Publicis Groupe has acquired quite an array of influencer marketing assets in the last couple of years, with Captiv8 and Influential among them — and will be showing them off at the Cannes Lions Festival next week with a global influencer campaign that promotes George the lion, a real lion known in wildlife circles.  

According to the company, the campaign will demonstrate the “Super Bowl” type of reach that can be achieved with influencer marketing. 

The operation launches on June 16, with a joint Instagram post from top wildlife influencers @shandorlarenty (9.3M TikTok, 596K Instagram) and @Pubity (40M Instagram, 17M TikTok), to introduce George the lion.

From there, the activation will expand across Influential and Captiv8’s network of creators, covering 90% of influencers with more than one million followers, and 95% with more than 5000.  

The “Lion Tracker” at Influential Beach (the third annual activation the platform has put on at Cannes, and the first under Publicis ownership) will monitor the lion’s growing audience in real time. By the end of the Cannes Lions Festival, he will have reached “big game” reach, according to the holding company.  

The campaign includes a playful digital OOH component comparing the cost of a Super Bowl-worthy influencer buy to the cost of a week in Cannes.   

Arthur Sadoun, CEO of Publicis Groupe commented: “With every acquisition — from Captiv8 to Influential — and every innovation, like CoreAI, we’re building a future-ready platform to help clients navigate an increasingly complex and challenging marketing landscape. At Cannes this year, we’re focused on turning AI hype into business upside — with practical, Monday-ready solutions our clients can put to work immediately.”