Paris Spotlight: Olivier Altmann

Olivier Altmann, global creative director of the Publicis Group, talks about politics, economics, and poking fun at the competition

What’s the mood like in the French ad industry currently?

We’re a bit nervous about what could happen in 2012 and the possibility of a recession. Advertisers are very cautious; not increasing their budgets, asking for more effort from their advertising agencies. We’re entering a grey zone. We don’t know if it’ll be quite short, because after the French election there’s the Euro 2012 and the Olympics, it’ll be summer so people will be fed up with being pessimistic, so the second semester might be more shiny. Or we will enter one, two or three years of a depressing climate.

How could this uncertainty affect creativity?

I don’t see this affecting the creative product too much because sometimes the smart advertisers will ask for more and more impactful campaigns because they know that they cannot afford to spend money without being noticed. It does affect the creative process in terms of timing because it means that we have to adapt very quickly. It’s not surprising to have an emergency meeting on a Monday: ‘we need to find a campaign for Thursday or Friday because this competitor has something new on the table’.

Are French clients brave?

On the web, yes. They always understand that on the web it’s a different game with different rules. They want to look cool and do something fresh so they’re a bit brave. On TV or poster they are more cautious because they don’t want their CEO to get in trouble over a campaign. In France we have so many big companies that are related in one way or another to the government, so you don’t want to screw your reputation at the moment [before the election]. If you’re not a Richard Branson or the new Steve Jobs, you mostly want to maintain a low profile for the next three or four months.

Has France caught up with other markets in terms of its digital output?

I don’t think we have an inferiority complex anymore. I think the creatives are really starting to embrace it. But it’s still really rare to see an advertiser put all of his money in digital to launch a product or brand. It’s still more of an additional channel than a central channel. We are all trying to do great digital stuff, but sometimes what happens is that we have the technical resources and the people, but we don’t necessarily always have the time and money to do something really big. That’s what separates us from the US. We don’t tend to speak so much anymore about a big idea, but more about a small idea with a big buzz.

Which French campaign has stood out for you in the last 12 months?

We [Publicis Conseil] did an ad for Renault this year which is a parody of an old ad for Opel. It’s a long time in France since anyone did this without being sued. Opel reacted by putting an ad in the newspaper which said something along the lines of, “some advertisements look like Opel advertising. Don’t be fooled”. It was right at the time when Sarkozy and Merkel were having the debate about saving Europe so it has a sort of resonance with the French/German economical relationship. It was funny to see two big advertisers making fun of each other.