* Q3 underlying sales up 11.2%
    * Beats market consensus of 7.8%
    * Sees 2021 organic growth between 8.5% and 9%
    * Europe returns to pre-pandemic levels, U.S., Asia above

    By Milla Nissi
    Oct 14 (Reuters) - French advertising group Publicis
          raised its outlook for 2021 on Thursday as a global
shift towards digital media and e-commence helped its
third-quarter organic growth exceed market expectations.
    Demand for digital advertising helped Publicis, which has
sought to attract new customers by promising targeted campaigns
based on large pools of data, return to organic growth this year
for the first time since before the coronavirus pandemic.
    Publicis, home to ad agencies such as Leo Burnett and
Saatchi & Saatchi, said it had also benefited from new business
wins during the third quarter, including Walmart         and
Planet Fitness         .
    The world's third-largest advertising group behind Britain's
WPP         and U.S.-based Omnicom         now expects organic
growth of 8.5% to 9% this year, up from a previous 7% forecast.
    "The continued outperformance of our data and tech
capabilities once again demonstrated our ability to capture a
disproportionate share of the shift in client investment towards
digital media, commerce and DTC (direct-to-consumer)," Chief
Executive Arthur Sadoun said in a statement.
    Its digital business Sapient reported 20% organic growth in
the United States, which is Publicis' biggest market and the
source of more than half of its revenues, with data company
Epsilon 13% above last year's level.
    "Epsilon's potential for development outside the U.S. is
very interesting," Sadoun told reporters when asked about the
unit's dependency on its home market.
    "We have a small base today (internationally), between 5 and
8% of revenues ... but this base is already growing at 40% over
the first nine months."
    Underlying sales in the United States grew by 10.9% in the
quarter, while Asia-Pacific posted 12.5% growth. Sales in Europe
rose by 10% from last year and regained pre-pandemic levels.
    At group level, underlying sales rose by 11.2% to 2.6
billion euros ($3 billion) in the third quarter compared with
the same period last year, and exceeded 2019 levels by 5%.
    Analysts had expected organic growth of 7.8% for the
quarter, a company-provided consensus forecast showed.
($1 = 0.8643 euros)

 (Reporting by Milla Nissi and Valentine Baldassari in Gdansk;
Editing by Alexander Smith)