Publicis Media’s NextTECHnow expanded as a global proposition for clients

NextTECHnow (NTN), an end-to-end service that pairs clients with mobile, social, data and content startups, is rolling out as a Publicis Media initiative across the globe.

The programme, driven by Publicis Media’s global Business Transformation practice, has expanded and is now live in four other markets – Shanghai, Singapore, Warsaw and Dubai. NextTECHnow will launch across New York, Chicago, Sydney, Moscow and Dusseldorf in the first half of 2017 with another six markets by the end of the year.

The global NTN team has already met with over 400 startups in the UK alone, enlisting over 100 startups into the programme. Over the past year, 50 client projects have been activated with two-thirds of clients repeat users after seeing the positive impact on their brands.

A diverse range of Publicis Media’s clients are seeing the advantage of engaging with the NTN programme. These benefits include:

• Evaluating startups and their technology via a three-step capability assessment. NextTECHnow curates the most promising marcomm technology companies for clients to leverage, saving valuable time and identifying partners for maximum business impact.
• Delivering relevant bespoke partnerships that are actionable, results focused and solve real business problems.
• Scaling and sharing the best startups across the Publicis Media network.

Sara Wolfe, Digital Brand Manager, McCormick, said: “Through the NextTECHnow initiative we have been introduced to some of the most innovative thinking and the latest startup technology out there. We have been impressed with the quality of the startups we have met and we have activated several campaigns with them as a result – becoming an important part of our marketing communications strategy. We are also very excited to continue our work with NTN partners into 2017 during our vital brand relaunch campaign.”

Impressively, the number of NTN projects in 2016 increased three fold compared to the previous year, which reflects growing client confidence in employing new tech solutions from the startup programme.

Jim Kite, NextTECHnow’s global lead, said: “With Publicis Media’s full global scale behind us our startup partnerships are moving across offices who in return are sharing with us some great emerging tech to bring to our UK based clients.

“Our approach resonates because business transformation is no longer just about being digitally ready but ensuring that brands are testing the latest thinking and technology in real time, especially where customers are forming new brand relationships. NextTECHnow is a valuable tool to operationalise these connections.”

Jonathan Grubin, founder of the startup SoPost, said: “We've been working with Publicis Media since NTN's early days, and they have been an invaluable partner helping us to scale and grow. Their openness to work with the startup community together with their operational processes, designed to get projects over the line, is quite extraordinary - and something that I haven't seen any other agency come close to in my seven years in the industry.”

The NextTECHnow will be part of Publicis Groupe’s VivaTech gathering – the rendez-vous for game-changers – later this year.