Publicis Groupe Acquires Mars United Commerce, Creating the Industry-Leading Connected Commerce Solution

Publicis Groupe [Euronext Paris FR0000130577, CAC 40] today announces the acquisition of Mars United Commerce, the world’s largest independent commerce marketing company. With over 1,000 employees based in 14 hubs worldwide, Mars helps marketeers make their products consumers’ top choice in online and offline shopper ecosystems. 

Founded 50 years ago, Mars is renowned for its history of innovation, deep understanding of shoppers, proprietary commerce insights platform and its extensive retailer relationships. Under the leadership of its CEO Rob Rivenburgh, Mars’ proprietary technology and solutions will further scale and supercharge Publicis’ existing commerce capabilities. 

Winning in commerce, by changing shopper behavior to drive business results, is increasingly a core element of marketeers’ winning strategies. But activating in commerce has become increasingly complex, as brands must navigate a fragmented array of channels, media, technologies and data. The combination of Mars and Publicis Groupe solves for this complexity by creating the world’s leading connected commerce solution, allowing clients to plan and activate through the full marketing funnel and increase sales at the point of purchase. 

Concretely, it means that Publicis Groupe clients can now create and implement end-to-end commerce solutions that optimize:

• Strategy and Insights: Fusing the power of Epsilon’s first-person identity data with Mars United’s proprietary data on shoppers and shopping behavior will give clients 360-degree insight into purchase journeys and new opportunities to motivate shopper behavior change.   
• Media and Activation: Combining the scale of Publicis Media with Mars United’s comprehensive understanding of retail organizations – including media, marketing, merchandising and operations – will help clients win the last mile of purchase in physical and digital locations with more efficient and effective campaigns. 
• Performance and Measurement: Merging insights into ecommerce sales and operations from Publicis’ digital shelf platform Profitero, with Mars United’s data set on commerce media performance will give clients a complete view of their commerce marketing performance – online and offline – and an unmatched ability to drive brand growth. 

Rob Rivenburgh, Global CEO of Mars United, said: “Joining Publicis Groupe will help Mars realize our vision of being the preeminent global commerce company faster and more completely. We’re excited to have the support of Publicis to bring new opportunities to our existing clients and also to share our connected commerce solution with new clients around the globe. We look forward to writing the next chapter of commerce together.”

Arthur Sadoun, Publicis Groupe CEO, said: “We are delighted to be welcoming Rob and his incredible teams at Mars to Publicis Groupe. Their innovative spirit and proprietary platforms will further connect and complement our existing capabilities, to deliver industry-leading, end-to-end commerce solutions for our clients, both online and offline. With the acquisition of Influential this summer, and now Mars, Publicis is uniquely positioned to help our clients understand both existing consumers and future prospects, and connect that knowledge at an individual level to the new media channels that work hardest for their business: Connected TV, Commerce and Creators. All of this, in clients’ own ecosystems, giving them control over their customer relationships and transparency in their investments and outcomes.”