Publicis Groupe Acquires Digital Production Firm Bosz Digital

Regulatory News:

Publicis Groupe [EURONEXT Paris: FR0000130577] (Paris:PUB) today announced its acquisition of 100% of Bosz Digital SA in Costa Rica and, subject to the approval of local authorities, Bosz Digital Colombia SAS, an important, high-quality media and digital production platform in Central America that has worked closely with a number of Publicis Groupe's top digital teams in recent years. This acquisition considerably strengthens Publicis Groupe Production Platforms’ integrated and global offering.

Bosz Digital SA, which is headquartered in San José, Costa Rica, was created in 2009, and its sister company Bosz Digital Colombia SAS, which is headquartered in Bogota, in 2012. Both companies have been acquired from The Tribu Group. They have a combined staff of over 450, who provide sophisticated production and development services for Web development, software development, interactive graphic design, social and mobile, among other technical capacities. These entities offer high-quality production and are renowned for their efficiency.

Bosz Digital and Bosz Digital Colombia will be aligned with Publicis Groupe's production division. Their General Manager José Coto will report directly to Philip de Zutter, Global Chief Digital Officer of Prodigious and member of Publicis Groupe Production Platforms’ executive committee led by CEO Jean-François Valent.

This acquisition is part of Publicis Groupe’s strategy to develop as a fully integrated cross-media production platform spanning across nearly 20 locations in Europe and North America, including three centralized platforms. "Over the past years, we have increasingly invested in a variety of production technologies and strategic locations around the world”, comments Jean-François Valent, CEO of Publicis Groupe Production Platforms. "With the acquisition of Bosz, we are more than ever able to service global brands with their increasingly complex production needs across the globe.”

Publicis Groupe has been pioneering centralized and integrated production capacities first in Latam and most other parts of the world. It was the first major communications group to create a regional center of production excellence in Central America over ten years ago. These centers have focused on high-quality realization of particularly demanding digital campaigns. Some 450 people work exclusively for the Groupe at these centers, producing digital assets that are mainly destined for North American and European markets.

"We've worked with Bosz Digital and Bosz Digital Colombia for a long time, and we're consistently impressed by their high standards, commitment to innovation and sophisticated grasp of the newest and smartest technology," commented Jean-Yves Naouri, COO of Publicis Groupe. "Integrating the Bosz teams into our Groupe will enable us to extend their high-level services to even more agencies in the Groupe and clients. Our intention is to continue expanding a global platform to serve all key markets of the world."

He continued, "Sharing this platform is a strategy that cuts costs and boosts our collective expertise and agency agility, as well as speed of integration for new agencies that we acquire. It makes sense for clients and brings the world's best cutting-edge talent to the whole Groupe."

The mission of the companies that make up Publicis Groupe's Production Platforms is to help global brands produce and deliver their messages across the planet by bringing to life creative concepts efficiently as they enter production. Production Platforms are a cross-media and global operation that deploys brand campaigns across any channel, worldwide. They are technologically driven and able to design and implement enhanced processes in constant search of cost optimization and efficiencies without compromising creativity.

Our full integration of Bosz will continue to extend the agency capabilities to enable the agency brands to effectively compete in the global marketplace.

About Publicis Groupe

Publicis Groupe [Euronext Paris FR0000130577, CAC 40] is one of the world’s leading communications groups. We offer the full range of services and skills: digital (DigitasLBi, Razorfish, Rosetta, VivaKi), creative services (BBH, Leo Burnett, Publicis Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi), public affairs, corporate communications and events (MSLGROUP), media strategy, planning and buying (Starcom MediaVest Group and ZenithOptimedia) and healthcare communications, with Publicis Healthcare Communications Group (PHCG). Present in 108 countries, the Groupe employs 58,000 professionals.

www.publicisgroupe.com | Twitter:@PublicisGroupe | Facebook: www.facebook.com/publicisgroupe

Viva la Difference !

About Publicis Groupe's Production Platforms

Publicis Groupe's Production Platforms design, produce and deliver brand content across all channels, using the best tools and workflow processes. The result? Seamless global brand execution across all markets without compromising creative quality. Following the acquisition of Bosz Digital and Bosz Digital Columbia, Publicis Groupe Production Platforms boast 1,500 employees in nearly 20 locations across Europe and North America including three offshore platforms in Costa Rica, Colombia and Mauritius. They build their reputation on five pillars: cross-media campaign implementation, global presence, enhanced process design and deployment, cost optimization and uncompromised creativity. Citibank, Coca Cola, L’Oréal, Renault or Sanofi are amongst their global clients.