Do recent pronouncements made by one of the global advertising industry’s most prominent figureheads indicate that traditional media has reached an inflection point? When Publicis Groupe CEO and chairman Arthur Sadoun announced that his network would forgo all awards for the next year at the 2017 Cannes Festival, it shocked the marketing and advertising world. Sadoun controversially said Publicis would instead use the time and resources saved to develop bespoke artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Not only does this in itself signify a tectonic shift in the traditional agency model, it also sparked debate regarding the established paradigm, particularly the role of awards as the benchmark for measuring the success of traditional media campaigns. Creative awards have become a critical differentiator for agencies to remain competitive in an industry struggling to justify the impact and effectiveness of the traditional marketing mix, largely due to a lack of solid metrics to measur...
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