Arthur Sadoun (Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe) faced in Twitter more than one critic by his decision to cut all spend in events for 1 year and a half in order to finance Publicis new AI platform called Marcel.
Publicis withdraws from all festivals including Cannes Lions in a moment that The International Festival of Creativity faces criticism on the structure and organisation.
Some industry leaders, such as Sir Martin Sorrell (President and CEO WPP) or Carter Murray (FCB CEO) have also showed against Publicis withdrawal from Cannes Lions.
Publicis clients are welcome if they want to participate at Cannes Lions
Imagine that our clients wish to present the creative work / the case study and that they finance the registration on their own”, @EmmaRoseHenry (Commercial Director of Publicis Conseil) asked. “With pleasure, they can doit!”, Arthur Sadoun underscored.
“I think Dominique (she refers probably to Dominique Le Bourhis -VP & Group Treasurer at Publicis Groupe- ) agrees with you”, @EmmaRoseHenry concluded.
Cuts not only related to Cannes Lions, and never meant on salaries or jobs
To the question risen by @mormullins: “Other than the cuts to ind/trade events, do you expect to freeze all compensation increases as well?”, Sadoun answered: “Thank you for the question. The reason why we are cutting events for 1 year is actually to avoid sneakily taking the money from other places.
Publicis President and CEO made clear that the so called “edict on no awards” wasn’t just related to Cannes Lions. “All type of awards are included as well as tech shows (sxsw, ces),” he said
There are ome Tweets as well @daypeche that take the spend cut in Events as a sort of creative sacrifice: Still don’t understand, why sacrifice creative side? get money elsewhere? , said the tweet.
“We are not sacrificing creativity we are investing in it. What we sacrifice is a few events in tech (ces, sxsw…) and creativity”, Sadoun underscored.
@vickieDOTcom, an employee of Publicis Groupe asked: “What is your plan for the people behind event marketing here? What is your plan for us over the next 18 months?”
“We have ambitious plans mostly when it comes to training that we’ll share with you in august,” Sadoun answered.
when you say training, what do you mean? with all due respect, what are we supposed to do until August?, @vickieDOTcom replied.
Criticism on the way the cut was announced
For @LArmstrong73: “Many believe in Marcel but the way the no awards edict was communicated caused a visceral reaction that overshadowed it. Yes?”
“Yes, I fully agree. But I want to set the truth from day one and face our people in Cannes. You can’t hide behind an email with this decision”, ArthurSadoun explained.
No chance of chaning mind on the marketing spend cut?, @LArmstrong73 asked again. But no answer from Sadoun.
@StephenLepitak raised another question on the chance that Publici reconsider their decission: “Marcel is clearly your priority but after the last few days, have you changed your mind about withdrawing marketing spend next year at all?”.
“My priority is not Marcel, but Publicis people. I am convinced that it will give them incredible opportunities to progress,” That was Sadoun’s answer.
@theadguy2018 raised a another critical question: “Would you be willing to issue a network-wide poll to see how many Creatives support Marcel? Or would their input not matter? “.
I gave my number to creative reps at Cannes, if they want to reach me they know where to find me, Sadoun informed. @theadguy2018 replied: “I don’t mean the Creatives execs lucky enough to go to France. I mean the thousands of other boots-on-the-ground Creatives affected by this.”
Some tweets found no answer
Despite Twitter seems a very trendy, friendly and “other lys ” for a CEO to use, the fact is that shielded behind the hashtag #AllAboutMarcel and @ArthurSadoun, the President and CEO of Publicis lesf many questions with no answer.
For example @11chrisw asked: “I think awards exist in part to help clients take chance. With that gone how do we sell cool ideas? It’s gonna be hard to be a creative.
There was no answer also to the question by @Nickys2Cool : “Why have you given it specifically one year for creatives not to enter any awards. Why not longer?.
@YngCrtv2017 sais: “I’m a young creative, why should I stay & support your corporation when you’ve made a decision that negatively affects my career for 2+ yrs?. These are just three of the many question that remain un-replied, but it is also true that the new Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe has answered “with no bodyguards” around.
Image over the headline.- Arthur Sadoun (Chairman and CEO Publicis Groupe). Publicis Groupe.
Related Eastwind Marketing links:
Publicis, to launch AI platform called Marcel
Sadoun takes the reins of Publicis starting off a deep cultural change
Related Eastwind Marketing links (Spanish edition):
¿Vientos de cierre en Cannes Lions?. La organización afronta las críticas montando un comité
(Shut down winds at Cannes Lions?. Ascential faces criticism with a commitee)
