Stagwell Inc (STGW) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning from Stagwell's Global headquarters in One World Trade Center, New York. Welcome to Stagwell Inc.'s earnings webcast for the third quarter of 2024. My name is Ben Allison and I lead the Investor Relations function here at Stagwell.

來自紐約世貿中心一號大樓的斯塔格韋爾全球總部，大家早安。歡迎觀看 Stagwell Inc. 2024 年第三季財報網路廣播。我叫本‧艾利森 (Ben Allison)，負責領導史塔格韋爾的投資人關係部門。

With me today are Mark Stagwell's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Fran Lanuto, the Chief Financial Officer. Mark will provide a business update and Frank will share a financial review after the prepared remarks. We will open the floor for Q&A. You're welcome to submit questions through the chat function before we begin.

今天和我在一起的有馬克‧斯塔格韋爾 (Mark Stagwell) 的董事長兼執行長；和財務長 Fran Lanuto。馬克將提供業務最新情況，弗蘭克將在準備好的演講後分享財務回顧。我們將開始問答環節。在我們開始之前，歡迎您透過聊天功能提交問題。

I'd like to remind you that the following remarks include forward-looking statements and non-GAAP financial data. Forward-looking statements about the company, including those related to earnings guidance are subject to uncertainties and risk factors addressed in our earnings release slide presentation and the company's sec filings. Please refer to our website, stagwellglobal.com/investors, for an investor presentation and additional resources.

我想提醒您，以下言論包括前瞻性陳述和非公認會計準則財務資料。有關公司的前瞻性陳述，包括與盈利指導相關的陳述，受到我們的盈利發布幻燈片演示和公司的 SEC 文件中提到的不確定性和風險因素的影響。請造訪我們的網站 stagwellglobal.com/investors，以了解投資者介紹和其他資源。

This morning's press release and slide deck, provide definitions, explanations and reconciliations of non financial data. And with that, I'd like to turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO. Mark?

今天早上的新聞稿和幻燈片提供了非財務數據的定義、解釋和調節。說到這裡，我想將電話轉給我們的董事長兼執行長。標記？

Thank you, Ben, and thank you to everyone joining us on our earnings call. I am pleased to report a strong quarter that reflects growth in all five of our principal capabilities. Underlying this growth is that the new, larger contracts we've won are only now coming online, though some even start in Q4.

謝謝你，本，也謝謝大家參加我們的財報電話會議。我很高興地報告一個強勁的季度，反映出我們所有五個主要能力的成長。這種成長的背後是我們贏得的新的、更大的合約現在才上線，儘管有些合約甚至在第四季開始。

And we are seeing particularly strong growth in digital transformation as AI projects are coming in, the Stagwell Marketing Cloud is gaining traction as it launches its new products and platforms. In addition, we're experiencing a strong advocacy season, which will also peak in Q4.

隨著人工智慧專案的到來，我們看到數位轉型的成長尤為強勁，Stagwell 行銷雲隨著其新產品和平台的推出而受到關注。此外，我們正在經歷一個強勁的宣傳季節，也將在第四季度達到頂峰。

The third-quarter results show us returning to industry-leading growth. We believe we are poised to deliver double-digit growth in the fourth quarter and will be well positioned for 2025.

第三季業績顯示我們恢復了業界領先的成長。我們相信，我們預計在第四季度實現兩位數的成長，並為 2025 年做好準備。

We are reaffirming our full-year guidance today. After a more moderated start to the year, we are accelerating into the back half. Our new business momentum continued as we won our single largest deal to date with a global tech company and have expanded our work with major tech companies this quarter by 30%.

我們今天重申全年指引。經過今年較為溫和的開局後，我們正加速進入下半年。我們的新業務勢頭仍在繼續，我們贏得了迄今為止與一家全球科技公司的最大單筆交易，本季與主要科技公司的合作範圍擴大了 30%。

Our tech company relationships have come back strongly. We posted a net new business figure of $101 million, bringing our LTM new business to $345 million, another company record. This was driven by a new business pipeline of increasingly larger global pitches. And I want to thank our team, led by our CMO, Ryan Linder, and his team for helping manage a great new business process.

我們的科技公司關係已強勢恢復。我們公佈的淨新業務數據為 1.01 億美元，使我們的 LTM 新業務達到 3.45 億美元，再創公司紀錄。這是由日益擴大的全球推廣的新業務管道所推動的。我要感謝我們的首席行銷長 Ryan Linder 領導的團隊以及他的團隊幫助管理了一個出色的新業務流程。

The total number of wins increased 32% year over year, while the average size of our wins above $1 million increased 74%. The top 25 customer with Stagwell is now approximately a $25 million a year relationship as we continue to scale the company's full service capabilities.

獲勝總數比去年同期增加了 32%，而我們獲勝的平均金額超過 100 萬美元的則增加了 74%。隨著我們繼續擴大公司的全面服務能力，與 Stagwell 的前 25 位客戶的合作關係現在約為每年 2500 萬美元。

Turning to the basic numbers. We achieved $711 million of revenue or 15% growth in the third quarter. This growth is led by 85% growth in advocacy, 25% in digital transformation and 30% growth in the Stagwell Marketing Cloud.

轉向基本數字。第三季我們實現了 7.11 億美元的收入，成長 15%。這一成長主要由宣傳成長 85%、數位轉型成長 25% 以及 Stagwell 行銷雲端成長 30% 帶動。

We generated $580 million of net revenue, representing 8.5% total growth and 8% organic growth year over year, the best in the industry. Our adjusted EBITDA came in at $111 million in 3Q, even as we continue to invest $18 million of OpEx this quarter in growing our cloud and AI-based software solutions.

