Watching and re-watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail dozens of times in middle school taught us two things: the English have terrible hygiene and French people talk funny.
Publicis Groupe’s first Cannes Lions video under its new leader Arthur Sadoun makes pretty much the same joke: he talks like a Frenchman, ha ha ha.
Bonjour! Baguette! Jacques Coustaeu!
Oh oui oui, who doesn’t like some light-hearted fun at the expense of consultants dressed like they just finished hosting a Vice segment on kids who turn abandoned Midwestern malls into skate parks?
Yeah ok. But what is “break bond build,” which we keep wanting to call Triple B?
Sadoun spoke to The Wall Street Journal to elaborate on what he plans to do atop Publicis.
His take on the biggest challenge facing ad agencies:
If the industry does not bring back growth to our clients’ business, we will be in danger. We have to overcome the fragmentation that now makes marketing splintered. We must be delivering expertise in technology and data and think very broadly about creativity.
That reads a lot like an even greater focus on media and ad buying than creative work. Someone got the Sorrell memo.
Sadoun did acknowledge that ROI for Publicis’ acquisition of Sapient has been disappointing due to “us underestimating how difficult it is to get technologists and marketing working together.”
He also predicted, somewhat ominously, that the ad industry will see more changes in the next 5 years than it has over the past 20.
But creative storytelling is still the single key to success in advertising, right? Right?? Gerard Depardieu?!?