Justin Billingsley quits Publicis Groupe as Global CMO

Publicis Groupe has parted ways with its global CMO, Justin Billingsley after 13 years with the French agency group as reported by Campaign India.

“We have ended Justin’s employment and he is now on garden leave. We won’t be making any further comment,” Publicis Groupe said.

An industry source said there was speculation that Billingsley may have fallen out of favour over comments that he made during a client meeting and that were regarded as inappropriate by Publicis Groupe. There is no suggestion of illegal wrongdoing. But, Publicis Groupe and Billingsley have declined to comment.

Billingsley was one of the senior executives at Publicis Groupe for years and was a member of the management board — the global leadership group immediately below the top Directoire level.

He took on the role of global CMO in April 2020, with a remit to win new business, drive organic growth and innovate new products and services, and reported to Arthur Sadoun, the global chief executive of Publicis Groupe.

The pair first worked together when Billingsley was a client. He previously held roles at Unilever, Orange, Coca-Cola and Nokia, before joining Publicis Groupe in 2009.

Billingsley joined Saatchi & Saatchiin 2015 as regional CEO and chairman of Greater China and went on to become the COO of the agency in EMEA and then the worldwide COO.

Billingsley later became CEO of Publicis Groupe in DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and set up Emil, a bespoke “Power of One” agency for Mercedes Benz.