我們實現了 5.8 億美元的淨收入，總成長率為 8.5%，年比有機成長率為 8%，為行業最佳。儘管我們本季繼續投資 1,800 萬美元的營運支出來發展我們的雲端和基於人工智慧的軟體解決方案，但我們第三季調整後的 EBITDA 為 1.11 億美元。

Stagwell is a tech company's tech company. We are working to develop applications, reimagine consumer interfaces and deliver marketing solutions for the AI businesses of almost every FAANG company. One cannot underestimate the workflow that will be required to make AI usable by consumers and the role our Code and Theory Network will play in bringing that about for tech and nontech companies.

Stagwell 是一家科技公司的科技公司。我們正在致力於為幾乎所有 FAANG 公司的人工智慧業務開發應用程式、重新構想消費者介面並提供行銷解決方案。人們不能低估讓人工智慧可供消費者使用所需的工作流程，以及我們的程式碼和理論網絡在為科技和非科技公司實現這一目標方面所發揮的作用。

While we have seen the digital transformation businesses of others falter, we are experiencing the opposite here and have strengthened our capabilities by bringing together all our digital transformation resources into a single network. The Code and Theory Network just won Ad Age's 2024 Business Transformation Agency of the Year award, recognizing its outstanding work to help businesses get ready for the AI era.

雖然我們看到其他公司的數位轉型業務步履蹣跚，但我們在這裡經歷相反的情況，並透過將所有數位轉型資源整合到一個網路中來增強我們的能力。Code and Theory Network 剛剛榮獲 Ad Age 2024 年度商業轉型機構獎，表彰其在幫助企業為人工智慧時代做好準備方面所做的傑出工作。

For example, we're at the forefront of applying AI to helping voters understand politics. We designed and built the Magic Walls used on election night at both CNN and NBC. Our recent redesign of the RealClear polling site incorporates an AI bot that will answer complex questions on polling information, not just with text, but also with graphical information, which is a breakthrough in AI-to-consumer communication. You can learn more about the work we are doing with AI at www.stagwell.ai.

例如，我們處於應用人工智慧幫助選民了解政治的前沿。我們設計並建造了 CNN 和 NBC 在選舉之夜使用的魔牆。我們最近重新設計的 RealClear 投票網站加入了一個人工智慧機器人，它將回答有關投票訊息的複雜問題，不僅使用文本，還使用圖形訊息，這是人工智慧與消費者溝通的突破。您可以造訪 www.stagwell.ai 了解更多關於我們在人工智慧方面所做的工作。

The Stagwell Marketing Cloud group has shown strong growth in the third quarter as well, growing 30% year over year to $74 million. SMC grew 26% in net revenue terms to $59 million, representing 23% organic net revenue growth. Key elements of this growth are the early July addition of BERA.ai, a research tool that lets marketers and financial analysts compute the value of a brand reputation and track it in the marketplace.

Stagwell Marketing Cloud 集團在第三季也表現出強勁成長，年成長 30%，達到 7,400 萬美元。 SMC淨收入成長 26%，達到 5,900 萬美元，有機淨收入成長 23%。這一成長的關鍵因素是 7 月初推出的 BERA.ai，這是一種研究工具，可以讓行銷人員和財務分析師計算品牌聲譽的價值並在市場上追蹤它。

Marketers can war game and justify their expenditures on brand marketing with this sophisticated tool by using it to predict the enhanced value of marketing expenditures. BERA is part of a recently inked $15 million, five-year [ARR] deal with a major payments company in 15 countries.

行銷人員可以利用這種複雜的工具進行戰爭遊戲，並透過使用它來預測行銷支出的增值價值來證明他們在品牌行銷上的支出是合理的。BERA 是最近與 15 個國家的一家大型支付公司簽署的價值 1500 萬美元、為期五年的 [ARR] 協議的一部分。

Another SMC product, Wonder Cave, our best-in-class AI-powered text messaging platform, has been successfully leveraged by more than 500 political and advocacy organizations throughout the political season. More than 4 billion text messages have been sent during this cycle to support these organizations' fundraising, voter contact and get out the vote efforts.

SMC 的另一款產品 Wonder Cave 是我們一流的人工智慧簡訊平台，在整個政治季節已成功被 500 多個政治和倡導組織所利用。在此週期內已發送超過 40 億條短信，以支持這些組織的籌款、選民聯繫和投票工作。

Wonder Cave is also branching out from its political origins and helping brands with their customer engagement. From February to September this year, the number of messages sent by non-advocacy brands increased by more than 500%.

Wonder Cave 也擺脫了其政治根源，幫助品牌提高客戶參與度。今年2月至9月，非代言品牌發送的訊息數量增加了500%以上。

Around our augmented reality experience for stadiums and sports broadcast continues to gain traction as it held an unprecedented event with the LA Rams, bringing a fantasy experience to fans that was sponsored by Uber Eats and Princess Cruises. We're continuing to strengthen the global nature of our network to achieve more scaled global assignments.

體育場和體育廣播的增強現實體驗繼續受到關注，因為它與洛杉磯公羊隊一起舉辦了一場史無前例的賽事，為球迷帶來了由 Uber Eats 和 Princess Cruises 贊助的夢幻體驗。我們正在繼續加強我們網路的全球性，以實現更大規模的全球任務。

We acquired Consulum, a well-known government relations agency based in MENA and are actively working with them to expand our presence in the region. I am recently back from a successful trip there, and I believe we can achieve significant expansion there.

