Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet

Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet (21 August 1906 – 11 April 1996) was a French entrepreneur and advertising magnate best known as the founder of Publicis Groupe.

He is also credited with inventing radio advertising in France, helped create the first French opinion polls, introduced Édith Piaf to the French public, and fought with the Free French forces during World War II.

Early life Born the youngest of nine, he was the son of Abraham Bleustein, a poor Russian-Jewish used furniture salesman in northern Paris, Marcel Bleustein left school at the age of 12 to help out in the family furniture business.

When the Second World War broke out, Marcel Bleustein's companies were confiscated by the German occupation forces as "Jewish properties". From July to October 1943, Bleustein was imprisoned by the fascist government of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco but was later released thanks to British intervention.

Rebuilding Publicis When the war ended, he rebuilt Publicis from scratch, introducing the first opinion polls in France and developing the then-American fields of consumer research and brand analysis. He retained his Resistance name of Blanchet, adding it legally to his original name.

After the war, Bleustein-Blanchet reopened Publicis and, calling them on the phone himself, rapidly regained old and new clients, notably Shell, Colgate-Palmolive, L'Oreal, Renault, Dim and many others.

In 1957 he opened the first "Publicis Drugstore" on the ground level of Publicis' headquarters, 133 avenue des Champs Elysées, former location of the Astoria hotel. The "Drugstore" was considered a huge success and became the rendez vous point of the "cool" parisian youth.

During the 1970s, under the leadership of Bleustein-Blanchet and his successor, Maurice Lévy, Publicis became an international communications group and is now the third largest communications group in the world.

In 2008, twelve years after his death, the American Advertising Federation announced that Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet would become the first non-American to be named to the Advertising Hall of Fame.

Personal life

The Bleustein-Blanchets had three daughters. Marie-Francoise (born in 1940) died in a car accident in 1968, and Elisabeth (born in 1944) became the heir apparent to the Publicis fortune in 1996 and one of modern France's greatest intellectuals.

The family practiced Judaism and Catholicism simultaneously. Marie-Francoise's untimely death in 1968 put an immense strain on the couple's marriage, but they nonetheless remained devoted to one another until Marcel's death on April 11, 1996.

In addition to his Jewish and Catholic faith, Bleustein-Blanchet also had an active interest in Eastern religions and believed in reincarnation.

Other interests He was a founding member of L’Académie nationale des arts de la rue (ANAR) created in 1975 with Jacques Dauphin, Maurice Cazeneuve, Paul Delouvrier, Georges Elgozy, Roger Excoffon, Abraham Moles, and André Parinaud.