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Levy on the model for greater success

“Creating value for our clients should not be any more measured or paid by hourly fees. This is the most inadequate measurement.”

“As long as there are weak links in our price we dump the value of what we sell, and it will be hard for healthy companies to sell the right value.”

“Vivaki is one of the solutions to get to the future; there will be others.”

Lévy: marketshare gain in downturn

the same time,” he says, and the group was focused on integrating bCom3 and dismantling Darcy at the time. When discussing the group’s

relationship with Microsoft, Lévy disagrees with WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell on the idea of “frenemies”. “That analysis is wrong. It is based

on pure technology and forgetting the most important aspect of IQ + EQ,” he says, referring to his formula for how agencies can best serve clients and always deliver more than the technology pure plays: IQ (intelligence, insight) + TQ (technology) + EQ (emotion). He also refuses to call what he is doing as

RESULTS FROM THE TOP FOUR AGENCIES

GROUP WPP

-8%

Omnicom $11.7bn €4.5bn

Publicis Interpublic $6.03bn

www.mandmglobal.com

-12.3% -6.5%

-10.8%

Source: Holding group financial statements

REVENUE GROWTH OPERATING MARGIN £8.7bn

11.7% 12.6% 15% 5.7%

“investing” in digital. “It is relatively easy to make an investment and more complicated to shift minds,” he explains. He is seeking a model best described as the “human digital agency” or “digital with the human touch”. “Vivaki [the group’s digital hub and

its research initiative The Pool] is one of the solutions to get to the future; there will be others. It is clearly a combination of great understanding of the issues, bringing intellectual solutions and using technology for what it brings.” Aligning traditional agencies and digital technologists is still one of his biggest challenges. “Most important is the cultural aspect of the people,” he explains. “Digital is a world of entrepreneurs, who have a belief they can change the world. Their culture isn’t just about making money, it’s a question of freedom. It is difficult for them to live in a world of constraints. It’s not like we are leaving the wife for a new, younger

model, but we need to try to satisfy the ambitions of the people who want to change things.” Just as important is the fact that Lévy is not viewing this as a one-way street. He doesn’t just want the digital experts to flourish within his company; instead he talks about needing to reinvent the way to compensate all his 45,000 employees. “I need people to feel like they own what they do, that they can make real money, that they can be an entrepreneur,” he says. That’s easier for a start-up than for

a large advertising group, which needs to balance a high burden of cost with the ability to reward, but this is why investors will choose technology over marketing services time and again. If you ask anyone who is more likely

to innovate, or to ride the next big thing, they’d place their bets on technology companies. Lévy is looking to change that, one step at a time. ○

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