我們收購了位於中東和北非地區的知名政府關係機構 Consulum，並積極與其合作，擴大我們在該地區的業務。我最近從那裡成功旅行回來，我相信我們可以在那裡實現重大擴張。

We also expanded Assembly and Forsman & Bodenfors in the region and now have in total nearly 500 people there. The region's revenue grew 128% year over year in the third quarter and has grown 88% year to date. We expect this kind of growth to repeat itself next year.

我們還在該地區擴大了 Assembly 和 Forsman & Bodenfors，目前該地區員工總數已接近 500 人。該地區第三季營收年增 128%，今年迄今已成長 88%。我們預計這種成長明年將會重演。

Other steps we have taken include the acquisition of LEADERS, an Israeli social influencer and engagement agency and platform. It expands our social content creation capabilities and upgrades our influencer marketing platform offerings.

我們採取的其他措施包括收購以色列社會影響者和參與機構及平台 LEADERS。它擴展了我們的社交內容創建能力並升級了我們的影響者行銷平台產品。

Our advocacy businesses continue to perform extremely well, with the momentum continuing past the end of the quarter to election date. Advocacy revenue grew 85% year over year in the third quarter. With the election outcome, we expect that public affairs and issue advocacy campaigns will surge in 2025, given legislative opportunities. And the entire sector will continue to grow as 2028 will likely be the biggest election in history given the need for primaries on both sides.

我們的宣傳業務持續表現非常出色，這一勢頭在本季末至選舉日期間仍在持續。第三季宣傳營收年增 85%。根據選舉結果，我們預計，鑑於立法機會，2025 年公共事務和議題倡議活動將激增。鑑於雙方都需要進行初選，2028 年可能是史上規模最大的選舉，整個產業將持續成長。

Other key elements of our strategy that we're in the process of bringing for next year include a Stagwell ID Graph used to centralize all our data and information to better target consumers. We're also building what we call the Machine, a fully integrated, AI-based, content development platform built in conjunction with Adobe. We believe this will be the backbone of our technological differentiation in the new world of AI-based content. We expect this to be ready in the next six months.

我們正在為明年推出的策略的其他關鍵要素包括 Stagwell ID Graph，用於集中我們所有的數據和訊息，以更好地瞄準消費者。我們也正在建立所謂的 Machine，這是一個與 Adob​​e 共同建置的完全整合的、基於人工智慧的內容開發平台。我們相信，這將成為我們在基於人工智慧的內容新世界中實現技術差異化的支柱。我們預計這將在未來六個月內準備就緒。

In addition to the wins now coming online, our pipeline is at record levels, up 30% over the previous year, and we are participating in multiple large pitches right now. We are also seeing more work being awarded without pitches for major clients, indicating a good environment for our work in the marketplace generally.

除了現在上線的勝利之外，我們的管道也達到了創紀錄的水平，比前一年增長了 30%，我們現在正在參加多個大型比稿。我們也看到更多的工作在沒有向大客戶推銷的情況下就獲得了獎勵，這表明我們的工作在市場上總體上有一個良好的環境。

As Frank will detail, we continue to hold the line on expenses, keeping our comp-to-revenue expense at about 61% this quarter. We continue to see our stock as undervalued given our enhanced industry position, solid growth and good cost management and have continued our buyback program, expanding it by another $125 million.

正如弗蘭克將詳細介紹的那樣，我們繼續控制開支，使本季的補償與收入開支保持在 61% 左右。鑑於我們增強的行業地位、穩健的成長和良好的成本管理，我們仍然認為我們的股票被低估，並繼續我們的回購計劃，將其再擴大 1.25 億美元。

Our industry-leading growth is a reflection, we believe, and the strategy we have pursued in combining the right balance of creativity and technology that will be needed in the AI era. This is reflected in our winning both new global creative assignments and cutting-edge technology deployment assignments, at the same time wisely pursue business in key development segments like advocacy that will continue to grow over time, and stadium experiences that are simply nascent. This is what makes us increasingly attractive to large brands as the challenger marketing and technology company.

我們相信，我們領先業界的成長反映了我們在人工智慧時代所需的創造力和技術之間實現適當平衡所追求的策略。這體現在我們贏得了新的全球創意任務和尖端技術部署任務，同時明智地追求關鍵發展領域的業務，例如將隨著時間的推移而不斷增長的宣傳，以及剛起步的體育場體驗。這就是我們作為挑戰者行銷和科技公司對大品牌越來越有吸引力的原因。

Now I'll hand things over to Frank Lanuto, our Chief Financial Officer, to walk you through some of our financial results in more detail.

現在我將把事情交給我們的財務長 Frank Lanuto，讓您更詳細地了解我們的一些財務表現。

Thank you, Mark. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss our third-quarter results. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question after prepared remarks conclude, please feel free to submit them through the chat function.

謝謝你，馬克。大家早安，感謝您加入我們討論我們的第三季業績。提醒一下，如果您在準備好的發言結束後想提出問題，請隨時透過聊天功能提交。

Stagwell delivered solid third quarter financial results with growth in all five of our principal capabilities. For the quarter, we reported revenue of $711 million, an increase of 15% as compared to the same period in the prior year and net revenue of $580 million, an increase of 8% over the prior period.

斯塔格韋爾第三季財務業績穩健，我們的五大能力均有所成長。本季度，我們報告營收為 7.11 億美元，較上年同期成長 15%，淨收入為 5.80 億美元，較上年同期成長 8%。

Turning to revenue by capability. All five principal capabilities grew in Q3. Growth in digital transformation accelerated during the quarter, increasing to $163 million, a 25% improvement over the prior period. While advocacy grew 59%, growth ex-advocacy also increased 16%, partially powered by AI-driven activities and digital transformation.

