, ‘Okay, this, this is a good story, we should be putting that up in lights for our clients.’ We don't enter much, but what we do enter has a pretty good strike rate.”

There is a fine line between expanding and biting off more than you can chew. It’s something the team keeps in mind. Simone said the question the leaders ask is, “What is more risky?”

“If you go gung ho all at once, you are pushing yourselves into a market versus being demanded to service in a market. The approach that we're taking is pull versus push. It has to be our reputation and our work, and how we work is what attracts clients.”

Approaching Social Impact and Commercial Work The Same Way

As well as work on major accounts like Subway, Bulla, and Isuzu, Publicis Worldwide also has a large body of social impact and behaviour change work. The business has addressed domestic violence for Red Flags, youth cyberbullying for Convo2019, and vaping and road safety through the ‘Drink Driving UNPLYBL controller’ (pronounced Unplayable).

“Every other agency I've worked out in the past will have one pro bono client,” said Ryan. “We currently are facilitating more than that, because we believe in that balance of making sure people have good in their career.”

Simon has “never made a distinction” between social impact and commercial work.

“We're pretty good at benchmarking the best in the world just to challenge ourselves, and there's no shortage of learning,” he said.

“Because you approach it the same way. What's the human problem we're trying to solve? Can we get to the heart of that? It's just the way we get to it, whether it be engagement, or whether it be through more traditional ways of insight. It's another brief, and you do the best you can.”

Top Image L-R: Ryan Petie – ECD, Michelle Sakzewski – head of client services, James Ansell – head of digital, Simone Waugh – MD, Jude Johannesen – GM, Simon Murphy – CSO