What happened to Publicis Groupe's ambitious Marcel project - Business Insider: Publicis spent $30 million to build Marcel, an AI tool that was supposed to 'break the industry.' Instead, it's been hampered by confusion, ridicule, and delays
Patrick Coffee Mar 30, 2020, 4:03 PM
Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun presents the first preview of Marcel in May 2018. Getty Images
In June 2017, Publicis Groupe announced that it would skip all awards and industry events for a year to develop an AI-driven project management platform called Marcel.
It was supposed to be Arthur Sadoun's first big move as CEO of the world's third-largest holding company and create a huge splash in the industry.
But Marcel became one of the industry's most mysterious and ridiculed projects in recent years and was hampered by internal skepticism, tension, and confusion.
When Publicis and Microsoft finally debuted a Marcel prototype in May 2018,�it fell short of its promise.
Since then, holding company leadership stopped talking about the platform as conversation shifted to the $4.4 billion acquisition of data firm Epsilon. Now, Publicis estimates that Marcel will be available to all employees by the end of April.
Patrick Coffee Mar 30, 2020, 4:03 PM
Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun presents the first preview of Marcel in May 2018. Getty Images
In June 2017, Publicis Groupe announced that it would skip all awards and industry events for a year to develop an AI-driven project management platform called Marcel.
It was supposed to be Arthur Sadoun's first big move as CEO of the world's third-largest holding company and create a huge splash in the industry.
But Marcel became one of the industry's most mysterious and ridiculed projects in recent years and was hampered by internal skepticism, tension, and confusion.
When Publicis and Microsoft finally debuted a Marcel prototype in May 2018,�it fell short of its promise.
Since then, holding company leadership stopped talking about the platform as conversation shifted to the $4.4 billion acquisition of data firm Epsilon. Now, Publicis estimates that Marcel will be available to all employees by the end of April.