How Marcel plans to excel in the age of AI

Time of India

19 hours ago

When
Marcel
unveiled "WoMen's Football", a provocative campaign for telecom giant
Orange
that swapped male player highlights with female athlete performances mid-match, it wasn't merely an advertising stunt—it was a cultural wake-up call. Ranked number one in WARC's Creative 100 for 2025, this daring initiative wasn't about chasing trends but rather shaping them. Behind such bold ideas stands
Youri Guerassimov
, CEO of Marcel, whose approach combines creative bravery with meticulous strategic insight.
Under Guerassimov's stewardship, Marcel has emerged as an influential voice among global creative agencies, balancing artistry and commerce with remarkable finesse. From tackling e-waste with Back Market's irreverent "
Hack Market
" campaign to reshaping gender perceptions through provocative storytelling, the Paris-based agency has accumulated an enviable collection of accolades from Cannes Lions, D&AD, and the Effies.
In this edition of Economic Times Brand Equity's
Digital Cover
, Guerassimov discusses how authenticity forms the core of impactful advertising, the unexpected realities of transitioning from creative director to CEO, and why he believes artificial intelligence is not a threat, but rather a transformative tool reshaping the future of creativity.
Edited Excerpts:
How do you ensure that authenticity remains at the core of what you do?
At the heart of what we do at our agency is a commitment to staying true to the brand, and of course, to the people and our target audience. It's a strategic approach from the very beginning—even before we start the creative process. We have a very strong strategic department that works deeply on the brands and briefs. We gain a strong understanding of the brand, the target, and what we are supposed to do. At the same time, we stay close to pop culture and try our best to remain connected to what people are talking about in India and what is happening around us. I would like to say 'every time', but most of the time, we are true to people and to what is happening, which makes our advertisements more efficient and powerful.
Where does this inspiration to be true and real come from?
It's part of a technical approach, which is why we talk about strategies. People are digging to see, to find, to understand the technical side. At the same time, the creative approach begins with being curious, curious in every possible way. You always have to be aware of what's happening in the country and in the world, so you become like a library of what people's lives are like. You take time to observe what people think, what they do, and that always helps you stay accurate in your work. You try your best to achieve that.
You talked about bold ideas, how to be brave, then there's a client objective as well, their business goals. How do you balance the two? On one side you wish to be creative and on the other side you also want to deliver to the goals that the client has?
We are not working in show-business; we are working in advertising. In a way, it sits between arts and commerce. Everyone would say it's more commerce than arts, but we use art to serve commerce. So, we should be aligned with the client. If the client has a problem, like making people aware of their latest project, we need to solve that problem with a creative approach. Both are linked. Boldness alone doesn't make sense; we need to use that boldness, we need to use creativity to help our client, our brand, achieve something. It's part of our job, part of our experience, and part of our skills to get it right. Sometimes you try to be bold and it doesn't succeed, or it isn't accurate, and that's also part of the agency's experience. And of course, it's the role of the creative director, who is supposed to be the one responsible for that, the ideas must be accurate for the client and the brief. Boldness or being brave isn't being foolish.
When I was CCO, if we had to go on a trip to Paris, we'd take business class tickets. It would cost, say, 1,000 euros. Now, as CEO, I do the opposite. I say let's take economy class, because it's only a one-hour trip and it will cost 300 instead of 1,000 eurosYouri Guerassimov
From a creative director to a CEO, you are balancing between a storyboard and an Excel sheet. Has it changed your thought process? Did you start differently when you became a CEO?
The answer is yes. I think most people would love to hear 'no', but yes, it changed a lot of things, and maybe it's for the best. It's always a question of balance, of how to frame the right balance. Hopefully, the idea I'm working to achieve at the top of the agency is also about finding the right compromise. That's why you need someone who is very creative, very passionate, and who understands how an agency works, how a business works, so you can find exactly the right balance. You're always trying, always in the process. It's not easy or obvious. Every day, I try to find the right balance between creativity, investment, and talent in the product, and at the same time make it profitable, so the agency can continue to exist and continue to earn money. Because we all need money to make it work, to bring in more people with diverse skills.
Many people don't accept the fact that they changed after being CEO but you did that… can you give an example - what changed?
