Publicis Canada’s Aug. 19 purchase of Mediabec Inc., a 23-year-old Montreal relationship marketing agency, brings Publicis’ Canadian network one step closer to following the agency model operated by its French parent, Publicis Group.

Set up as a separate below-the-line unit, Publicis Dialog combines the promotion, event and database marketing, loyalty and customer satisfaction activities of Mediabec with the direct and promotions departments of Publicis-BCP in Montreal and Publicis-SMW in Toronto.

The third piece of the European model, a media unit called Media Conception, is also being considered for Canada, but is unlikely to be unveiled until at least next year, according to Rob Lawrie, president and ceo of Publicis-SMW.

Lawrie says if Media Conception does come to Canada, it will be part of Optimedia, the Publicis media unit run by president Sunni Boot.

Lawrie says industry-wide changes in ad agency structures have been driven by an increased client demand for information-based marketing that is in lockstep with the wider availability of new data technology.

He says that Publicis has reacted by streamlining down to three essential components: Above-the-line, below-the-line, and media.

Such a structure, he says, makes it easier for the agency to integrate its services around its clients’ needs. ‘The scenarios we face are complex. How we deal with them has to be simplified as much as possible and focused as much as possible.’

Gilles Charest, president and primary shareholder of Mediabec, has been named chairman and ceo of Publicis Dialog, while Alain Cloutier and Andy Kardos, presidents of the Publicis direct and promotions divisions in Montreal and Toronto respectively, are now presidents of Publicis Dialog in those two cities.

Claude Desjardins and Andre Tasse, the other two founding partners of Mediabec, remain with Publicis Dialog.