Cannes Lions Parent Company Ascential Looks to Rebuild After Revenue Dip Due to Publicis 'Boycott'

MediaLink 'making good progress,' said CEO Duncan Painter

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Ascential, parent company of the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and omnipresent consulting firm MediaLink, reported declines in total revenue produced by its marketing division—which includes both of those organizations—in today’s full year results for 2018.

Shares in the London-based company had declined by approximately 2 percent at the time this story was filed.

The drop was not unexpected, given the “major Cannes overhaul” that Ascential revealed in November 2017 after pressure from major agency holding companies that demanded a shorter, more streamlined and cost-effective event.

Publicis Groupe made headlines around the industry for announcing, at the very beginning of the 2017 festival, that it would forbid

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