Publicis Groupe, the world’s third-largest advertising agency, said on Thursday it expects organic growth between 3 percent and 5 percent this year, as it banks on continued investments from clients on their digital transformation.

Despite a challenging 2022 marked by inflation, Covid-19 in China and a slowdown in global advertising spending, Publicis last year twice raised its guidance as client spending on digital marketing boosted sales.

“We haven’t noticed a change in the behaviour of our customers due to inflation,” chief executive Arthur Sadoun told journalists in a call regarding Thursday’s results, echoing statements from October.

Its digital and data-driven businesses Epsilon and Sapient, the former of which was acquired in 2019, had organic growth of 12 percent and 19 percent, respectively, in 2022.

“Now, we’re on the lookout for so-called bolt-on acquisitions,” Sadoun added.

Responding to a question on clients’ preferences for ad placement, Sadoun said there was a transfer away from traditional television and towards smart TVs, as well as towards retail media in general and first-party data.

“There is an underlying trend towards our clients who say: instead of going to invest on CNN, we’re going to go to Walmart.com because by definition it’s more efficient, it’s more direct, I’m building a direct relationship with my consumer.”

He added that clients’ willingness to continue advertising on Twitter varied on a case-by-case basis.

Publicis, which owns ad agencies Leo Burnett and Saatchi & Saatchi, hopes to navigate a global shift in advertising trends as Alphabet Inc’s Google looks to phase out the use of third-party cookies.

The company recorded organic growth of +10.1 percent in 2022 with net revenue reaching €12.57 billion ($13.81 billion), against €10.49 billion in 2021.

By Olivier Sorgho; Editor: Matthew Lewis

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