轉向按能力劃分的收入。所有五項主要功能在第三季度均有所增長。本季數位轉型成長加速，增至 1.63 億美元，較上一成長 25%。雖然宣傳量增加了 59%，但除宣傳量外的成長也增加了 16%，部分原因是人工智慧驅動的活動和數位轉型。

Stagwell Marketing Cloud posted $74 million in revenue, an increase of 30% year over year, driven by significant growth in Wonder Cave as well as strength among our travel, health care and retail customers.

Stagwell Marketing Cloud 的營收為 7,400 萬美元，年成長 30%，這得益於 Wonder Cave 的顯著成長以及我們的旅遊、醫療保健和零售客戶實力的推動。

Consumer insights and strategy reported $47 million in revenue, an increase of 7% as compared to the comparable period last year. This was partially driven by the rebound in Hollywood-based, media-focused research as well as increased project size and new business among technology, gaming, communications, and automotive clients.

消費者洞察和策略報告收入為 4,700 萬美元，比去年同期成長 7%。這在一定程度上是由於好萊塢、以媒體為中心的研究的反彈，以及技術、遊戲、通訊和汽車客戶之間項目規模和新業務的增加所推動的。

Performance media and data delivered $80 million in revenue, an increase of 9% over the prior year period. The growth was driven by continued strength in the consumer products and business services sectors and was further supported by a recent return to growth in technology. And creativity and communications delivered $334 million in revenue, an increase of 11% over the prior period. These results were driven by growth among clients in the retail, technology and consumer sectors as well as by strength in our advocacy businesses.

績效媒體和數據帶來了 8,000 萬美元的收入，比去年同期成長 9%。這一成長是由消費產品和商業服務領域的持續強勁推動的，並得到了最近技術恢復成長的進一步支持。創意和傳播帶來了 3.34 億美元的收入，比上一時期增長了 11%。這些業績是由零售、科技和消費領域客戶的成長以及我們的宣傳業務實力所推動的。

Moving to operating expenses. We continued to improve margins through effective cost management. Personnel staffing costs, excluding incentives, our single largest expense, declined as a percentage of net revenue by 179 basis points to 60.9% versus the prior period. We also made progress with G&A expenses. Continued real estate consolidation into centrally located regional hubs helped to reduce such costs by approximately 8% year over year.

轉向營運費用。我們透過有效的成本管理繼續提高利潤率。人員成本（不包括我們最大的單一支出－激勵措施）佔淨收入的百分比比上一期間下降了 179 個基點，降至 60.9%。我們在一般管理費用方面也取得了進展。持續將房地產整合到位於中心的區域中心有助於將此類成本比去年同期降低約 8%。

Our shared services initiative also contributed to annualized cost savings of approximately $10 million through reductions in accounting, IT, and HR as we continue to centralize such functions. These savings were partially offset by increased direct unbillable expenses and other OpEx related to higher revenues and client servicing activities.

我們的共享服務計劃還透過減少會計、IT 和人力資源以及繼續集中這些職能，每年節省了約 1000 萬美元的成本。這些節省金額被增加的直接不可計費費用以及與收入增加和客戶服務活動相關的其他營運支出部分抵消。

As a result, Stagwell delivered $111 million in adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter with a related margin of 19.2% on net revenue, an improvement of approximately 15 basis points over the prior period. Excluding our cloud investment of $18 million this quarter, our third quarter adjusted EBITDA margin would have been approximately 22.2%.

因此，Stagwell 第三季調整後 EBITDA 為 1.11 億美元，淨收入相關利潤率為 19.2%，比上一季提高約 15 個基點。不包括本季 1,800 萬美元的雲端投資，我們第三季調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率約為 22.2%。

Moving to the balance sheet. We continue to focus on capital allocation to maintain a strong financial position. We reduced the balance of deferred acquisition consideration by approximately $72 million, down to $62 million from the end of the third quarter last year.

轉向資產負債表。我們繼續專注於資本配置，以維持強勁的財務狀況。我們將遞延收購對價餘額減少了約 7,200 萬美元，比去年第三季末減少至 6,200 萬美元。

We remain on track to reduce our DAC obligations to approximately $40 million by the end of '24, excluding recently completed acquisitions. We also reduced NCI balances by approximately $7 million from the end of the third quarter of '23, down to $23 million. These reductions to DAC and NCI will be accretive to net income and EPS in future periods.

我們仍有望在 2024 年底前將 DAC 債務減少至約 4,000 萬美元（不包括最近完成的收購）。我們也從 2023 年第三季末開始減少了 NCI 餘額約 700 萬美元，降至 2,300 萬美元。DAC 和 NCI 的減少將增加未來時期的淨利潤和每股收益。

During the quarter, we acquired approximately 2 million shares at an average price of $6.60 per share for approximately $13 million. This brings our year-to-date repurchases to 13.8 million shares at an average price of $6.29 or approximately $87 million. Our buyback authorization as of quarter end had approximately $52 million in remaining availability.

本季度，我們以每股 6.60 美元的平均價格收購了約 200 萬股股票，價值約 1,300 萬美元。這使得我們今年迄今回購的股票數量達到 1,380 萬股，平均價格為 6.29 美元，約 8,700 萬美元。截至季末，我們的回購授權剩餘可用金額約為 5,200 萬美元。

As noted in our press release on November 7, the Board authorized an extension and a $125 million increase in the size of our previously approved stock repurchase program. As amended, we may now buy back up to an aggregate of $375 million in Class A common stock.

