Talk about a poker face. On Tuesday morning, at a session of the UBS 40th annual global media and communications conference in Midtown Manhattan, Jean-Michel Etienne, chief financial officer of the Publicis Groupe, spoke frequently about his company's many acquisitions.
Mr. Etienne listed the deals that the Publicis Groupe - the world's third-largest advertising holding group by revenue - Â made in the third quarter; discussed the pending acquisition of the giant LBi digital agency; and talked about the 70 acquisitions that the company made from January 2007 through December 2011.
About three hours after he finished his presentation, reporters received in their e-mail in-boxes a news release about another Publicis Groupe acquisition. It was not brought up by Mr. Etienne - not even in a hint.
The agency is AR New York, a well-regarded shop that specializes in working for marketers in fashion, beauty and luxury goods. AR New York was founded in 1996 and wor ks for, or has worked for, brands that include Asprey, Brioni, Dolce & Gabbana, Neiman Marcus, the St. Regis Hotels and Resorts, Valentino and Versace.
The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
AR New York, which has about 50 employees, will operate as an autonomous unit of the Publicis Worldwide division of the Publicis Groupe. Other agencies within Publicis Worldwide also specialize in luxury goods, beauty and fashion, among them Publicis et Nous and Publicis 133, both based in Paris.
The senior executives of AR New York will remain in charge of the agency, among them Dianne desRoches, chief executive, and Raul Martinez, chief creative officer. They will report to Jean-Yves Naouri, executive chairman at Publicis Worldwide and chief operating officer at the Publicis Groupe.
One reason the Publicis Groupe has been so acquisitive in recent years emerged from Mr. Etienne's response to a question during his presentation. In running the 70 agencies that the company bought from 2007 through last year, he said, the Publicis Groupe was able to increase their operating margins to 17.3 percent from 11 percent.
The Publicis Groupe, which is also based in Paris, comes after WPP and the Omnicom Group in the ranks of the world's largest agency holding companies. Among the other holdings of the Publicis Groupe are Bartle Bogle Hegarty, Leo Burnett Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi, the Starcom MediaVest Group and the ZenithOptimedia Group.
Stuart Elliott has been the advertising columnist at The New York Times since 1991. Follow @stuartenyt on Twitter and sign up for In Advertising, his weekly e-mail newsletter.
