Publicis Groupe marks 100 years with AI-powered New Year film

Publicis Groupe has unveiled an AI-driven New Year film to mark its 100th anniversary, blending live-action footage with generative AI to bring moments from its century-long history to life.

Titled “A lion never gives up”, the film was created by Publicis Conseil, the agency founded by Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet in 1926. It forms part of the network’s long-running annual Wishes tradition, which it has used for decades to signal its strategic direction for the year ahead.

The film highlights the agency’s evolution from a Montmartre creative shop to a global holding company, showing how it has weathered wars, economic downturns, and technological shifts.

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The film opens in occupied Paris in 1942, where a woman portraying French singer Édith Piaf takes to the stage to tell a story of resistance. She introduces a “French lion”, which appears beside her, before the narrative rewinds to 1926 and the founding of Publicis. 

In early scenes, a man argues with the lion, accusing it of caring only about advertising. The story follows the lion as it launches new ideas and products across Paris, including creative work featuring Piaf herself. The tone darkens during the war years, with soldiers hunting the lion as it flees. When Piaf later unveils that the enemy has been defeated, the lion emerges with a roar, symbolising the agency’s survival.

The film tracks the growth of both the lion and the agency, before showing a major setback with the burning of the lion’s building. Recovery is shown through technology, with the lion travelling the world and creating what the film frames as iconic campaigns.

More recent chapters depict the silence of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the lion connecting with employees through video calls. The film also references the group’s acquisitions and industry rankings, before turning its attention to the rise of AI. It closes with Piaf’s line that “whatever happens, the lion never gives up”, underscoring the group’s outlook as it enters its next century.

The hybrid production combines real actors with 2D and 3D GenAI imaging built using Publicis Groupe’s proprietary platforms and tools. About a quarter of the film features live-action footage, with the remaining scenes generated using artificial intelligence trained on images, films, and documents from Publicis’ own archives.

According to the company, more than 4,500 real images were sourced and catalogued to produce 150 individual shots, alongside a large volume of AI-generated visuals managed by dedicated AI prompt artists and archivists.

The editing workflow was also reworked for the project. Unlike traditional post-production pipelines where shots are locked once editing begins, each scene in the film could be regenerated from scratch throughout the process. Publicis Groupe said the project reflects both its legacy and its focus on innovation as it enters its next century.

In addition, the agency released a 35-minute documentary, showcasing the history behind Publicis with real-life interviews and footage from iconic campaigns. 

Ahead of the release, Publicis teased the film on LinkedIn with a nod to its lion mascot, “Unlike some omnivores, a lion never eats its young."

The film comes at a moment of significant change in the global agency landscape. Omnicom, for instance, is retiring several long-established brands, including DDB, FCB and MullenLowe, as part of a sweeping restructure following its US$13.3 billion takeover of Interpublic. As part of the merger, overlapping networks are being consolidated, with FCB folded into BBDO and DDB and MullenLowe rolled into TBWA, while more than 4,000 jobs will be cut.

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