正如我們在 11 月 7 日的新聞稿中指出的，董事會授權延長我們先前批准的股票回購計劃，並將其規模增加 1.25 億美元。經過修訂，我們現在可以回購總計最多 3.75 億美元的 A 類普通股。

CapEx and capitalized software for the quarter was $5 million, broadly in line with our targets. Cash flows from operations for the nine months year to date improved by $58 million relative to the same period a year ago, driven principally by improvements in our working capital management. And year to date, we accelerated our M&A activity relative to last year.

本季的資本支出和資本化軟體為 500 萬美元，基本上符合我們的目標。今年迄今 9 個月的營運現金流量比去年同期增加了 5,800 萬美元，這主要是由於我們的營運資本管理有所改善。今年迄今為止，我們的併購活動比去年有所加速。

Through the first three quarters of '24, we completed seven acquisitions versus two last year. We acquired approximately 6 times as much revenue in the current year while simultaneously deploying a comparatively smaller 4 times as much cash as we continue to make accretive acquisitions that produce strong returns.

2024 年前三個季度，我們完成了 7 項收購，而去年為 2 項。我們今年獲得了約 6 倍的收入，同時部署了相對較少的 4 倍現金，因為我們繼續進行可產生強勁回報的增值收購。

We continue to evaluate our portfolio and also explore potential dispositions. As a result, we ended the quarter with $146 million in cash and drawings under our revolver of $375 million, resulting in a leverage ratio of 3.5 times.

我們將繼續評估我們的投資組合併探索潛在的配置。結果，本季結束時，我們的循環資金為 3.75 億美元，現金和提款為 1.46 億美元，槓桿率為 3.5 倍。

And finally, we are affirming our full-year 2024 guidance as follows. Organic net revenue growth is expected to be between 5% to 7%. Organic net revenue, excluding advocacy growth is expected to be 4% to 5%. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between $400 million to $450 million. We expect to deliver approximately 50% free cash flow conversion, and adjusted earnings per share is expected to be between $0.75 and $0.88.

最後，我們確認 2024 年全年指引如下。有機淨收入成長預計在 5% 至 7% 之間。不包括宣傳在內的有機淨收入預計將成長 4% 至 5%。調整後的 EBITDA 預計在 4 億至 4.5 億美元之間。我們預計將實現約 50% 的自由現金流轉換，調整後每股收益預計在 0.75 美元至 0.88 美元之間。

That concludes our prepared remarks for this morning. I will now turn the call back over to Ben to open the Q&A portion of the call.

我們今天早上準備好的演講到此結束。我現在將把電話轉回給 Ben，以開始電話的問答部分。

(Event Instructions) Lots of questions today about digital transformation. And so we'll kick it off with a question from Steve Cahall over at Wells Fargo. DT improved nicely in the quarter. Can you help maybe to unpack some of the improvement there? And do you view this as kind of a sustainable inflection point moving forward?

（活動說明）今天有很多關於數位轉型的問題。我們將以富國銀行史蒂夫·卡霍爾 (Steve Cahall) 提出的問題作為開始。DT 在本季取得了不錯的進步。您能幫忙解開其中的一些改進嗎？您是否認為這是一個可持續發展的轉捩點？

Well, I do view it as a sustainable inflection point because I think, as I've been saying, AI was coming and the work that people needed to do in AI was coming. And I think what we're seeing is that it's beginning to arrive. I think it's arriving, really first, at the many tech clients who are clients of ours who have to build the interfaces to make AI accessible to consumers. And then I think that's going to spread to the clients who then have to make their own individual websites and contact points accessible through AI.

嗯，我確實認為這是一個可持續的轉折點，因為我認為，正如我一直在說的，人工智慧即將到來，人們需要在人工智慧領域做的工作也即將到來。我認為我們所看到的是它已經開始到來。我認為它首先會到達許多技術客戶，他們也是我們的客戶，他們必須建立介面以使消費者能夠使用人工智慧。然後我認為這將傳播給客戶，他們必須透過人工智慧創建自己的個人網站和聯絡點。

So as I've said, I think there's many years of digital transformation to come here. We went from that year of efficiency to what I said is going to be the year of competition. And I said that, look, they build the chips, they have the clouds and then they're going to get to the applications. And I think that now they're getting to the applications.

正如我所說，我認為這裡還需要很多年的數位轉型。我們從效率之年進入了我所說的競爭之年。我說，看，他們製造晶片，他們擁有雲，然後他們將進入應用程式。我認為他們現在正在開始申請。

A lot of other questions about SMC, which obviously had some really nice growth in the quarter as well. A question here from Jason Kreyer at Craig-Hallum. It goes SMC has seen consistent acceleration across 2024. Can you maybe talk a little bit about what some of the key solutions resonating with clients today are? And what may be some of the levers that we might have to sort of drive greater monetization across the SMC suite over the coming years?

關於 SMC 還有很多其他問題，顯然該公司在本季也取得了一些非常好的成長。Craig-Hallum 的 Jason Kreyer 提出了一個問題。SMC 在 2024 年將持續加速。您能否談談當今引起客戶共鳴的一些關鍵解決方案是什麼？未來幾年，我們可能需要採取哪些手段來推動 SMC 套件實現更大的獲利？

I think that we're seeing a pickup on some of the advanced media platforms. I think we saw some increase in kind of advertising on some of the screens. We've seen really kind of -- I highlighted what we saw in terms of the -- around our product because you can see big name sponsors are now coming on. So it's a combination of big teams, big sponsors, new experiences.

