Publicis Groupe CEO Maurice Lévy to transform The Drum to Le Drum for Cannes
The Drum is set to become Le Drum for an issue this month when Maurice Lévy, chief executive of Publicis Groupe, will star on the cover of his own guest edited edition of the magazine which will appear around La Croisette during the Cannes Lions Festival.
Lévy will feature on the cover, apparently attempting to add more of his own influence to Europe's best read media and marketing title’s branding.
The cover image, shot at Publicis Groupe headquarters in Paris during a photoshoot in March, was produced by photographer Julian Hanford, who commented: “Maurice Lévy, one of the most powerful businessmen in the entire media world, being cheeky for my camera. One of the most pleasurable shoots I've done in a long time. He was a thoroughly nice human being!”
Maurice Lévy explained: “In this edition of The Drum magazine we’re going to take a look at some of the brightest minds of innovation and creativity today – similarly to those honored at the Cannes Lions Festival – highlighting Europe as well as the international landscape of our industry. Not only will this be a great opportunity to explore the trends, people and transformations shaping our business, but also those which have laid the foundation over the past four decades since I’ve been in this business.”
Gordon Young, editor-in-chief of The Drum added: “We are proud to have a man of Maurice’s stature and knowledge in charge of this very special edition, which will feature interviews with some of the world’s most creative visionaries among insight into Lévy’s own views and career. This is going to be an astonishing edition of The Drum.”
As well as a rare insight into the passions of Lévy, also included in the issue will be exclusive interviews with DJ David Guetta, who Lévy will also interview on stage during Cannes Lions, Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, acclaimed designer Philippe Starck, L'Oréal chief executive Jean-Paul Agon, a look at the rise of connected cities with Jean-Charles Decaux, features around Dior, Tencent and Heineken and many more contributions and insights.
The Lévy issue will be released just before Cannes Lions, with a 360-degree virtual reality video of his office specially shot at the same time as the cover by VR specialists Unit9 (pictured) also set to go live on The Drum’s YouTube channel around the same time.