A communications group that has had mission-driven company status for 18 months, dentsu France has validated its first audit and intends to accelerate its statutory objectives linked to its social and environmental responsibility. Update with Pierre Calmard, CEO of dentsu France.
dentsu France, a company with a mission for 18 months, has just validated its first control audit. Does this strengthen you in the market?
Of course, this strengthens us in various ways. On the one hand, because there is a official validation by an independent body which really validates what we have done and undertaken for two years now. And it’s always better in life to be in actions more than in words. Then, it strengthens us with our own talents, who are very committed to this whole process. That strengthens the attachment of our employees to the company. In our businesses, we rely on men and women and therefore the happier my teams are to be where they are, the more motivated they are, the more meaningful they are about their work and the better they work for our clients. Finally, with regard to the market, it is also very important because we are in quite turbulent times at the geopolitical level. And then, we have extremely strong environmental and societal imperatives which are well anchored in the minds of the new generation and many consumers. Advertising doesn’t really get a good press in this context. It is high time to change advertising and move towards this “post-advertising” world which consists of producing more responsible advertising, having meaning and based on the virtues which were its initial foundation.
What is the message to the brands who consult you? Does this support the sincerity of your approach?
Yes because indeed, as soon as we take steps that are in this societal, environmental logic, and even more in communication, we are immediately suspect. The word greenwashing is never far away… However, the obligations linked to our status allow us to avoid this intentional trial. And above all, it allows us to get into concrete actions, far from declarations of intent. Because in my opinion this is what is sorely lacking in many areas of our economy in France and in particular in our sector. Indeed, I note that dentsu France is still the one and only communications group to have adopted this mission-driven company status in France.
Sustaining an impactful advertising model for a communications group, what does this imply in concrete terms?
Our mission is to design communication as a vector of social and environmental harmony. It is still a strong choice which consists of not acting with the sole aim of selling products even if this is obviously not in contradiction with the primary logic of advertising and doing business. We encourage our customers to develop products and services that are increasingly consistent with this requirement. Moreover, this follows the fundamental movement of consumers who are moving towards more responsible brands. The future is here.
Are your recommendations followed by your clients? In other words, is the market more mature on these subjects?
Yes and no. When dentsu France became a mission company, many people thought that I was taking a risk for my business but all our customers encouraged us to take the approach. The downside is that our customers, just like our competitors, for some, have difficulty moving from words to action. And this is where we have a role to play. For example, for more than two years we have been encouraging advertisers to measure the carbon footprint of their advertising campaigns and optimize it over time. But in fact, theReluctance is still very strong, on the French market as well as globally.
Why so much reluctance?
Engaging in an approach like this adds a system of constraints in a country which is already crumbling under constraints, not to mention the Sapin law in our sector… the second obstacle is the Danone case law. The first large group to become a mission company saw its president dismissed six months later. Even if we shouldn’t take shortcuts… it made an impression.
What examples of advertising campaigns can you cite illustrating this commitment over the last 18 months?
Yes, many campaigns are iconic. For Groupamadentsu carried out a campaign on lifesaving actions by appearing in the world of video games and on Twitch. This is a target that is absolutely not natural for Groupama. This is a very important societal issue to raise awareness among younger generations of actions that can save lives. This advertiser agreed to preempt completely uncharted territory. This communication was extremely well relayed, impactful, innovative, and from a societal point of view, very interesting. Another example, internationally. The campaign « Piece of Me » pour KPN, a telephone operator in Holland, which focused on school bullying. They took the subject head on by recognizing a part of responsibility. They accompanied their spot with a song which became a hit in the Netherlands with so much response that a law was passed in the Dutch Parliament requiring telephone operators to have a form of control. This has a direct impact on society. These are the types of campaigns that need to be multiplied to change things in the long term. And it’s more and more the responsibility of advertisers.
And in the automotive sector?
This sector illustrates the fact that very often the market moves faster than the legislators. Our client BMW has not campaigned for thermal vehicles for a long time. They have far anticipated the legislation and I find that from time to time, the market does its job, collective intelligence does its job and that is why we need communication agencies which are companies with a mission to push responsible campaigns.
dentsu France renews its status as a mission company. What are your goals for the next two years?
We are going to accelerate our three statutory objectives, namely help make communication more responsible by helping our customers and partners to decarbonize all of their systems. We will continue to encourage all the most ecological solutions possible. The second point is the promoting diversity and inclusion. For a long time, the advertising sector has been caricatured (notably the ads to sell cars in the 80s) but I think that advertising can contribute positively to changing mentalities. I believe in the power of advertising. Like the very first Benetton campaigns which made certain minorities visible. dentsu France has launched its own employer brand advertising for recruitment and we are highlighting disability situations, etc. Advertising works. Our third objective is to give each employee the means to contribute to change in our professions on their own scale. Our management style is modern. A committee, outside of the management bodies, allows other things to emerge beyond the ten or so people who control the company and who only listen to themselves. We need to channel the inspiration that comes from employees. It is a philosophy, a system of governance that every company should adopt.
Having been a mission-driven company for 18 months, in terms of business for the group, what has that generated in terms of incremental turnover?
It’s complicated to give a precise figure, but I see that we end the year 2024 with growth of over 15% in the media section. This is almost three times the evolution of the market. In other words, our clients’ media investments are growing three times faster than the rest of the market. dentsu France is the fastest growing communications group. So I say to myself that somewhere, we weren’t too wrong and that the impact is rather positive.
You are part of an international, Japanese group. How are you perceived, French entity, there?
I expected to have all the trouble in the world explaining to the Japanese the benefit of a mission society status. But, they gave me their agreement very quickly, because precisely, it’s quite amusing, but there is a strong cultural proximity between France and Japan, and I scandalously used the concept of harmony to explain precisely this logic of a company with a mission. There is a very strong correlation between the status we adopted in France and dentsu’s global strategy, which is imbued with the need to have an impact on society. France was the first country in the group to adopt such a status in the world. We are followed by Italy and soon Spain.
Source: www.e-marketing.fr
