OMC
#Sure.
First of all, we're not ready to talk about what our objectives are for 2017.
We're very pleased with these wins, but they'll only be a component part of how the whole Company performs.
And we have to go through a very bottoms-up profit planning process between now and the end of the year, that is traditional in the Company.
But you would always rather win a client, a new piece of business, because that makes that process easier as you move forward.
With respect to McDonald's, the McDonald's contract, which I won't go into in detail, will be profitable.
And whatever a competitor says, they have said.
Our goals and objectives in that contract, which get us paid, are perfectly aligned with how we can impact the business and with their management's goals and objectives.
So we have a high degree in confidence about what we'll be able to achieve.
Yes, I think one other comment on the wins.
So while we do have some work to do in terms of our planning process, to get a better handle on the actual numbers, in terms of the impact as we look at 2017, certainly we look at the wins as bigger in the perspective that Hearts & Science really has a big strong base now, in addition to P&G.
And PHD as a network, with the global Volkswagen win, certainly has more heft than many of the markets where they were a smaller player in the past.
So as far as our media networks go, we feel really good that we've got three very strong platforms to grow off.
And I think the other comment, <UNK> had touched on this earlier, the investments we made in our data analytics business, you're really seeing them come to bear some fruit, especially when you look at some of these more recent wins.
So we think the benefits to the foundation for growth in the future are as important, if not more important, than the actual revenues that the first few client wins here that we've had will give us in 2017.
Just echoing that for a second, during the quarter we didn't speak about it, Hearts & Science, in addition to the US and Canada, they launched in the UK.
They're currently pitching for business in Germany.
And with the AT&T win, Hearts & Science was opened in Mexico.
So there you have a network that really is a year old, that's won the one and two largest ---+ the first and second largest advertisers in the US, as a base.
And we're starting to expand and win business in other markets.
And what <UNK> said about PHD is important.
We've had PHD for a very long time, and it was pretty much Anglo-based in Northern Europe and the US.
With the Volkswagen win, that allows us to compete in many more markets and fills out ---+ that was the one thing that company actually needed.
And so we're expecting more opportunities to win business through both of those vehicles as we move forward.
The other thing, which is an intangible but a terribly important one, is the way that we've won businesses, these accounts that we've won.
The level of collaboration and coordination was second to none.
And I can't say that enough.
We work very hard at that, culturally, within Omnicom, and always have.
But this was, I'd have to say, the first time where I saw it payout in big, tangible, real wins.
So I'm very bullish with regard to all these positive signs, and what we might expect as we move forward as a result of the strength that we've built.
Sure.
Well, the programmatic business, as you know, is continuing to evolve, and has been evolving pretty rapidly for the last, I'd say, two years, maybe a little bit more.
It's all based upon ROI at the end of the day, and effective targeting of audiences through programmatic.
What we've done is, we can offer clients a bundled product which has certain guarantees, and they know the price that they're going to pay and what they're expecting to get out of it.
And we also, through the three media groups that you talked about, are quite able to offer them unbundled products, where they do have a level of transparency.
It depends upon what the client's objectives are, and how well ---+ what their preference really is.
But we're capable and willing and able to offer both solutions, or either solution, to the brands that we serve.
And the clients, they all have different objectives.
So one model might meet certain clients' objectives and a more disclosed model, other clients.
So I think there's a lot more choice associated than the headlines would lead you to believe.
And the biggest question, I think, is one that was alluded to earlier, which is really, ultimately, what measurement is going to be used, and is the client getting the value that they've signed up for.
And what is true and it's always been true is, if you're providing the service, you can't grade your own homework.
Yes, I'll start.
I think that is certainly our expectation, yes.
I think from a timing perspective, we're probably close.
The group has been operating now ---+ it's still relatively young, a couple quarters, in reality.
What helped in the third quarter was, last year in 2015, the relative comp was pretty easy for PR.
So we're happy that they showed some organic growth this quarter.
We certainly think that having the group together, in addition to taking advantage of some operational efficiencies and back-office efficiencies, they're going to be able to use the group as a growth driver going forward.
And I think we expect that to continue on into the future.
Is the third quarter a trend.
We certainly expect that the business will continue to perform well.
What the growth rate will be, we'll see, but we're pretty optimistic and happy with things so far.
Sure.
And I'd only echo, in the near term, we're very happy with the management.
We know what we're trying to accomplish, and we think we have the right people to do it.
And all that's been very positive.
When we look at our PR profile throughout the world, we are going to make, in some of the small markets where we have operations, be making changes which might in any one quarter effect that quarter's revenue.
But we'll become stronger in those markets as a result of the moves that we make.
So as you look to 2017 and beyond, we're very happy with our PR assets, and very, very pleased with them.
I think we have time for one more call, operator.
We're certainly pleased with the performance in the third quarter.
I think we do keep in mind, though, that the third quarter is a relatively small quarter.
So in any one particular quarter, 10 basis points isn't all that large.
The drivers for this quarter, we continue to see some benefits from the work we've been doing to leverage scale and efficiency throughout the organization.
We also saw a decline in our use of freelance labor and, frankly, some better performance at some of our underperforming agencies in the quarter, year on year.
So I think when you look at the relative year-to-date margin, most of the benefit is coming from our leverage and scale efficiency initiatives, which we expect we'll continue to push, and we expect we're going to be able to sustain.
As we look at the fourth quarter, we're still somewhat conservative, given a little bit less visibility than we traditionally have in our other quarters ---+ so similar to prior years.
We're not ready yet to change our expectations of 30 basis points of improvement in Q4, but certainly we're going to continue to push the initiatives we been working on.
And we always re-evaluate the portfolio and we're going to continue to look at the portfolio strategically.
And where there are some situations that it might make sense to do some pruning, we may do that as we head into 2017.
So overall, we're pleased with the performance, but we're still a little bit conservative as we head into Q4.
No, we're in the process of doing that.
We're hiring quite a number of people every week.
But we're probably two months away from being completely staffed up for the business that we have in-house today.
So that's a process that continues.
Okay, thank you, everybody, for listening in.
