Publicis strikes at AI haters with outdoor ads in Cannes Lions

In 2017, French advertising Publicis Groupe, was dismissed when it announced that it will be investing heavily in an AI platform called Marcel. Marcel, the butt of multiple jokes then, is currently the talk of the town at on-going Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Publicis gave the critics and naysayers a massive comeback in the form of an outdoor advertising campaign – created by AI. The campaign recreates the exact expressions including shock, confusion, laughter that were plastered on the face of many who probably had little idea that 2023 would be all about AI. Publicis has come up with a “I told you so” campaign plastered all over the Croisette on the first day of the Cannes festival. The ad’s tagline ‘Is it ok to talk about AI in Cannes now?’ They will appear on various sites at the week-long festival.

MARCEL RETURNS TO CANNES NOW THAT IT’S ‘OK TO TALK ABOUT AI’ https://t.co/rAGysVSWiK pic.twitter.com/u7EHUARXT4

— Publicis Groupe (@PublicisGroupe) June 19, 2023

“Six years ago, AI was laughed at and criticized. Fast forward, and you see that every company at Cannes is keenly announcing its latest AI partnership,” said Carla Serrano, Chief Strategy Officer, Publicis Groupe and added, “AI is a tool that has long sat at the center of our model: across Sapient for enhanced customer experience; at Epsilon to enrich and activate in real-time our first-party data; in Media and critically in Creativity, where it enhances dynamic creativity while optimizing, accelerating and simplifying production processes.”