From resilience to innovation: Dékuple China's new dynamic

After a 2025 marked by an economic slowdown in the Chinese market, Dékuple China has demonstrated strong resilience by stabilizing its activity. Far from resting on its laurels, the subsidiary took advantage of this period to rethink its investments. Benoit Raoult looks back on the strategic choices of the past year and unveils Dékuple China's strong ambitions for 2026, featuring a very concrete shift towards Artificial Intelligence.

What is the assessment of 2025 for Dékuple China?

Benoit Raoult: In 2025, the Chinese market slowed down significantly, with declining consumption, postponed investments, and marketing budgets under pressure. In this context, our priority was not growth at all costs, but the solidity of our business.

We achieved a revenue in 2025 equivalent to that of 2024. In the current context, this is a true sign of resilience. This stability is based on clear choices, a refocus on our most solid clients, trade-offs on certain activities, and strengthened operational discipline. Beyond the numbers, I mainly note the commitment and agility of the teams, who were able to stay focused on the value delivered to clients and consolidate our fundamentals.

Maintaining the business is a healthy foundation, but it is not an end in itself. The market slowdown reminded us that we had to invest differently to revive growth. It is in this context that artificial intelligence has become central to our strategic thinking.

We made AI a priority despite the pressure on budgets. Everyone talks about AI, many want to use it, but few really know how to integrate it in an operational and profitable way. This zone of uncertainty is a strategic opportunity.

What are your perspectives for 2026?

Our goal is to move from experimentation to structuring with a dedicated GEO offer, designed for communication and public relations agencies. Our technological offer addresses very concrete issues: creative productivity, impact measurement, and the ability to offer new high value-added services.

Our initial discussions with agencies are very encouraging because they reflect a concrete shift: AI is no longer approached as a promise or a theoretical potential, but as a set of precise use cases, generating measurable gains and new economic models. This maturity is also the result of the slowdown period, which taught us rigor, agility, and resilience. Today, it allows us to approach 2026 with a clear and assumed competitive advantage, making AI a true strategic lever. The challenge is demanding, but it is fully within our capabilities.