Publicis Groupe marks one hundred years of existence with the short film A Lion Never Gives Up, a combination of archival footage, live action, and generative AI technology. And although the film depicts key moments of a global giant, its true value becomes especially clear when viewed from the perspective of our region, markets that understand very well what it means to build an industry over and over again.
From its beginnings in 1926 as a creative studio in Montmartre, through international expansion, integration of data and technology into its operations, and all the way to its current position as a leading industry holding company, we can say that Publicis has gone through many transformations over the past 100 years.
But one tradition has remained unchanged: the annual Wishes film.
And who better to mark the entry into a new century than Publicis Conseil, the agency founded by the founder himself, Marcel Bleustein Blanchet?
The film opens almost romantically, taking us back to 1926 and the vision of Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, a man who led Publicis with the confidence of a Leo in astrology. His symbol became an inseparable part of the company’s identity, a manifesto of perseverance. As we watch Publicis’ lion-like journey through archival footage of World War II, through the years when Bleustein-Blanchet had to leave the agency because of his origins and join the resistance movement, to the moment when the entire headquarters burned down in 1972, the story takes on a different weight. Because if anyone understands the concept of rebuilding after destruction, it is precisely our region.
In markets that have built their industries out of transition, crisis, embargoes, systemic collapse, and relentless improvisation, Publicis’ story feels familiar. In a region where agencies often had to be mentors, educators, and an infrastructural system for clients all at once, the lion is an everyday job description. That is why this centennial narrative carries a stronger lesson in our context: creativity is important, but resilience is crucial.
The film then leads us into the modern era, the era of COVID, technological leaps, and industry shifts, where Publicis shows more clearly than ever that its strength does not come from size but from its readiness for reinvention. Today, more than half of its employees work in data, engineering, and AI technologies. Sadoun openly states that the next decade will not be defined by revenue but by the ability to integrate artificial intelligence. And here, a surprising conclusion emerges: AI may, for the first time, equalize the chances of small and large markets.
Arthur Sadoun, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe, commented: “2026 will be a very special year for us, as we complete our first century. A century in which we transformed a small creative workshop from Montmartre into the largest industry holding company over the past two years. A century in which the Groupe literally rose from the ashes three times and transformed itself many times over. It is that spirit of resilience that has defined us throughout all 100 years, and it is embodied in our Wishes film: A Lion Never Gives Up.
2026 will also be the year we enter our second century, whose beginning will undoubtedly be marked by the rise of artificial intelligence. This film is a human, historical, and technological odyssey that brings together our best creative minds with our unique AI production capabilities, in order to embody our belief that the future of AI lies – in our people.”
A Lion Never Gives Up combines live-action footage with GenAI 2D and 3D visuals to reconstruct scenes from the past, reducing the cost of scene reconstruction and opening entirely new creative possibilities. One quarter of the film consists of live-action shots, while the rest was created with the help of AI, using photographs, video material, and documents from the Publicis Groupe archive. AI prompt creators and AI archivists managed, gathered, and catalogued a vast amount of real visual material needed for a project of this scale, 4,500 images for 150 individual shots, as well as those generated by artificial intelligence. In a traditional production process, once you reach the editing stage, everything becomes final and “locked.” Here, everything remained open: every frame could be regenerated from scratch.
In a region where budgets rarely match ambitions, technology, automation, and intelligent systems can become the greatest creative multiplier. For the first time, there is a real possibility that agility and speed can outperform size and capital. While global holdings invest billions in AI, small industries like ours can, thanks to that same technology, amplify the difference between average and exceptional, faster than ever before.
It is worth remembering that Publicis had already, long before the global data euphoria, tested and adopted end-to-end models, performance methodologies, and data-driven systems in the Adriatic region. This is a detail the film does not show, but one the industry in the region knows very well. And it is proof that transformation does not begin in large markets but begins where there is the will to experiment and build.
In the film’s final scene, the lion stands opposite the Charging Bull on Wall Street. The symbol of financial power and the symbol of creative perseverance look each other straight in the eye. That is perhaps the most accurate metaphor for the centenary: the battle is no longer about who is the biggest, but who is prepared to seize the future.
And as for our region, although we are not the main character in this film, we are very much an audience that understands the message. Publicis’ story reminds us that an industry grows only where systems, knowledge, continuity, and a culture of reinvention are built. One hundred years of a lion could be an inspiration for a region that sometimes forgets that it too has survived unimaginable changes. Perhaps that is why Publicis’ story sounds louder in the Adriatic region than elsewhere: it indirectly asks whether we are ready for the next century of communications. And whether we are, finally, ready to stop waiting for the future and start producing it.
Because the moral of the story, as the film concludes, truly is simple:
Whatever happens – a lion never gives up.
