The Ad Industry Is Skeptical of Publicis Groupe's Stunning Move to Skip All Awards Shows in 2018

Many call the move 'a stunt' but predict Sadoun will follow through

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“Stop the presses: Publicis Groupe launches an intranet … in 2018. How will they attract and retain top talent? With a Siri?” With a bot named Marcel, apparently.

That’s one longtime industry consultant’s take on what has, so far, been the biggest news of the 2017 Cannes Lions Festival. Two days ago, Publicis Groupe CEO and chairman Arthur Sadoun announced that his network would be foregoing all awards, trade shows and other paid promotional efforts for more than a year while developing Marcel, an AI-powered “professional assistant” that it plans to launch next June at the 2018 VivaTech conference in Paris.

Sadoun’s

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