Annette King to be appointed to the newly created role of CEO of Publicis Groupe UK

Publicis Groupe [Euronext Paris: FR0000130577, CAC 40] announces today that Annette King will be appointed CEO of the UK for Publicis Groupe. This news comes in the context of Publicis Groupe’s transformation which began eighteen months ago and led to The Power of One – breaking down silos across expertise and putting the Groupe’s clients at the core in order to provide them with solutions that best fit their needs. This approach is already starting to gather momentum, with positive impact like the win of P&G’s UK media business, where the Groupe’s experts from across media, creative, digital and tech worked together seamlessly to win this important pitch.

The UK is the second market to implement a country leadership team after Agathe Bousquet’s nomination as CEO of Publicis Groupe France in April 2017. This marks the start of a country leadership model for Publicis Groupe’s activities in the UK. Annette will report directly to Arthur Sadoun, Chairman & CEO of Publicis Groupe and will join the Management Committee.

In her role as CEO of Publicis Groupe UK, Annette will oversee all of Publicis Groupe‘s operations in the market, from Publicis Communications, to Publicis Media, Publicis.Sapient and Publicis Health. She will be responsible for ensuring that the Groupe brings to life its vision of being its clients’ indispensable partner in their transformation. To do this, Annette will work closely with the UK leadership team to drive greater integration across Publicis Groupe’s capabilities, transform its  relationship with existing clients, win the trust of new ones and of course cultivate and attract the best talent across its agencies and disciplines. In this endeavour, Annette can count on the help of Steve King who agreed to act as Executive Sponsor and who as a member of the Publicis Groupe Directoire and CEO of Publicis Media globally has been actively involved in her recruitment process and helped kick-start the model in the UK.

Annette will come to Publicis Groupe from the Ogilvy Group (WPP) where she worked for seventeen years, in eight different roles, ranging from client lead on American Express across EMEA to Managing Director for Ogilvy Interactive and from New Business Director for OgilvyOne to her latest role as CEO of Ogilvy Group in the UK.

"Annette is one of the industry’s most recognized leaders thank to her ability to inspire her teams, create real bonds of trust with her clients and win the respect of even her fiercest competitors. Her wealth of expertise and experience make her the right person to leverage Publicis Groupe’s unique assets in the UK to drive transformative solutions at the service of our clients", said Arthur Sadoun, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe.