Fewer entries at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a positive thing for the industry because it could be a sign of better work appearing at the awards. This is according to Arthur Sadoun, the chief executive at Publicis Groupe, who spoke at Campaign House today (22 June) at the Canopy by Hilton Cannes.“I think it's good that the number of entries is going down,” he said. “It means less work, better work” and “more people” who are “hoping that they're going to win something”.Entries to Cannes Lions dropped by 25% this year, following the introduction of tougher entry rules due to a controversy over a number of award entries last year. The festival said it received 20,050 entries in 2026, declining from 26,900 in 2025.In 2017 Publicis Groupe pulled out of awards for a year, including Cannes Lions. During the Campaign House interview, Sadoun said this decision was based on financing the holding company’s AI capabilities. Sadoun added that he doesn't agree with the importance that is placed on awards volume in the advertising industry. A race for the metalSpeaking of his time as CEO of TBWA\Paris, which won Agency of the Year at Cannes four years in a row, before he joined Publicis in 2006, Sadoun said: “I've been [on stage] four times winning Agency of the Year, but at a time where you would be Agency of the Year with [only] seven Lions. That’s one of the reasons why I have some issues with what is happening at the moment.” He said that there used to be less focus on “this race for the metal” and it was more about “trying to celebrate” real work. Last year LePub São Paulo was scrutinised for its bronze Lion-winning work, “Followers store”, for New Balance and São Paulo FC. Commenting on this, Sadoun said: “It was a very unfortunate event in Brazil for one agency where we took immediate consequences, and we made it public, because this cannot happen now. “If you look at Publicis and where we are winning, it's mainly on big brands and big media spend. The best example of that is the fact that we've been Agency of the Year [at Cannes] two years in a row with Publicis Conseil, but not with tiny little activations from the client that you never heard about. “It was about Axa, it was about Renault, it was about Orange. Big brands, big campaigns, and that's what we come to look for. It's not the quantity of work we deliver, it's work that is really having an impact.”The work is the icing on the cakeSadoun also said that Cannes used to be more focused on the work about 20 years ago, but now it is more about the clients. “We were arriving on Wednesday, we were having three days, we were looking at the work, and we were celebrating the work, on Sunday night that was it,” Sadoun said. “The work doesn't have the same importance that it had in the past. I'm not saying it doesn't have any importance, but work was at the centre, now it's the icing on the cake.”He said Cannes has now evolved into two distinct phases because clients now come in large numbers. From Sunday, the eve of the five-day festival, until Tuesday is now a “media fair”, with an emphasis on business, according to Sadoun. Then the focus moves to creative for the rest of the festival, he said.Creative agencies need to adapt to AISadoun highlighted the difference between the media world and the creative world when it comes to AI. “The media world has been disrupted by data and AI for 10 years now, at least,” he said. “The media world is already ready for AI, basically.”He said the role of the creative agency is going to change as it becomes more disrupted by AI. “The one that hasn't changed that much – and I have to admit, when I'm looking at the work here, it's even more silent – is the creative world, and the one that we need to adapt even faster to AI through ideation and production is this world,” Sadoun said. Finding the right balance between tech and peoplePublicis is marking its 100th anniversary this year and Sadoun said the French agency group has been taking a long-term view, making about €12bn (£10bn) of investments in new capabilities over the past decade, and, most recently, agreeing to buy data collaboration platform LiveRamp for $2.2bn.Sadoun contrasted that approach with some of his competitors: “At the moment where our industry needs to invest, those guys are cutting people, selling assets, and buying back shares. What are clients going to think about that?”He added that tech and data may be “the qualifier”, but “the differentiator is the people and that's going to last”. He added that replacing people with technology will not work.If companies don’t have people that can help bring them into this new world of AI “there is no chance [of] succeeding”, according to Sadoun. He added: “The tech companies that will be successful are also the ones that will find the right balance between technology and people.”Sadoun said: “[Publicis is] going to make sure that we keep our talent, and we're going to buy assets instead of selling assets, because this is what our clients want, and by the way, this is what our people want.”Aggressive on pricingThe Publicis chief defended his recent film, “The wrong promises”, a parody about agency groups over-promising on AI and data and making unsustainable commercial offers. He acknowledged that Publicis itself has pushed AI and been aggressive on pricing. “I agree,” he said, although “I don't know if we have been the most aggressive, honestly.”Sadoun said “we have been playing this game definitely” and “the difference is that we played it in a way that delivered value for our clients and for our company” in terms of outperforming rivals. The film is meant to show “we have collectively gone too far in promising things on AI that our clients, at the end, don't want” and a “race to the bottom on price – that is a big mistake”.While “I am super-aggressive on everything, including price, I want to win”, Sadoun said, insisting “we take care of our clients better than anyone else”, “we put our people first” and “we care about our industry”.This story first appeared on Campaign UK.