Following the announcement of the jury line-up for the 2018 Cannes Lions, Publicis Groupe released a statement regarding the participation of several key people in the awards program. These include Mark Tutssel, Global Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett Worldwide and Chair of Publicis Communications’ Global Creative Board, Kate Stanners, Chairwoman and Global Chief Creative Officer of Saatchi & Saatchi, and Nick Law, newly-minted Chief Creative Officer of Publicis Groupe and President of Publicis Communications.
The statement reads:
“Since the beginning of our 12-month pause from industry awards, festivals and events we’ve always been very clear:
This decision was taken so we could invest in our platform.
We’re very happy for our people to participate in any kind of jury or panel as long as the festival concerned covers costs and expenses. We’re delighted to say that Mark, Kate and of course Nick are participating in Cannes under these conditions, and we’re looking forward to coming back to the awards circuit with a bang in September 2018.”
Publicis Groupe shocked the advertising industry during last year’s festival by declaring that it will not enter any awards program for the next 12 months in order to invest in Marcel, an artificial intelligence program designed to facilitate companywide collaboration.
