Publicis Groupe fights Covid-19 downturn with money back ‘The Pact’ offer
The ever-ingenious Arthur Sadoun at Publicis has produced a new wheeze for these straightened times: money back for clients if Publicis doesn’t deliver “guaranteed outcomes” via its new The Pact service for mid-sized clients. Mid-sized being a prety wide definition: $10m – $1bn.
The spending limit (you knew there’d be a catch) is $25,000 per month for a minimum of three consecutive months.
The Pact is powered by Publicis’ new Epsilon data marketing subsidiary and Publicis Media and claims to track and assign more than 200 million customer IDs across all devices to boost visitor traffic and sales.
CEO Sadoun (above) says: “The plan has always been to create data-led packages using AI technology, to guarantee outcomes. We’ve accelerated that product roadmap in service of the times, and we’re starting with the clients that need it most, mid-sized companies.”
Publicis gives the example of a restaurant chain post-shutdown. Publicis would create an ad campaign to raise awareness for newly reopened locations. If a certain number of visitors do not return within the three month timeframe a refund would be awarded.
The key, as in all new business, is to try to attract at least some clients who stick around to spend consistently over a period of time. But it’s a clever use of Epsilon and Sadoun should be congratulated for that.
One issue – down the line maybe – for outfits like Epsilon is consumer privacy. If it knows so much about all of us to be foolproof, does that mean it knows too much?
