To kick off its 100th birthday, Publicis Groupe released a cinematic short film that retraces its history—not with a dusty corporate slideshow, but using a lion, generative AI, and the voice of an Édith Piaf impersonator. Titled “A Lion Never Gives Up,” the nearly seven-minute film fuses live-action scenes with AI-generated visuals inspired by over 4,500 historical assets. Publicis Conseil and Prodigious Paris led the charge, working with AI prompt artists and archivists to transform archival images into narrative-driven content. The lion, long a symbol of the company’s identity, serves as the guide through some of Publicis’ most turbulent and triumphant moments.
The film doesn’t shy away from drama—depictions include the World War II era, when founder Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet joined the Resistance after being forced to abandon the agency, and the 1972 fire that destroyed HQ. It closes with the lion facing down Wall Street’s Charging Bull. A quarter of the film is live action, giving way to heavy AI-lifted storytelling that wraps with a message of perseverance, fitting for a company that’s reinvented itself repeatedly across a century.
Meanwhile, CEO Arthur Sadoun used the film’s launch to spotlight Publicis’ AI-forward strategy and to downplay rival Omnicom’s recent Interpublic acquisition. He emphasized that while some chase scale, Publicis is betting on AI differentiation—half its workforce already leans technical, including data scientists and engineers. Sadoun says the next decade will belong to those who apply AI deftly, not necessarily those who bulk up through M&A.
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