2025 Organic Growth Impact
Q: How will current factors affect 2025 organic growth?
A: Management cannot quantify the 2025 impact yet but acknowledges potential headwinds from recent client decisions and net new business being essentially neutral. They will focus on new business pipelines and growing capabilities with existing clients. Recovery in tech and strategic assessments may change the outlook.

Client Sentiment and Uncertainty
Q: What are clients’ confidence and investment levels amid uncertainty?
A: The operating environment has become more challenging due to geopolitical and social uncertainties and stagnant fiscal policy. Clients are showing more caution, and decisions on reviews and spend are taking longer or are delayed. This incremental uncertainty is factored into the company's outlook.

Principal-Based Media Buying
Q: How will principal media buying enhance competitiveness?
A: The foundational work for principal media buying is complete and up and running, though it will need time to ramp up over the next year. It will allow IPG to approach clients and media partners with multiple buying models, improving competitiveness in situations where efficiency is a priority.

M&A and Inorganic Growth
Q: What is the appetite for significant M&A opportunities?
A: IPG is open to larger inorganic opportunities, particularly in commerce, retail media, and business transformation sectors. While deals may not be at the scale of Acxiom, they could be larger than previous modest acquisitions, aiming to change the growth profile of the business.

Impact of AI on Creative Revenue
Q: How does AI affect creative revenue and output?
A: AI presents opportunities to increase creative output and efficiency. It helps in mass personalization and allows resources to be reinvested as unit costs decrease. IPG sees AI as an incremental opportunity across media, data, performance, production, commerce, and CRM, and is training staff and clients in its use, which has become a line of business.

1% Organic Growth Guidance
Q: Why move to precise 1% growth guidance?
A: Management adjusted guidance to approximately 1% organic growth due to increased uncertainty and cautious client behavior since the last call. The figure reflects their current outlook, acknowledging some variability but indicating a move from the previous 1–2% range closer to 1%.

Europe's Outperformance
Q: Why is Europe outperforming the U.S. despite GDP differences?
A: Europe's growth, representing 9% of revenue, is driven by client-specific factors and success across major markets like Spain, Germany, and France. Wins at creative agencies, particularly McCann, and growth at IPG Health contributed to the outperformance.

Google's Cookie Deprecation Delay
Q: How does Google’s delay impact Acxiom's business?
A: The delay is not unexpected, and while a complete deprecation would modestly accelerate Acxiom's value, clients are already realizing the need to control their first-party data. IPG continues to benefit as clients seek help in building and owning their ID graphs and is prepared for a world without third-party cookies.

Unified Production Capability
Q: Is your production capability unified under one roof?
A: IPG has a global integrated production engine that has evolved to become strategic and upstream, moving towards scaled platform services, data, and centralized media activation. While there are still some specific capabilities, they are well on the way to operating as a unified whole.