From Media Post: Publicis Groupe’s Marcel Rolls Out In U.S.

More than 14,010 Publicis Groupe employees in the U.S. activated profiles in the first four days after the Groupe’s much-hyped internal communications platform Marcel officially launched in the U.S. on Monday.

This represents about 53% of the Groupe’s U.S. talent base. Groupe leaders aren’t forcing Marcel on its workforce. This is a voluntary registration that takes about 10 minutes for an employee to craft their user profile.

Although Groupe leaders hope Marcel grows organically, they boosted the kick-off through a donation drive to support the World Health Organization (WHO). This non-profit was selected because it provides both equipment and research to battle this pandemic. The holding company is donating $10 for every new account, says Carla Serrano, Chief Strategy Officer, Publicis Groupe. So far the company is donating $140,010 for WHO through the effort.

The company is promoting participation with a series of humorous videos dropped each day of the week that feature key Groupe leaders, including Annette King, Tim Jones, and Arthur Sadoun, in unique personas. “People have appreciated the levity,” says Serrano.

With the Groupe eliminating all outside work contracts to keep all opportunities within its 80,000 team, the jobs and gigs portal has swiftly become one of the more popular features. In normal times, this tool would release new openings one week before they are announced externally, but for now, only Groupe workers can participate in the offerings.

Marcel Gigs works as an “honor system” where people with extra time can provide their expertise to teams and projects outside their normal scope of work. Out of 300 open opportunities, 120 have volunteered their services to other teams. One recent success story paired a creative lead with work for Saatchi on behalf of the Down Syndrome Foundation.

Another welcome feature hosted by Marcel is the COVID-19 knowledge hub containing reports and analysis spanning across its entire network, says Serrano.

The only major initial blip was the rush to open accounts resulted in a backlog that forced some new profiles to wait 24 hours before seeing any changes. “We recognize we will experience some challenges, but that is to be expected when we decided to accelerate this launch,” she says.

Marcel’s debut was “accelerated” in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic when Groupe employees expressed interest in accessing better connectivity tools that leaders claim are provided by the service. The Groupe still expects to introduce Marcel globally by the end of May.

____________

Originally published in Media Post.