Last 12 months, Publicis Groupe enlisted Snoop Dogg for its annual “Wishes” vacation message final 12 months, touting up its standing because the business’s “top dog.” This 12 months, it’s mixing nostalgia and synthetic intelligence (AI).
The season’s greetings for employees and shoppers lands because the company celebrates its one hundredth birthday. To mark the event, it has unveiled a six-minute movie that blends stay motion with the group’s AI instruments to chart its rise from its 1926 beginnings as a small artistic store in Paris’ buzzy Montmartre district to a $20 billion holdco.
“A Lion Never Gives Up” was created over 12 months by a 10-person staff from Publicis Conseil, the unique company constructed by the advert community’s founder Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet.
The video opens with narration by an AI-generated rendition of French musical legend Édith Piaf.
It goes on to chart key milestones in Publicis’ historical past, from Bleustein-Blanchet’s function within the WWII resistance within the Forties, to Maurice Lévy rescuing important recordsdata in the course of the 1972 fireplace that gutted its Champs-Élysées places of work, to the upheaval of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Each occasion is seen by means of the eyes of Publicis’ Lion marque, an emblem of the three chief executives (CEOs) who’ve steered the corporate during the last century, together with present boss Arthur Sadoun.
Sadoun advised ADWEEK the movie demonstrates that Publicis has all the time been about “human ideas,” however highlights how AI can assist manufacturing in methods not beforehand doable.
“If you look at our businesses, we never return to the past; we’re obsessed with what’s next,” he added. “This film is a lesson for everyone at Publicis that whatever is coming, we’ll be ready, because we are not afraid of the future, we know how to handle difficult moments, and we’re constantly reinventing.”
Agathe Bousquet, president of Publicis Groupe France, who oversees Conseil, mentioned Sadoun gave her staff “carte blanche” to create the centenary movie in the beginning of 2025.
Around 1 / 4 of the movie is stay motion, with the remainder created by AI. Prompt artists managed, sourced, and catalogued round 4,500 photographs throughout 150 pictures.
“AI can amplify, but it’s our talent that really makes the difference,” defined Bousquet. “That’s part of the message we want to send.
AI arms race
The video lands as Publicis looks to showcase its AI chops in a shrinking pool of competitors.