RIYADH: Advertising and media companies have been among the businesses hardest hit by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic due to clients’ ad budgets being slashed.
As a result, firms have had to take drastic measures to survive including downsizing, restructuring, and cutting employees’ salaries.
At the beginning of last year, around 6,000 managers at Publicis Groupe took voluntary wage cuts and were faced with new objectives for the rest of the year.
Now, after a successful fourth quarter in 2020, the multinational advertising and public relations group has announced that it is reimbursing all voluntary pay reductions.
“Returning the salary cuts to the Publicis Groupe talents who were affected by this measure, illustrates that our talents will always come first and are considered to be our most valuable asset,” Raja Trad, chairman of Publicis Groupe in the Middle East and North Africa region, told Arab News.
The company gained market share by growing with its top 200 clients by 1.8 percent and recorded new business wins including Kraft Heinz, Reckitt Benckiser, Pfizer, Visa, L’Oreal in China, TikTok, and Sephora.
Arthur Sadoun, chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe, said: “We outperformed the industry average in this year of exceptional crises by delivering a published growth of minus 0.9 percent in 2020 and organic growth at minus 6.3 percent for the year, with a Q4 ahead of market and our expectations at minus 3.9 percent.
“Thanks to the collective and extraordinary performance of our people in these difficult times, we have been able to post results that are above industry averages, allowing us to repay the salary sacrifice and set aside a higher bonus pool to fairly reward and recognize our teams,” he added.
