Microsoft hired to build Publicis Groupe’s AI platform Marcel
Five months ahead of its official launch, Publicis Groupe has appointed Microsoft to to build its much-anticipated AI platform Marcel.
The group’s consultancy arm Publicis.Sapient will design the global ‘professional assistant’, while Microsoft will build the platform itself, it was revealed in an internal memo by CEO Arthur Sadoun.
Due to be revealed at Viva Tech in May, Marcel is intended to connect all 80,000 of Publicis’ employees for the purpose of universal access to information.
Last year, the holding company announced a one-year hiatus from all award shows and marketing events in order to pool its resources into the project.
Now with just months to go, Sadoun sent employees the following memo: “So, we have a robust definition of what Marcel is and a great partner to build it with. Now we just need all of you. Marcel is a platform, and a platform is nothing more than a stage for people to act on. That’s why in the near future, we will start taking more and more initiatives to test and prototype ideas,” Sadoun said.
“I would like to leave you with a more personal thought. I am often asked why we decided to create Marcel. After all, no one forced us to and it is a complicated and even risky initiative. My response is always the same: we created Marcel because we believe that people no longer just work for companies. Companies need to work for their people.”
Following the leak, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella commented: “AI is one of the most transformative technologies of our time, but its real power lies in how it can be applied to amplify human ingenuity.
“And that’s the beauty of Marcel. At Microsoft, we believe that people no longer just work for companies – companies need to work for their people. Marcel embodies that belief. That’s what makes this collaboration so seamless and natural.”
Eleanor Dickinson is the editor of Mumbrella Asia. Eleanor joined the Asia platform from Dubai, where she acted as senior reporter for Campaign Middle East.
So did Sadoun plagiarise the whole ‘we believe that people no longer just work for companies – companies need to work for their people’ nonsense, or vice versa?
ReplyAwesome. Publicis have bought Skype for Business and Sharepoint from Microsoft.
Next stop Cannes.
ReplyPublicis don’t care about [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines]. Getting same salary after working 20 years +. Only the upper management $$$$. Cost of living increasingly but not the salary.
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