Publicis Groupe Signs $500m Deal with Facebook

Publicis FacebookPublicis Groupe and Facebook have signed a multi-year partnership deal worth around $500m (£297m).

The $500m figure, first reported by Ad Age, includes ad spend and will give favourable rates on Facebook inventory to Publicis agencies – but this isnt the focus of the deal.

Laura Desmond, CEO of Publicis-owned Starcom MediaVest, which led the deal, told Ad Age the partnership is centered around “co-creation of product around data, video and images”, presumably meaning new ad units, possibly exclusive to Publicis and its clients.

The news echoes two other recent deals between global ad firms and social networks. In March, Omnicom struck a $100m ad deal with Instagram – which, as it is owned by Facebook, is also included within the Publicis deal.

A year earlier, Starcom Mediavest and Twitter partnered in a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars – though the deal with Facebook is reportedly larger.