Publicis finally rolled out Marcel, the AI platform designed to help turn the ad holding company around - here's everything we know

• Publicis Groupe launched Marcel, a controversial AI platform that's long been in development, more than two months early due to the coronavirus.
• The company hopes Marcel will help Publicis get through the crisis by giving employees more project opportunities and minimizing layoffs.
• Screenshots obtained by Business Insider show how it is promoting a feature called "Gigs," a list of open projects around the holding company.
• Some employees said they're hopeful about the platform's possibilities, but others said it's too soon to tell how effective it will be.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Since Arthur Sadoun, incoming CEO of ad holding company Publicis Groupe, announced the development of AI project management platform Marcel nearly three years ago, it has been a source of speculation and controversy in the ad industry.

The platform finally went live April 6. In a video sent to all employees, Sadoun announced that Marcel's US debut had been pushed up by about three months due to the COVID-19 crisis. Publicis Chief Strategy Officer Carla Serrano told Business Insider that 14,000 employees signed up in the following three days, quadrupling its global user base.

Serrano said Marcel could help one of the world's largest advertising companies on its multi-year turnaround effort and minimize the damage done by the pandemic.

Some employees expressed a mixture of hope and skepticism about the platform. One employee at Publicis agency Sapient who helped develop Marcel said the project's total budget through January 2020 was $47 million. A Publicis spokesperson said the company does not comment on costs.

A "Gigs" feature is designed to respond to the coronavirus crisis and minimize layoffs

Marcel's top features are employee profiles, a weekly editorial calendar, client case studies, and "Gigs," which shows open assignments at agencies across the network.

Screenshots obtained by Business Insider and included below show the Gigs section and describe it as a temporary response to COVID-19 that could be extended if successful.

Serrano said Gigs is the platform's most important feature because it's designed to give people the chance to move between projects and minimize downsizing as many clients, especially in areas like travel and hospitality, have paused most of their advertising due to the coronavirus crisis.

"This is about us giving our people as much opportunity as possible," she said.

The gigs range widely in length and discipline and are voluntary, so employees aren't paid extra for them. But Serrano said Publicis is looking into letting staff increase billable hours in the foreseeable future.

Publicis wants to boost enrollment with a WHO donation drive and launch globally by the end of May

Publicis froze all hiring on March 23, but Serrano said every new employee will have to use Marcel as an entry point, and it plans to roll out the platform globally by the end of May.

To get employees to use it, the company is sending mass emails and pledging $10 to the World Health Organization every time an employee sets up a profile.

"It's critical that we have as many people on the platform as possible," Serrano said.

Sadoun predicted in his video that there would be some technical problems, but Serrano said Publicis' IT team in India quickly overcame an initial backlog this week.

Moving forward, Serrano said the hope is that Marcel will help Publicis better connect employees around the world.

Early reactions are mixed

Employees who spoke to Business Insider gave a variety of reactions to Marcel based on a few days' experience. They include several employees at different Publicis agencies, all of whom confirmed their identities but requested anonymity to speak candidly.

Two creative and account leaders said Gigs has already proven useful, with volunteers responding to their project requests within days or hours.

Several people praised the simplicity of Marcel's user interface. One executive said that, while its rollout was "buggy," the editorial material is "1,000% better than mass emails" that go unread.

A more skeptical employee described Marcel as "a glorified intranet system to connect people to tasks they need completed," saying none of his colleagues have volunteered for extra work because their schedules are already full.

A second executive expressed hope that leadership would allow Marcel to become more than a tech platform by making the most of its AI components, which are not yet operational.

Another person said the platform doesn't yet have an obvious practical use for those not seeking additional work or talent, but agreed with the early rollout.

"If it helps prevent layoffs, then that's a good thing," he said.

Got more information about this story or another ad industry tip? Contact Patrick Coffee on Signal at (347) 563-7289, email at pcoffee@businessinsider.com or patrickcoffee@protonmail.com, or via Twitter DM @PatrickCoffee. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

Get the latest coronavirus business & economic impact analysis from Business Insider Intelligence on how COVID-19 is affecting industries.