Publicis reported first quarter revenue rose 10.7% to nearly $1.8B over 2010 on the strength of net new business wins worth $1.9B, the French PR/ad conglomerate said today.

levy
Levy
CEO Maurice Levy said momentum in the U.S. and Europe – particularly France and Germany – boosted revenue, as well as the continued trend toward digital.

Levy said the U.S. market is “going better and picking up” as he noted organic growth jumped 8.1% in North America to euro 632M, including 8.4% in the U.S. on the strength of digital efforts and new business.

New accounts for its MSLGroup PR division in Q1 included U.S. assignments for Special K, Sodexo, Home Depot and Ancestry.com, along with TAKA (U.K. and Dubai) and AstraZeneca (China).

Levy pointed to Publicis’ 6.5% organic growth (up from 3.1% for Q1 ’09) as “particularly impressive in light of the challenging base effect we are facing.”

He said digital and China are key areas of growth for its units.