Publicis Groupe launches "Denuo"
Publicis Groupe announced the launch of Denuo, a new strategic initiative designed to anticipate and exploit the rapidly changing digital, interactive and mobile communication environment. Denuo is a stand-alone business -- but is not based on any pre-existing industry model. Denuo's model rests on three pillars, and will function simultaneously as a strategic consultant, an inventor of solutions and as an investor in partnerships. The unprecedented new venture ["denuo" = 'afresh', 'anew' in Latin] will be led by Rishad Tobaccowala, chief innovation officer of Publicis Groupe Media (PGM).
As PGM Chairman/CEO Jack Klues tells us in a OneOnOne interview for the March issue of RBR/TVBR Solutions Magazine, Tobaccowala is a highly-valued member of the PGM team. He may have hinted at Denuo's launch: "I think [Tobaccowala] is brilliant in his perceptions of the future media behaviors and the like. He said to me years ago, and we've been often toying with how to get at this project, but it's like 'MRI reverse engineering.' MRI is about people reporting their product consumption and then they also have some media habits. But you kind of use MRI to determine some of your targeting and your media selection based upon reporting of your heavy user, light user, etc. What if you could start better defining people, where the targeting was lead by their media behavior versus their product consumption? So as media options become more abundant to you and me as consumers, therefore you should be able to better understand and distinguish Carl from Jack. I think it's possible and what I've always been impressed with is that it wasn't me thinking that three or four years ago, it was one of my guys."
Indeed, Tobaccowala was identified by Business Week as one of the top business leaders in 2005, and by TIME magazine as a key "Marketing Innovator."
Denuo, with offices in Chicago and New York, will report to Klues. As a Groupe company it will function as a 'plug-and-play' unit working alongside Groupe networks and brands to enrich marketing and communication options for clients. Denuo will also be actively working with new clients and companies. Denuo principals are already engaged in ongoing work with GM, Coca-Cola, and others. The company is also venturing with a variety of start-ups including Brightcove, an open Internet TV service, and Shadow TV, a streaming video service that provides all-digital access to live and archived television content via the web.
Its three core activities are:
Strategic Consulting: Denuo delivers foresight and strategic direction which can give clients a prescriptive advantage as they identify marketing touchpoints of the future. Denuo will also align with media owners, new media developers, technology companies and other content creators/owners, to advise them on developing strategic opportunities for their clients.
Ventures and partnerships: Denuo aims to partner with new companies and individuals who are inventing future pathways to elusive consumers. By so doing, Denuo earns first-mover rights for clients in these ventures. The team is also partnering with some of the key venture capital firms working in new media to help them decide how to invest, develop the companies they invest in, and market the products to clients.
Catalyst and activation: A primary focus of Denuo will be to prepare clients for the activation phase of their marketing plans, and to liaise with other Publicis Groupe companies to get the ideas executed. They will leverage their relationships, insights and expertise across all facets (new technology, distribution, creative, etc.) to marry media, marketing and technology. As it did with Play, the PGM gaming practice, and Reverb, the word of mouth discipline, Denuo will secure talent and develop capabilities that will allow clients to effectively market on new platforms.
Tobaccowala and Klues have hand-picked a group of 15 entrepreneurial partners, some of whom have launched successful SMG Next practices during the past three years. They are also fortifying Denuo with the addition of Nick Pahade, formerly president of WPP's Beyond Interactive and managing director of Media:com digital.
At Beyond, which he left in December, Pahade was integral in leading the agency and creating global digital marketing solutions for clients including Reebok, Cendant, Nokia, GlaxoSmithKline, Masterfoods and Western Union. He is a recognized industry leader on emerging digital media, and joins Denuo as president.
Among those also joining Denuo are the founding members of PGM's online and video game unit Play: Tim Harris and PJ MacGregor. Tom Tercek, founder of SMG Access; Courtney Jane Acuff, founder of Digits wireless; and Dan Buczaczer founder of word-of-mouth shop Reverb, also join the DeNuo team. The partnership also includes Scott Witt, digital group director at MediaVest; and Christian Kugel, who was previously a director at market research company Millward Brown.
Tim Hanlon, who launched TV 2.0 at Starcom as well as the ventures practice at PGM, is a key partner who has been actively pursuing collaboration and alignment with emerging companies and VCs for the past several months. As a result of these initiatives, he was named to the Brightcove Advisory Board in 2005.
TVBR note: Thursday 3/2 at the AAAAs, be sure to catch a special panel on "The Shape of the Modern Media Organization," If you miss it, we'll be there reporting on it. Klues is a panelist, along with • Irwin Gotlieb, GroupM CEO, Mark Rosenthal, Interpublic Group, Charlie Rutman, MPG North America CEO; Joe Uva, OMD CEO and David Verklin, Carat Americas CEO
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