我認為我們正在看到一些先進媒體平台的回升。我想我們看到一些螢幕上的廣告增加。我們確實看到了——我強調了我們在我們的產品方面所看到的——因為你可以看到大牌贊助商現在正在加入。所以這是大團隊、大贊助商和新體驗的結合。

I think that we're still in the nascent phase of that, that the initial sponsors are getting really positive feedback from the experiences and that, that can grow over the next couple of years into a very significant business. And we appear to be ahead of the curve in terms of other technologies that are out there that produce that kind of augmented reality experience.

我認為我們仍處於起步階段，最初的贊助商正在從這些經驗中獲得非常積極的回饋，並且可以在未來幾年內發展成為一項非常重要的業務。就產生這種擴增實境體驗的其他技術而言，我們似乎處於領先地位。

I think that we're particularly enthusiastic about the BERA product. It is a truly sophisticated, not just brand tracking tool, but a brand modeling and economic analysis tool that CMOs can use to answer the question that CEOs always ask. Why should I spend any money on this? And I think it is an incredible suite of tools, and we've already seen pickup across the major payments company. We've seen people really want to sign on for a long period. It's getting a really positive feedback.

我認為我們對 BERA 產品特別感興趣。它是一個真正複雜的工具，不僅是品牌追蹤工具，而且是品牌建模和經濟分析工具，行銷長可以用它來回答執行長經常提出的問題。我為什麼要花這個錢？我認為這是一套令人難以置信的工具，我們已經看到主要支付公司的使用情況。我們已經看到人們在很長一段時間內確實想註冊。它得到了非常積極的回饋。

Over the long run, we're going to have communications products, and those have been bolstered by the -- particularly the LEADERS platform, it's an influencer platform that we're seeing also has good pickup over there. Our research products with Quest and BERA and the Brand Terminal that are already in 150 clients.

從長遠來看，我們將擁有通訊產品，而這些產品得到了特別是領導者平台的支持，這是一個有影響力的平台，我們看到在那裡也有良好的發展。我們的 Quest 和 BERA 研究產品以及品牌終端已在 150 位客戶中使用。

And our Wonder Cave platform also is a remarkably efficient platform for delivering targeted text message marketing. We also believe that we're ahead of the curve here. We've also had the experience of developing it through the political season, which means that we have so much more experience targeting through text messaging of virtually any platform out there because of the billions of messages and the data that we've been able to build up through those messages.

我們的 Wonder Cave 平台也是一個非常高效的平台，用於提供有針對性的簡訊行銷。我們也相信我們在這方面處於領先地位。我們也擁有在政治季節開發它的經驗，這意味著我們擁有更多透過幾乎任何平台的簡訊進行定位的經驗，因為我們能夠獲取數十億條訊息和數據。

So I think the Stagwell Cloud is a really exciting place. I think it's one of the unique features that makes us a challenger marketing company, that the big ones really don't have this kind of incubation of tech products across these different areas and the ability to develop them and implement them as quickly as we are. And I think you're seeing promise. I hope that answers your question. I was hoping to follow up on this one.

所以我認為 Stagwell Cloud 是一個非常令人興奮的地方。我認為這是使我們成為挑戰者行銷公司的獨特特徵之一，大公司確實沒有在這些不同領域孵化技術產品，也沒有能力像我們一樣快速開發和實施它們。我認為你已經看到了希望。我希望這能回答你的問題。我本來希望跟進此事。

Maybe just riffing off that a little bit, Laura Martin over at Needham, she asked some questions about the GenAI road map. And then she kind of goes -- I think this is a question a lot of investors have. Over the next three years, say, do you think that GenAI innovations will lower cost more or drive revenue upside? What's kind of your take?

也許只是簡單地重複一下，Laura Martin 在 Needham 詢問了一些有關 GenAI 路線圖的問題。然後她說——我認為這是很多投資人都有的問題。比如說，您認為未來三年 GenAI 創新會進一步降低成本還是推動營收成長？你怎麼看？

I think for us, there's no question that will drive revenue. That because we're not just in the business of delivering marketing but in the business of delivering digital transformation, that is going to be -- there were websites, there were apps. Now there's going to be AI-based connections between companies and consumers.

我認為對我們來說，毫無疑問這會增加收入。因為我們不僅從事行銷業務，還從事數位轉型業務，那就是——有網站，有應用程式。現在，公司和消費者之間將建立基於人工智慧的連結。

I think you saw Elon Musk unveil robots. There will be home bots. There will be various ways that brands now communicate to large language models with consumers in new ways. And it opens up, I think, a whole new sphere of digital transformation.

我想你看到伊隆馬斯克揭開了機器人的面紗。將會有家庭機器人。品牌現在將透過多種方式以新的方式與消費者進行大型語言模型的溝通。我認為，它開啟了數位轉型的全新領域。

So that's why for us, I expect it to be a core revenue driver. I expect that obviously, there are internal uses of AI, like better production and creating new images and storyboards and making ads with less production money. It will still take the same creativity to make it, even more advanced creativity to make it a differentiated ad. It will primarily benefit the production process, which is 90% pass-through expenses for us anyway.

這就是為什麼對我們來說，我預計它會成為核心收入驅動因素。我預計人工智慧顯然有內部用途，例如更好的製作、創建新的圖像和故事板以及以更少的製作資金製作廣告。製作它仍然需要同樣的創意，甚至需要更先進的創意才能使其成為差異化的廣告。它主要有利於生產過程，無論如何，這對我們來說是 90% 的轉嫁費用。

So lower cost of production will only generate more interesting, creative, high-level work. It's the same thing that I saw how the survey business, as it transferred to more online work, still has incredible work for the skilled professionals involved.

