As the third day of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity gets underway, Publicis Groupe drew the industry’s attention last week not with a new AI platform or technological solution, but with criticism of the way artificial intelligence is currently being used as a sales argument in agency pitches.
Ahead of the festival, the company released a satirical film titled “The Wrong Promises,” calling out the practice of exaggerated AI claims, free creative work and aggressive commercial offers that some agencies use to win new clients.
According to Arthur Sadoun, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe, the problem is not artificial intelligence itself, but the way it is being presented to the market.
The film, created by Le Truc, is based on real situations that, according to the company, were shared by clients and pitch consultants over the past few years. It features examples of agencies offering multimillion-dollar bonuses for adopting AI platforms, promising free work, guaranteeing award wins or offering luxury experiences in order to secure business contracts.
While acknowledging that such practices existed before the AI era, Sadoun believes that artificial intelligence has further accelerated the trend of promising rapid savings and lower costs. In his view, clients today are not looking for fewer people on their accounts, but for a better combination of expertise and technology that can deliver measurable business results.
A similar view was expressed by Carla Serrano, Chief Strategy Officer at Publicis Groupe, who believes the industry has entered a cycle of excessive excitement around AI. As she noted, many presentations today rely more on demonstrations of potential than on concrete proof that the technology can generate results in real business environments and at scale.
Interestingly, Publicis Groupe itself has been one of the most vocal advocates of AI transformation in the marketing industry for years. The company has invested heavily in its own data and AI platforms and has often used Cannes Lions as a stage to introduce new technology initiatives.
This time, however, the focus is different. Rather than unveiling new tools, the company has dedicated its presence at this year’s Cannes Lions to showcasing tangible business outcomes achieved through the application of AI technologies. As part of that effort, Publicis has scheduled more than 60 closed-door sessions with clients from various industries throughout the festival week.
Among the key events announced is a gathering of around 350 clients and 70 investors, including representatives of Mars and The Coca-Cola Company, two major clients that Publicis won last year.
Sadoun says the company has increasingly moved away from traditional pitch processes in recent months and is instead offering clients shorter pilot projects through which they can test the real capabilities of AI solutions before making larger commitments. At the same time, he rejects claims that Publicis is growing through aggressive pricing strategies or free creative work.
According to him, since 2017 the group has increased revenue by 65 percent, doubled its EBITDA and hired around 40,000 new employees, while its creative business continues to grow at a time when much of the market is stagnating or declining.
The message that Publicis Groupe chose to send from Cannes is therefore not directed against artificial intelligence, but against the expectation that technology alone can solve clients’ problems. According to the company, the only promise that truly matters today is business results that can be demonstrated and measured.
