Publicis Groupe Acquires Mars United Commerce

Publicis Groupe has entered into an agreement to buy Mars United Commerce, one of the largest independent agencies specializing in retail media. According to Publicis, the acquisition of Mars United Commerce will help brands through all aspects of retail media, from planning, buying ads, and tracking sales from campaigns. Mars United Commerce works with more than 100 clients, primarily brands that spend budgets with retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Target. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Led by global CEO Rob Rivenburgh, Mars United Commerce’s 1,000 employees will join Publicis, according to Mars United Commerce. In a statement, Publicis said that Mars United Commerce’s “proprietary technology and solutions” will help grow the holding company’s commerce services. “Their innovative spirit and proprietary platforms will further connect and complement our existing capabilities to deliver industry-leading, end-to-end commerce solutions for our clients, both online and offline,” Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun said in a statement. Cracking into shopper money Mars United Commerce is one of the oldest retail marketing firms and is particularly known for handling so-called shopper and trade marketing budgets. Most retail media ad dollars come from these budgets, where brands agree to pay retailers for advertising in exchange for selling their products in stores. In addition to ad buying, the agency offers consumer and shopping insights for brands. Mars United Commerce also helps retailers like 7-Eleven build ad networks. Retail media is one of the fastest-growing sectors, with eMarketer forecasting that advertisers will spend $140 billion this year. Capturing retail dollars In July, Publicis agreed to acquire marketing firm Influential to power influencer campaigns for brands. Publicis’ Sadoun said in a statement that the combined acquisitions of Influential and Mars United Commerce will help advertisers reach consumers on new platforms. “Publicis is uniquely positioned to help our clients understand both existing consumers and future prospects and connect that knowledge at an individual level to the new media channels that work hardest for their business: connected TV, commerce, and creators,” he said. “All of this, in clients’ own ecosystems, giving them control over their customer relationships and transparency in their investments and outcomes.” As more retailers roll out ad businesses, it’s increasingly difficult for brands to buy and measure ads across multiple retailers. Retailers are also vying for bigger national ad budgets and are increasingly pitching themselves as alternatives for social media, TV, and digital ad dollars. However, one of the challenges for brands is that their retail media budgets are largely siloed from other budgets. Retail media budgets are set by larger distribution deals called joint business plans that detail how much brands will spend on advertising based on how many products a retailer guarantees to sell. All of Publicis Groupe's agencies will be able to use United Mars Commerce’s expertise and services. Mars United Commerce’s strategy and insights will be combined with Epsilon, Publicis’ data and technology arm that contains first-party data. Epsilon has been a bright spot for Publicis and invested in retail media through the 2021 acquisition of CitrusAd. Publicis’ data and technology arm also powers the ad businesses of retailers like Ahold Delhaizze and competes with adtech giants Criteo and Microsoft. Mars United Commerce’s performance and measurement tools will be combined with Profitero, an ecommerce software firm Publicis acquired in 2022. Agencies are doubling down on retail Publicis is the latest holding company to invest in retail media. Omnicom acquired retail agency Flywheel Digital, formerly part of the digital commerce arm of Ascential, for $835 million in 2023. Dentsu, WPP, and IPG have also built out commerce expertise and tools internally to service the growing amount of ad budgets that are going towards retailers and other commerce-enabled ad platforms from companies like Uber and JPMorgan Chase.

Agencies

Publicis Groupe to Acquire Retail Media Agency Mars United Commerce

The agency has deep roots in traditional shopper marketing

Lauren Johnson

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