Arthur Sadoun outlines the importance of Cannes Lions to Publicis Groupe
Despite his self imposed hiatus for this year at Cannes Lions in order to fund the creation and development of the company's own artificial intelligence driven platform, Marcel, Publicis Groupe chief executive Arthur Sadoun took to the main stage at the festival to showcase the technology and talk about why the festival remains important to the company.
Arthur Sadoun has reasserted the importance of Cannes Lions to Publicis Groupe.
In a lighthearted and jovial presentation that featured Sadoun, the group's creative chief Nick Law and chief strategy officer Carla Serrano, there were 20 pre-recorded questions fired at the trio from the likes of David Droga, Kate Stanners and Tham Khai Meng about Marcel and their appearance at Cannes, despite the announcement that it would cease award entires for a year until 1 July.
On the topic of why Sadoun, who when making the announcement was only weeks into the job as chief executive, made the decision to impose the ban, he explained: "This [Marcel] was expensive and we needed the money. We needed the focus. We have hundreds of people working around the world to make this work...and maybe more importantly we needed a sense of urgency. If there is one thing I know it is that we won't change our without making dramatic changes. We need to be bolder and we need to make sure we take risks. We took a big risk but at least we are doing it."
He was later asked again about the company's commitment to creativity, where he replied by highlighting the hiring of Law from R/GA into the new chief creative role: "It has been hard to hear from other CEOs who have never been on this stage that we don't stand for creativity. It is incorrect, not only because it is the core of this organisation and when we took this decision, in the same moment, we thought that if we don't have a leader who has full creative authority... with Nick we have someone that characterises that totally."
He continued: "My feeling with Cannes is that it is extremely important for two reasons. The first is that our work needs to be judged," he stated, and added that the awards and festival would also influence and inspire staff.
"I owe my career to creativity" he would add while also thanking clients for supporting the decision and entering work on their own into the awards.
He also claimed that he felt the festival was set for a renewed future following changes made this year: "I came to Cannes for 20 years and I remember sitting all day looking at the 40-second commercials expecting to see things that would give me ideas for the year to come. I feel that Cannes had lost a bit of this and I am extremely happy to see that it is coming back. What Phil has been doing this year and the new way in which the festival has been organised is bringing this back. So we want to make sure that we are judged and that Cannes continues to inspire and we will be back next year."
One of the video questions came from Maurice Levy, chairman and former chief executive of Publicis Groupe, who asked Sadoun in humour; "What is your next stupid idea?"
Sadoun promised that there would be more further 'stupid ideas' and added: "We are back in the trenches, trying to solve problems and helping our clients."
Last month, Publicis Groupe hosted an 'Unboxing of Marcel' which showcased the power of functionality of the technology to staff, shareholders and clients.
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