Commentary

Arthur Sadoun Plays Artful Dodger With Troops On Twitter

As promised, Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun went to Twitter Monday to field questions from the troops about the new AI platform Marcel and why the company is foregoing Cannes and other awards ceremonies to fund it. It was pretty entertaining. 

One young creative, who’s clearly sprucing up his/her resume, asked Sadoun “What about everything we already worked so hard on this year - none of it will be entered?” 

Sadoun started his reply with,  “That’s a very good question,” which is usually a stalling tactic one uses to think of an answer when one isn’t actually prepared to respond, although in this case who knows how many of these questions he actually answered himself versus the PR department’s social media team. 

Anyway, he went on say that “YoungCreative2017” should “send your best work to your Global Creative Director and we’ll make sure it gets recognized.” 

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Hahahahahahaha! 

Recognized how exactly Arthur? A congratulatory note from Marcel, once it’s activated next year? Or maybe a 10 euro bonus check, that you’ll have to forward to McCann or Crispin, or wherever the kid ends up working by the time the Groupe figures out how you will recognize all the good work not being submitted for awards. 

Another questioner wanted to know Sadoun’s response to an Adweek report that Wieden + Kennedy had pondered foregoing Cannes but after feedback from staff decided against such a move. 

Sadoun’s reply: “Marcel is born from a talent survey where people asked us to do more. We did it because the young generation not in Cannes asked for it.” 

Another Laugh-Out-Loud and very disingenuous response. Arthur the younger generation didn’t tell you to axe the awards budget. If given a choice between Marcel and Cannes, we all know what the answer would be—ABORT MARCEL, TOUTE SUITE!! 

Another earnest questioner asked Sadoun for a “rough sketch” of what Marcel will deliver. Ask a silly question and get a silly answer. Sadoun gave the questioner a really rough sketch, literally: A napkin with “Talent” written on it with arrows pointing to the word from all directions. “It will put our talent at the center,” Sadoun added to his artistry. 

That’s great. Companies now have a terrifically efficient way to host buzzword bingo BS Town Hall meetings—with a Twitter clusterfu*k. No space to rent and no stale bagels to buy! 

And what to do with the savings? Ask Marcel.  

 

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