Five things we learnt about Publicis Groupe's plans for Marcel, awards and its employees

Publicis Groupe's chief executive Arthur Sadoun invited his global employees to ask him questions about Marcel the AI platform over Twitter yesterday. Here are a few things we've learnt.

1. Sadoun seems to believe that taking a year off will still allow creative work to be entered in awards

When asked about the loss of job stability for creatives about to start families, Sadoun replied: "No big idea that is created today will miss out on next year’s awards. So start to find ideas and enjoy creating kids." (above)

However, Sadoun did not reply to a point made by Vaness von Broembsen (@vanessDC) that as award entries start in January and end in May 2018, being unable to enter awards until 1 July 2018 means that creatives will be missing out on awards.

Likewise, when asked how Publicis Groupe was going to recruit great creatives in the face of its ban on awards, Sadoun said: "Good news – if you start recruiting today by the time they finalise a award-winning idea we'll be back in the festival cycle!"

But when @gottesmd replied that an idea that is live on September 2017 can not be entered in 2019, Sadoun again did not reply.

Good news - if you start recruiting today by the time they finalise a award-winning idea we'll be back in the festival cycle!

— Arthur Sadoun (@ArthurSadoun) June 26, 2017

2. Marcel is not a bot and will not take jobs

When @alexvralexvr5 asked if Marcel the bot would result in job cuts, Sadoun replied that he was not familiar with Marcel the bot. However, Marcel the platform was an opportunity for everyone to grow.

"Give my love to Marcel the bot," concluded Sadoun.

(Translated from French by Twitter's translation software)

3. Marcel will profile Publicis Groupe employees and match them to jobs

According to Sadoun, Marcel will host a "rich profile" of Publicis Groupe employees and match them to projects based on "skills, experience, super powers, passions".

4. There is a sneaky way Publicis agencies can get their work into awards

Through their clients. Sadoun said that there was no plan to "pause from awards" just "pausing from investing from [sic] awards".

yes they'd need to pay for it

— Arthur Sadoun (@ArthurSadoun) June 26, 2017

5. Some Publicis employees are deeply sceptical that an AI platform will lead to collaboration

"What does successful collaboration mediated by technology look like when people can't even collaborate under the same roof? " asked Laura Massaro (@thesquirreld)

Sadoun disagreed, stating she should ask the competition how well Publicis was collaborating through "the Power of One".

Massaro, however, said it's a nice theory but has never worked well in practice "in any agency".