IPG reported that its PR and experiential agency group experienced 1.2% organic growth during the third quarter of this year. This growth was primarily driven by ?Ç£very strong growth?Ç¥ at the sports and entertainment marketing group Octagon, along with ?Ç£continued growth?Ç¥ in public relations at Weber Shandwick and Golin.The Weber Shandwick Collective achieved ?Ç£solid?Ç¥ single-digit growth during the quarter, with strong performances in North America and LATAM. Key quarterly highlights included securing new partnerships with Primark, The Aspen Group, and clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Bicycle Therapeutics. Additionally, the network collaborated with United Way Worldwide to launch its new brand strategy and was awarded the PR and social media accounts for gaming company Tombola.Golin also saw ?Ç£good growth?Ç¥ across its practice groups, particularly in influencer marketing, content creation, and social media. The agency continued to invest in talent, adding a new executive to lead global AI learning, who will focus on designing, developing, and delivering multimodal AI training programs for Golin's employees worldwide.Although the PR group's performance in Q3 was slightly lower than in Q2 (1.3% revenue increase) and Q1 (1.5% revenue increase), it continued its growth streak, which has lasted for more than two years since the onset of the Covid pandemic. The group?ÇÖs performance was also lower than recent quarters, such as Q4 2023 (2.9% growth) and Q3 2023 (6.5% growth).IPG as a whole saw net revenue decline by 2.9% to $2.63 billion in Q3, with flat organic growth compared to Q3 2023. Over the first nine months of 2024, IPG's net revenue was $6.75 billion, a 0.9% decrease from the same period in 2023, while organic revenue growth was 1% year-over-year.IPG CEO Philippe Krakowsky commented: ?Ç£Net revenue in the third quarter was unchanged organically from the same period a year ago, which brings organic growth over the first nine months of this year to 1.0%. During the quarter, we saw solid contributions to growth from media services, sports marketing, data management, and public relations. Our adjusted EBITA margin was 17.2%, underscoring continued operating discipline as we continue our enterprise-wide investments in growth and business transformation."He added, ?Ç£Third-quarter results include non-cash goodwill impairment expense of $232 million related to our digital specialist agencies and progress with the strategic sales process for R/GA and Huge."Krakowsky also highlighted the ongoing evolution of IPG's offerings and organizational structure, stating, ?Ç£The launch of Interact marks the next evolution of our marketing intelligence engine, which integrates data flows across the campaign lifecycle and consumer journey. This core technology connects our entire portfolio, from brand research and audience insights to creative ideation, production, commerce, and personalized CRM programs through the use of generative AI. It also powers media activation and optimization, including earned and owned channels, delivering better marketing results across media channels and touchpoints for our clients, in real time.?Ç¥Looking ahead, he noted, ?Ç£We are seeing a strong new business pipeline for both Q4 activity and longer-term AOR opportunities, and we remain focused on achieving organic growth of approximately 1% this year. At that level, we continue to target adjusted EBITA margin of 16.6%. Our long-standing commitment to capital returns remains an important priority and our strong balance sheet provides a solid foundation from which to continue to evolve our offerings and the solutions we provide for marketers.?Ç¥
