IPG PR Firms Show 10.8 Percent Organic Growth in Q3

Interpublic Group announced its Q3 earnings this morning, reporting 11.1 percent revenue growth in Q3 for a total of $1.73 billion. Organic revenue growth was 8.7 percent -- 10.1 percent in the U.S. and 6.7 percent abroad. Operating income for the quarter was $173.2 million versus $100.2 million for the same time in 2010. For the first nine months, revenue totaled $4.94 billion compared to $4.5 billion for the same period in 2010. Organic revenue increase was 7.5 percent and operating income was $301.9 million. Operating income was up from $218 million compared to the same time last year. Adweek credits the investment in Facebook for the results, which were better than expected. IPG's PR firms include GolinHarris, Weber Shandwick, and DeVries Public Relations. We spoke with Harris Diamond, CEO of the Contingency Management Group that houses the PR firms, which saw 10.8 percent organic growth for the quarter and 8.8 percent year-to-date organic growth. Diamond said the growth was spread across the PR firms and due largely to social media. Following yesterday's Council of PR Firms keynote delivered by Robert Gibbs, we wondered whether he thought PR could have an impact on world affairs. "Social media is local," Diamond said. "But it does span the globe and can speak to people concerned by social issues and public affairs." Diamond added that the company's "accelerating growth" each quarter is due to its "ability to capitalize on those trends." You'll recall comments from Publicis CEO Maurice Lévy following that company's earnings announcement last week where he warned about "unfavorable market growth in Q4." Despite all of the good news and positive trends, Diamond said this is a "cautious environment" but didn't see the IPG train slowing down. "The growth we're seeing is continuing at this time," he said. Finally, a recent Ad Age article proposed that Diamond could be the next in line for IPG CEO once Michael Roth's tenure is over. We got no comment on that one.

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IPG PR Firms Show 10.8 Percent Organic Growth in Q3

Tonya Garcia

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Tonya Garcia