因此，較低的生產成本只會產生更有趣、更有創意、更高水準的作品。這也是我所看到的，當調查業務轉向更多的線上工作時，仍然為相關的熟練專業人士提供令人難以置信的工作。

So I think that's the internal use. We're on it. We're deploying it in research. We're deploying it in terms of image production. I think it's going to be helpful, but it doesn't take revenue away.

所以我認為這就是內部使用。我們正在努力。我們正在研究中部署它。我們正在圖像製作方面部署它。我認為這會有所幫助，但不會減少收入。

And I think in the long run, it does the opposite. It takes a lot of the real drudge work and a lot of the pass-through revenues away. But the real benefit for us is being in the digital transformation areas where we help the companies market AI on the marketing side and most importantly, develop AI interfaces to consumers because that's the way brands are really going to move their image.

我認為從長遠來看，它會起到相反的作用。這需要大量真正的苦差事和大量轉嫁收入。但對我們來說真正的好處是在數位轉型領域，我們幫助公司在行銷方面推廣人工智慧，最重要的是，為消費者開發人工智慧介面，因為這才是品牌真正改變其形象的方式。

Question from Mark Zgutowicz over at Benchmark. And this is looking at government services, something we've kind of talked about that over time and obviously, Consulum acquisition, which has a significant government portion as well. Can you maybe talk about how you're viewing the vision for that part of the business maybe over the next three to five years?

Mark Zgutowicz 在 Benchmark 提出的問題。這是政府服務，我們一直在討論這個問題，顯然，Consulum 收購也有很大的政府部分。您能否談談您如何看待未來三到五年內這部分業務的願景？

Sure. I think that about 10% to 15% of our business should be government related. I think because of the history of a lot of our firms were originally smaller firms or were not part of a larger unit, they really didn't go after government business.

當然。我認為我們大約10%到15%的業務應該與政府相關。我認為，由於我們許多公司最初都是較小的公司或不屬於較大單位的歷史，因此他們實際上並沒有追求政府業務。

In the last two months, over at Code and Theory, they have developed a government services unit. We're developing one for all of the marketing services. We're beginning to learn all of what we need to do for the financial aspects of the complicated proposals. I want that to go from the zero it is now to the 10% or 15% of our business that it can be.

在過去的兩個月裡，Code and Theory 開發了一個政府服務部門。我們正在開發一款適用於所有行銷服務的產品。我們開始了解我們需要為複雜提案的財務方面做些什麼。我希望這個比例從現在的零上升到我們業務的 10% 或 15%。

But do I see that as a six-month process? No. Realistically, it's going to take two or three years to win a couple of major ones, but we are really well positioned to gain that kind of work. And we now have the kind of infrastructure that the government will look for to get us awarded that kind of work.

但我認為這是一個為期六個月的過程嗎？不。實際上，贏得幾個主要獎項需要兩到三年的時間，但我們確實已經做好了完成此類工作的準備。我們現在擁有政府希望讓我們獲得此類工作的基礎設施。

Let's change gears a little bit, talk a little bit about new business wins. And Jeff Van Sinderen over at B. Riley, he's asked, can you speak just a little bit more about some of these recent wins and a little bit about kind of revenue ramp from some of those wins as well? When would we expect to see some of those start flowing through? Is this a 2025 thing, the second half of this year? How are you thinking about it?

讓我們換個話題，談談新的業務勝利。B. Riley 的 Jeff Van Sinderen 被問到，您能否多談談最近取得的一些勝利，以及這些勝利所帶來的收入增長情況？我們預計什麼時候會看到其中一些開始流動？這是2025年的事情，今年下半年嗎？你覺得怎麼樣？

Sure. I think some of the tech company ones remain undisclosed. I think you've seen us announce major wins with Adobe, major wins with GM in terms of both Chevy and Cadillac. I think you've seen a pretty good win in Ferraro. I think that those -- the Adobe stuff really comes on in December and some of the GM started in the kind of second half of the third quarter.

當然。我認為一些科技公司的資訊仍未公開。我想您已經看到我們宣布與 Adob​​e 取得重大勝利，與通用汽車在雪佛蘭和凱迪拉克方面取得重大勝利。我想你已經在費拉羅看到了一場相當不錯的勝利。我認為那些——Adobe 的東西確實在 12 月開始出現，一些 GM 是在第三季下半年開始的。

All of these things will, I think, come through full year in the next year. And I expect that these wins will all be started before the end of the year. And as I say, we have a surprising number of $10 million to $20 million pitches out that we're waiting on decisions on. That would start next year.

我認為，所有這些事情都將在明年全年完成。我預計這些勝利將在今年年底前全部開始。正如我所說，我們有數量驚人的 1000 萬至 2000 萬美元的項目正在等待決策。這將從明年開始。

Good stuff. I think kind of playing off that a little bit. Cameron McVeigh has asked, when you think of a given CMO pitch, how have their priorities shifted, if at all? Like what seems to be that most important capability to win new business currently for Stagwell?

好東西。我認為有點玩弄這一點。卡梅倫·麥克維 (Cameron McVeigh) 問道，當你考慮某個特定的 CMO 推介時，他們的優先事項是如何改變的（如果有的話）？對 Stagwell 目前來說，贏得新業務最重要的能力是什麼？

I think that number one, I think more CMOs are interested in us as the challenger. I think our visibility as an alternative coming out of Cannes with our team -- and I recently was a keynote speaker at the ANA to a couple of thousand marketers. Just in general, I think our visibility and establishment as a credible alternative to the top majors has really come up significantly. And I can see that in the pitch flow that we're getting.