Let me give you an example. When I was CCO, if we had to go on a trip to Paris, we'd take business class tickets. It would cost, say, 1,000 euros. Now, as CEO, I do the opposite. I say let's take economy class, because it's only a one-hour trip and it will cost 300 instead of 1,000 and put more entries from the 700 we saved. That's the difference. It's not the same mindset anymore. You have to find the right balance and make the right choice, and that's exactly what's happening. I understand that the money is the same, whether you spend it on a plane ticket, an event entry, or a party, it's still the same money. So, it's always about making choices.
It's like an art director who doesn't use Photoshop - today, that person wouldn't really be considered an art director in advertising. It will probably be the same for AI in a few yearsYouri Guerassimov
It's no longer just about awareness, it's also about driving loyalty and advocacy after conversion. How do you see the client's expectations changing, and how are you adapting to these emerging expectations?
I think we were ready for that for years. In a way, I was expecting that clients would change their mindset, because I believe advertising and communication today are a matter of balance. A brand should have a long-term vision, while also doing something fresh, sometimes very business-oriented, sometimes a big call to action. You should use the full range of what we can offer as advertisers, for the brand, because that's what works and what people expect too.
What is Creativity in the age of AI vs what it was before? Through your vantage point…
It's a trendy question, and I have a partial answer. I think we are only at the beginning of AI - we're just discovering it, and we're all trying to see how it can change the way we work and improve the quality of our output. We're very invested in AI, and I believe the agency is really on the edge, trying to move forward with it. It's already changing how we work. Presentations are now really beautiful, there's a big improvement in timing, and we're able to work more quickly, which is great. The craft has become much better. We also use ChatGPT and similar tools to make writing easier or to get fresh perspectives. Some wise people on the internet say that AI won't replace creatives, it's the creatives who use AI that will replace agencies that don't. We're ready for that. We just need to embrace it and make the most of it. Everything is moving fast, but we have to stay aware and always know what's happening. Maybe the biggest revolution is just around the corner.
So, if a 20-year-old comes to you asking for an internship of 6 months to prove he is good, will you ask him whether he knows how to do AI prompts? What's hiring like in the age of AI?
No, the most important thing is the idea. So when I hire someone, I need them to bring great ideas, the feeling, the passion, the understanding-to make me feel confident that this person will do great work. Of course, I'll then ask what kind of tools they use, and AI is everywhere now. ChatGPT is a great tool to refresh the mind and get quicker answers, so yes, I'll definitely ask, but it's not mandatory for me. I'm sure in a few years it will become normal. It's like an art director who doesn't use
Photoshop
- today, that person wouldn't really be considered an art director in advertising. It will probably be the same for AI in a few years.
Where do you see the first impact of AI coming in, is it in design or in writing? Like using ChatGPT everyone seems to be a writer now?
Maybe because I am a former art director, I would say the biggest difference is in the craft. The transformation is really amazing. ChatGPT is clearly a useful writing tool that helps our copywriters, but the change there is less obvious. In the art direction path, it's just crazy. I've seen some good creatives who were not really strong art directors suddenly become the ones delivering beautifully crafted images. That feels like magic, because developing that level of skill used to take seven to ten years. Now the machine can do it. If you have the right vision in your head, the machine will help you bring it to life in the proper way. You no longer need to be extremely technical, but you still need an art direction background, or at least good taste. You must know in your mind what the result should look like, because that is still part of the art director's job. What used to take three or four days now takes three hours. For me, that is the crazy part. It's just magic.
Now what if a client starts thinking why should I give you 48 hours of time, it's the era of AI… give it to me in 15 mins, 1 hour or 2 hours?
I get your point. Depending on the mockup, it can be very different. You can create something very beautiful very quickly, but getting exactly what you want can take a lot of time, really a lot of time. You need the right expression, the right positioning. We have also noticed that sometimes AI just does not understand certain parts of the mockup. Sometimes we make drawings or even 3D models to help AI understand precisely what we want, creating situations where the AI has no choice but to use exactly what we have given it.
What is it that you want to keep as Marcel's legacy, when people look at it in a decade, what do you think Marcel's legacy should be?
It's a difficult question. I hope people will think that we created great ideas and made people love our brands and clients. I believe that is the legacy. We do everything across all kinds of media, and we would love for people to recognise that it is not just about how we do it, but that we do everything possible to deliver great ideas for our clients.