For Publicis Groupe, an annual tradition is sending a holiday video to employees thanking them for all their hard work while bidding them season’s greetings and wishes for a prosperous and productive year ahead.  

Recently it has featured company CEO Arthur Sadoun, supervisory board chair Maurice Levy and the occasional guest. Last year, for example, actor Michael Douglas made an appearance. The videos almost always have comedic elements.  

This year the company decided to up the ante and send out a few more videos — 100,000 more. You read that right. 100,000 videos. That is, a personalized video for every employee with a bespoke message tailored to their interests. 

And who knew Sadoun could speak 35 languages fluently? In each video he offers every employee a personal greeting in that employee’s native tongue. He was so grateful for last year’s company performance, which he attributes to the hard work of all employees, that he had hundreds of their names tattooed on his arm. Or wait, was that his AI twin? In any case, see some examples of the videos here and here.  

The effort was made possible by the deployment of generative AI technology, the Groupe’s AI-driven internal communications platform Marcel, months of planning and other internal tech tools, as well as outside help from tech firms like Open AI, ElevenLabs and others. Many more internal production, creative and tech employees also contributed to the project this year.  

The cast of characters in this year’s project was expanded. In addition to Sadoun and Levy, participants included Carla Serrano, the Groupe’s chief strategy officer; Nigel Vaz, CEO Publicis Sapient; Agathe Bousquet, president Publicis France; and Dave Penski, CEO Publicis Media USA.  

The executives (or their AI iterations) are seen showing off skills tied to the interests of the employee to whom a particular video is addressed. Serrano, for example is seen to be climbing K2, playing tennis and dancing in a nod to the interests of “Eva, a sport-loving Groupe Managing partner living in Austria.” And yes, Sadoun offers her a personal greeting in fluent German.  

In a video addressed to “Gabi, an adventure-seeking Business Lead from Sao Paulo,” Levi is seen water skiing, sky diving and lassoing. In this one Sadoun offers Gabi a greeting in Portuguese.  

The videos are being disseminated today. See additional examples here, here and here.  

It was last August when Sadoun wondered out loud during a meeting if such a project was feasible. He wanted to find a unique way to thank everyone at the company for contributing to a year when the Groupe was the top major holding company as measured by organic growth, new business, market capitalization and other metrics. By October, actual planning for the project was underway. 

Andy Bird, founding partner and chief creative officer at Le Truc, said that he and his team developed a script “and built the AI into it.” 

There were lots of hiccups, he noted, in part because “the technology was changing as we made it.” One obstacle the team worked around he noted was that AI-generated characters can’t move and talk at the same time, resulting in a pivot to voiceovers where needed.  

Gen AI video is still evolving and “unstable,” added Serrano, and not that good at humor. But you’ll see from the examples above how the team adapted to create some very funny moments.  

Elevenlabs took the lead on making Sadoun appear to be fluent in 35 languages.  

And while the message to employees is “thank you,” as Serrano notes the project also offers everyone at the company a peak at how Gen AI is transforming creative advertising, and the way clients will speak to consumers in the future.