Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and public relations company. One of the oldest and largest marketing and communications companies in the world by revenue, it is headquartered in Paris. After 1945, the little-known Paris-based advertising agency grew rapidly, becoming the world's fourth-largest agency. It was a leader in promoting France's post-war economic boom, especially the expansion of the advertising industry; it was successful because of its close ties with top officials of the French government, its clever use of symbols to promote itself, and its ability to attract clients from widely diverse growing industries. It is one of the "Big Four" agency companies, alongside WPP, Interpublic and Omnicom. Publicis Groupe S.A. is headed by Arthur Sadoun, and its agencies provide digital and traditional advertising, media services and marketing services (SAMS) to national and multinational clients. History The company was founded by 20 year old Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet in 1926. In 2011, Publicis was named the third-largest marketing group worldwide by revenue, surpassing Interpublic. By the end of 2010, the twin sectors of digital activities and high-growth emerging countries represented one-half of Publicis Groupe's total revenue. The group had operations in over 202 cities in 105 countries, including a strategic alliance with Dentsu. In July 2012 it was announced that Publicis Groupe and Omnicom Group would merge to form Publicis Omnicom Group, but by May 2014 it was announced that the deal had fallen through and the Publicis-Omnicom merger would not happen. In February 2015, Publicis acquired Sapient Corporation to form Publicis.Sapient as the world's largest digital network, which at the time included SapientNitro, Sapient Consulting, DigitasLBI and RazorfishGlobal. In September 2015 The Publicis Groupe acquired South African marketing, promotions and activations agency The Creative Counsel. The acquisition was reported as the largest agency buyout ever to happen in South Africa, with an unconfirmed valuation of between R1bn and R1.5bn. In December 2015, Publicis announced a new organisation into four main divisions: Publicis Communications (gathering creative networks Leo Burnett Worldwide, Publicis Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi, Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), global design and technology consultancy Nurun, and creative production group Prodigious Brand Logistics and global PR agency MSLGROUP) under the leadership of Arthur Sadoun; Publicis Media (gathering the media planning and buying capabilities of Starcom Mediavest Group and ZenithOptimedia) under the leadership of Steve King; Publicis.Sapient (gathering technology and digital agencies Razorfish, DigitasLBi and Sapient Corporation) under the leadership of Alan