UPDATE: Google,Publicis To Meet Again In Coming Weeks -Source
Tuesday January 22nd, 2008 / 18h14
PARIS -(Dow Jones)- Leadership teams from French advertising agency Publicis Groupe (PUBGY) and U.S. Internet giant Google (GOOG) will be meeting over the coming weeks to find ways to strengthen their collaboration through a variety of joint initiatives, including talent exchange and training, a source close to the company said Tuesday, citing an internal document. Google has already established a dedicated account team for Publicis group, the first of its kind with a global advertising group, and Publicis has been given access to various early-stage advertising technologies, the source said, citing the internal document. Publicis said earlier Tuesday that its chief executive Maurice Levy held informal meetings with Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt at its Paris headquarters as to how new technologies could be used to improve advertising. Publicis's collaboration with Google comes at a time when relations between the search engine giant and some of the world's largest agency networks have become increasingly fraught. Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP Group PLC (WPPGY), has previously said his agency is Google's largest customer for internet-based search advertising, but has raised concerns about Google's purchase of Doubleclick, an online advertising company. "There's a question over whether our clients want their data on advertising to be made available to Google," Sorrell told Dow Jones Newswires last year. Google's $3.1 billion acquisition of Doubleclick was earlier this year cleared by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, but is still awaiting clearance by E.U. antitrust regulators -By Laetitia Bachelot-Fontaine and Jessica Hodgson, Dow Jones Newswires; +33 (0)1 40 17 17 40; laetitia.bachelot-fontaine@dowjones.com
