Publicis Groupe clicks play after a year of pause on awards

With the completion of its ambitious artificial intelligence project, Marcel, in a year, which will be presented at Cannes Lions on June 19 at 3pm CET, Publicis Groupe has announced that it will return to the festival next year.

Carla Serrano, Chief Strategy Officer of Publicis Groupe, Nick Law, Chief Creative Officer of Publicis Groupe and President of Publicis Communications and Arthur Sadoun, Chairman & CEO of Publicis Groupe will present a beta version and discuss why it’s an important part of the company’s future‎.

Arthur Sadoun, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe, said, “I want to say thank you to the Cannes Lions for inviting us to present Marcel at this year’s festival, and for their partnership through The Work. It will be only for a couple of hours but we are really looking forward to having the opportunity, one year later, to share why we believe the decision we took was right for our people, our clients and hopefully for our industry. The festival has always held a special place for Publicis Groupe, and we’re delighted to be coming back in 2019, stronger than ever."

The holding company had announced last year at Cannes Lions that it would shift its promotional budget away from industry events and awards shows until July 1, 2018 in order to focus on the development of its Marcel platform.

“Twelve months ago, we took the decision to pause our investment in promotional industry events for one year. It was a difficult but necessary sacrifice at a moment when our industry is in need of radical change. It gave us the means, the focus, and perhaps more importantly, the sense of urgency, to reinvent the way we work and start building Marcel,” said Sadoun.

However, Publicis Groupe will have limited participation at the festival this year with no cost being incurred towards attending it. The company has clarified and shared the details of its involvement in the 2018 Cannes Lions Festival:

Campaign entries:

Publicis Groupe has kept to its own strict rules concerning awards submissions and has not entered any work in this year’s Cannes Lions festival on its own behalf, barring one exception.

In support of creative excellence and out of respect for this award’s submission pause, some of the Groupe’s clients and partners have taken on the cost of entering what they consider to be award-worthy campaigns developed by Publicis Groupe agencies. This represents 399 campaigns as of June 9.

The only exception to this is BBH London’s “3 Billboards” campaign for Justice4Grenfell, the organisation trying to get justice for the victims of the 2017 Grenfell Tower disaster in London. Publicis Groupe is proud to support this cause and creativity for good at the Cannes Lions. 

Attendees:

1. 12 Publicis Groupe leaders have been invited to attend the Festival as Jury Presidents or as part of the awarding juries. Their presence will be financed by the Cannes Lions, in line with the Festival’s policy of covering the cost of all delegates, from any company, who serve on its juries. 12 additional Publicis Groupe leaders are members of the shortlist juries and will not attend the Festival. 
2. 12 members of the Publicis Groupe community have been invited by the festival to compete in Young Lions competitions after winning at regional stage competitions.
3. 25 Publicis Groupe employees have been invited to attend Cannes Lions by their clients and by other industry partners.
4. 15 Publicis Groupe employees have decided to attend the Festival by personally funding their trip.
5. 20 Publicis Groupe account leaders will be participating in key client meetings taking place in Cannes and not attending the Festival. Their presence will be funded by Publicis Groupe.

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