by Herman Manson (@marklives) Following the announcement during last week’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity that Publicis Groupe will withdraw from all award and trade shows for one year, effective 1 July 2017, it has been confirmed that local Publicis agencies will be unable to enter certain South African award shows this year. These include Loeries 2018 (the final entry deadline for 2017 closed in early June), Bookmarks 2018 and Pendoring 2017.
Says Kevin Tromp, CEO of Publicis Africa Group, “The decision announced at Cannes by Arthur Sadoun affects all awards shows globally for 365 days… and then we’ll be back, empowered by the new Marcel tool, which will add real value for our clients.”
Local Publicis agencies unable to compete over the next year include OwenKessel Leo Burnett, Publicis Machine, Saatchi & Saatchi, Saatchi & Saatchi Synergize and Liquorice, among others.
The cost savings Publicis Groupe will achieve is supposed to fund Marcel, an AI system being developed by the group.
Herman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com.
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