Publicis has acquired CNC – Communications & Network Consulting AG, a Munich-based firm that will become part of MSLGroup. CNC, founded in 2002, has 100 staffers in 14 countries. The firm specializes in financial communications and other strategic PR work.

CEO Dr. Christoph Walther will continue in that position. Anders Kempe, president of MSLGroup in the EMEA region will join CNC’s supervisory board. In Germany, CNC will work with clients on financial, public affairs, and corporate comms programs while MSLGroup will work on corporate communications, social media programs, and reputation management efforts.

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Publicis will begin the search for a post-Maurice Lévy leader next summer. Lévy had planned to retire this year, but that plan was scrapped. The announcement was made at this week’s Reuters Global Media Summit. [via Reuters]

Speaking of Publicis, the company has acquired Polish PR agency Ciszewski, which focuses on tech PR, financial communications, consumer, and sports outreach. The firm will now go by the name Ciszewski MSL led by Jerzy Ciszewski, Ciszewski’s founder and president. According to the press release, Ciszewski experienced 59 percent organic growth in 2010 and is expected to see a 41 percent increase this year.

DDA Public Relations and Blueprint Public Relations are partnering for DDA Blueprint, a London venture that will focus on international TV and theater. The standalone firm will be led by Blueprint directors Janet Balmforth and Aimee Norman with Lawrence Atkinson, DDA’s CEO, and John Stannard, DDA COO, as non-executive directors. [via Variety]

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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.

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Facebook's Zuckerberg, and Google CEO Eric Schmidt

The big message to come from the Internet business leaders who gathered in France for the e-G8 meeting this week was “Leave the Internet alone.”

Hosted by Publicis chief exec Maurice Lévy and serving as a prelude to the Group of 8 summit currently under way, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Eric Schmidt, John Donahoe, chief executive of eBay, and Groupon founder Andrew Mason were among the digital bigwigs in attendance for the e-G8. They also had an audience with G-8 world leaders like British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has called for some regulation of the Web.

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Publicis has acquired Dreams Communication, a Beijing-based firm that specializes in healthcare communications, advertising, event planning, and digital and education services. The firm will become part of the Publicis Healthcare Communications Group and will be rebranded as Publicis Life Brands Dreams. (Slightly awkward, no?)

Dreams was founded in 2003 and has 50 employees. Among the clients it has worked with are Novartis, Pfizer, and Xian-Janssen. This is the second acquisition for Publicis in the Asian-Pacific region this year. In March it acquired Watermelon in India.

Publicis has acquired London-based digital agency Airlock. The firm, founded in 2001 and with a staff of 16 digital pros, will become part of the Leo Burnett Group in the U.K., bringing its total number of digital staffers to 85. Airlock provides digital brand strategy, creative services, e-commerce solutions, and more.

Airlock’s leadership team of Will Lebens, Charlie Martin, Joseph Denne, and Chris Mair will continue to head the firm reporting to group chief digital officer, Marc Giusti.

In recent weeks, Publicis announced the acquisition of another U.K. digital firm, Holler.

WPP has taken the top spot as the biggest marketing group, displacing Omnicom.  WPP experienced a 13 percent increase in revenue following the 2008 acquisition of TNS, growing from $10.7 billion in 2008 to $12.1 billion in 2009. Omnicom, on the other hand, saw a decrease of 12 percent from $13.4bn to $11.7 for the same time period.

Publicis came in third and IPG in fourth.

Publicis posted a YouTube video meant to promote its Twitter stream, featuring company staff and execs talking with one another. Rather than words, their conversations have been dubbed over with tweets and hoots.

A clever someone took that as an opportunity to add subtitles with their own dialogue. So what do the folks at Publicis talk about all day? According to the hacked video (below), monkeys and penises.

BNet says it “has already become a nice little case study in why you should inoculate your marketing against satire before you launch it,” although it could draw attention to the company. It just might not be the kind of attention Publicis would like.

The original video is after the jump.

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Publicis chief exec Maurice Lévy is in talks with Chinese government officials to establish a communications university in one of China‘s major cities.

According to Lévy, talks have been ongoing for some time now. And with high consumer interest in brands all across the country, the Chinese market is rife with opportunity.

“China has become the number two economy in the world and they are modernising the country heavily and they are moving toward a market economy. Therefore, marketing and advertising is very important and the Chinese love brands,” he told the UK’s Telegraph.

Lévy would not disclose whether the school would be Publicis-branded or whether graduates would join the company.

Speaking to Reuters today, Publicis CEO Maurice Levy expressed optimism for Publicis‘ organic growth numbers this quarter, saying the firm will do better than the 3.5 percent growth forecast after Q2 results were announced.

It’s the second time the CEO has raised the company’s targets, demonstrating that the company’s focus on emerging markets and digital advertising is paying off, Reuters reports. Publicis shares have risen 19.5 percent this year.