After recently asking if Publicis has gotten too big, we learned this week that it just got a little bigger. The company announced the acquisition of commerce marketing firm Mars United Commerce (formerly the Mars Agency), whose intelligence platform is hoped to round out Publicis’ analytics arsenal.
As background, the 1000-employee Mars United Commerce is the world’s largest independent commerce marketing play (though perhaps not independent anymore). This includes shopper intelligence and retail consulting for more than 100 consumer brands such as Samsung and Wamart.
That last part could be worthwhile for Publicis, as it has seen some attrition to its client list. But the primary reason for the acquisition likely has more to do with the product and its integration into Publicis’ own expanding digital marketing product lines; and the first-party tools that it can offer its clients.
In that sense, this could be a strong attribution play that gives Publicis a more comprehensive view of consumer behavior. And when it comes to behavioral data, the key term was noted above: first-party. Having it in-house could unlock considerable value for Publicis’ ability to track marketing performance.
Purchase Path
Going deeper into the attribution angle, end-to-end tracking has gained considerable value over the past decade. Besides the need for first-party data – a function of all the privacy reform – the media landscape has also fragmented, making it more difficult than ever to attribute marketing performance.
In other words, given the growth in social commerce, streaming video, and several other media sources, attributing a given brand’s sales to a specific aspect of its owned and earned media mix is increasingly difficult. Was it their organic TikTok activity, paid search, or some other effort that boosted sales?
Mars Commerce United is hoped to deepen that capability, given its lower-funnel analytics platform. But it’s not just the value it offers on its own. Publicis could infuse the software with its own identity data platform Epsilon, which it acquired in 2019 for $4 billion. The two together could be powerful.
For example, it could combine data on point-of-sale activity (via Mars) with identity data (via Epsilon). That could close the loop on greater levels of confidence in attributing sales lifts for its clients. In fairness, it should be specified that Epsilon data is aggregated and anonymized for privacy compliance.
Other synergies could come from Publicis’ Profitero, which it acquired in 2022. Like Mars United Commerce, it holds valuable data about retail point-of-sale activity. Presumably, this is non-overlapping data, so that Mars and Profitero can be combined for a more comprehensive view of the purchase path.
Publicis Propels the Influencer Economy with Influential Acquisition
Shopping Spree
Back to the part about being too big, we recently examined how Publicis’ technology acquisitions created a bit of a conflict for its customers. Because these acquirees serve agencies, those agencies would then be doing business with a competitor, given that Publicis itself has a core agency business.
That angle occurred to us when hearing the news of Mars’ acquisition, given that it falls into the same boat. So the question is if Mars (and thus Publicis’) customer list will shrink in the wake of this acquisition. Presumably, Publicis did the proper risk management and vetting before jumping in.
This week’s news also comes on the heels of another big acquisition. As we examined last month, Publicis acquired Influential for an estimated $500 million to beef up its influencer marketing capabilities. That acquisition likewise boosted Publicis’ overall portfolio and continued an ongoing shopping spree.
Speaking of deal sizes, terms weren’t disclosed for the Mars United Commerce transaction, but The Wall Street Journal reports it was around $600 million. That’s a lot of guacamole. We’ll keep watching to see if this, and the previous Influential acquisition, move the needle for Publicis and its expanding business.