我認為第一，我認為更多的首席行銷長對我們作為挑戰者感興趣。我認為我們的知名度是坎城影展與我們團隊的替代方案 - 我最近在 ANA 上向數千名行銷人員發表了主題演講。總的來說，我認為我們作為頂級專業的可靠替代品的知名度和地位確實有了顯著提高。我可以在我們得到的音調流中看到這一點。

In terms of an individual CMO, it will vary by industry, by product. Is it a luxury industry, a car industry? Is it a more creative-interested CMO? Is it a more performance marketing one? I don't think there's any single silver bullet there.

就單一 CMO 而言，它會因行業、產品而異。是奢侈品產業還是汽車產業？是更有創意的 CMO 嗎？這是更具效果的行銷嗎？我認為沒有任何靈丹妙藥。

What I can say is that if you look at RFPs and how business is solicited, I think people look at marketing services, which is creative, content, research and all of those things. And we are really well skilled, and we have really incredible, creative names at the top, 72andSunny, Anomaly, Forsman, Donor, all of them are incredible, award-winning groups backed by award-winning research, now backed by award-winning social content creation with movers and shakers and leaders.

我能說的是，如果你看看 RFP 以及如何招攬業務，我認為人們會專注於行銷服務，包括創意、內容、研究以及所有這些東西。我們技術精湛，我們的高層有令人難以置信的、富有創意的名字，72andSunny、Anomaly、Forsman、Donor，他們都是令人難以置信的屢獲殊榮的團體，得到了屢獲殊榮的研究的支持，現在又得到了屢獲殊榮的研究的支持。

And I think the second path is media. The CMOs put out quite separately media and data RFPs, and that's where Assembly and GALE are both now top names. And again, as we scale those up, we go to bigger clients across more countries.

我認為第二條路是媒體。CMO 分別提出了媒體和數據 RFP，這就是 Assembly 和 GALE 現在都名列前茅的地方。再次，當我們擴大規模時，我們會接觸到更多國家的更大客戶。

And then the third is digital transformation, and I combined all the digital transformation companies to scale that up. So what we're showing across these three verticals is increased scale, award-winning professionalism and a mix of creativity and digital talent that can both design and build these experiences.

第三個是數位轉型，我結合了所有數位轉型公司來擴大規模。因此，我們在這三個垂直領域展示的是擴大的規模、屢獲殊榮的專業精神以及可以設計和構建這些體驗的創造力和數位人才的結合。

Good stuff. (Event Instructions) I think just the last one to kind of key in on a little bit here, well, maybe two more. But first of all, and I want to make sure we're obviously not putting out forward guidance today, and I want to make sure everyone is aware of that.

好東西。（活動說明）我想最後一個是在這裡強調一點，好吧，也許還有兩個。但首先，我想確保我們今天顯然不會提出前瞻性指導，我想確保每個人都意識到這一點。

But one of the questions we've got is about maybe the growth algorithm moving forward as we look into the end of 2024 and then over the course of the next few years. As you think about the growth drivers and the growth algorithm of Stagwell, what does that look like?

但我們遇到的問題之一是，當我們展望 2024 年底以及未來幾年時，成長演算法可能會向前發展。當您思考 Stagwell 的成長動力和成長演算法時，它是什麼樣的？

Well, we've always said that the most important thing for our growth is the health of digital transformation because that should be the highest growth service. And I think we went through a period here with the year of efficiency and tech pullbacks, which is over. And now I think we're getting back to that in the long term.

嗯，我們總是說，對於我們的成長而言，最重要的是數位轉型的健康發展，因為這應該是成長最快的服務。我認為我們經歷了一段效率和技術回落的時期，但現在已經結束了。現在，我認為從長遠來看，我們正在回到這一點。

We're seeing very nice growth in the creative services, which some people would think is a surprise. But I think as some of the majors have moved out of creative, in fact, our creative services have become more a lot more valuable.

我們看到創意服務的成長非常快，有些人會認為這是一個驚喜。但我認為，隨著一些專業不再專注於創意，事實上，我們的創意服務變得更有價值。

I think media is kind of a constant growth area for us that we're going to add significant data and other resources to that to be increasingly competitive in bigger pitches. And obviously, the Stagwell Marketing Cloud, over the long run, should go with digital transformation and achieve very high growth rates once I think all the products are developed. So I don't know if I fully answered, but our growth algorithm was always that the digital services will grow at faster rates, the creative services would grow at kind of lower single-digit rates and kind of research and media somewhere in between.

我認為媒體對我們來說是一個持續成長的領域，我們將為其添加大量數據和其他資源，以便在更大的市場中提高競爭力。顯然，從長遠來看，一旦我認為所有產品都開發出來，Stagwell行銷雲應該會伴隨數位轉型並實現非常高的成長率。所以我不知道我是否完全回答了，但我們的成長演算法始終是數位服務將以更快的速度成長，創意服務將以較低的個位數速度成長，而研究和媒體則介於兩者之間。

Good stuff. I think that brings us to the end of the questions for today and to the end of the third quarter call. Thank you so much for everyone for joining us, and we look forward to welcoming you for the Q4 call in the new year.

好東西。我認為今天的問題和第三季電話會議到此結束。非常感謝大家加入我們，我們期待歡迎您參加新的一年的第四季電話會議。