5 Minutes with Publicis Health Media's Alison McConnell

Technology has moved to the center of the digital advertising industry, if not the center of life itself. It powers how we work, connect, date, entertain ourselves, find news and, yes, buy ads. But Publicis Health Media’s CMO Alison McConnell has an “unpopular opinion” — especially for someone steeped in modern marketing: We’re all talking too much about tech.

Publicis is famously all-in on AI. Top of mind for McConnell is balancing tech capability with human instinct. She spoke with The Current Editor-in-Chief Stephanie Paterik at the Cannes Lions Festival for Creativity this summer about striking that balance, as well as the biggest challenge she sees facing the advertising industry.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Which innovation coming down the pike will most transform advertising?

We’re here right now in the south of France, which is lovely, but wherever you are in this festival, it’s all about AI. And it’s hard, I didn’t want to talk about AI because there’s so much innovation going on, but you cannot walk anywhere in this place — in this conference — without seeing it, without talking about it and really digging into it deeply means it’s obviously going to have a major impact on our industry in good and bad ways, and in ways that we have to be mindful of.

And it’s really about — when you talk about Generative AI — it’s about the data that goes in [that] really determines the risk level that your clients are willing to take with it. So, if the data is not great, the risk is too great and it gets blocked. So, we really need to have a conversation, particularly in health, about that data and the quality of that data that’s then determining what’s generated on the other side.

But in a bit of fun, Publicis is investing a lot in AI, and we launched the AI BS detector, which is this little app that we’ve launched for our clients at Cannes.

 You can walk up to any piece of content, or film what’s being spoken, and it’s a BS detector. There’s so much BS out there and it’s so hard to determine, ‘is it really AI or is that someone just talking about AI, and they don’t really know what they’re talking about?’ So, our voice bot has been a bit of fun there. 

In your mind, what is the biggest challenge advertising is facing? And what’s the solution or the opportunity on the other side of that?

We have about 4.2 billion people going to the polls this year across 65 countries. In terms of media, we’ve got a lot of messaging out there. And the question to me is, how is that messaging going to be used?

How is media and advertising going to be used in a good way [or] in a bad way? And the information and misinformation that’s being pumped into the world across all of these countries that are going through these election cycles? That really worries me as a human being, but in this industry, watching how it’s used is something that I think a lot about.

There’s a game we play sometimes in the office called Unpopular Opinion. What is your unpopular opinion?

I think we’re talking too much about tech. I think we’ve lost humans. I don’t know how unpopular that would be if you really start talking to people, particularly at a place [like the festival] where we’re supposed to be talking about creative. But creative is not technology.

You just don’t want to lose sight [of the fact] that communication is about authenticity and it’s about human emotion and it’s about experience. And as advertisers, we can be most powerful and effective when we create experiences with people. And if we just think about tech and AI and predictive modeling, we’re forgetting that the most important thing is how I connect with you and what you feel in that moment.

So, we can’t lose sight of creativity and the power of creativity and authenticity as we balance the incredible power and potential of data and technology.

What’s the big, audacious goal or project your team is working on right now?

A couple of years ago, we partnered with an organization called F*ck Cancer. We tackled the issue of HPV vaccines [because] it causes almost all cervical cancer and 10 other types of cancer. We sought to put together this campaign to help raise awareness among young people that they need to get vaccinated. It’s their responsibility. It’s called “HPV Fs Everybody.”

And we’re on Grindr and we’re on a lot of websites that you wouldn’t expect because [of who] we’re trying to reach. Our target is young people who are sexually active or who would like to be.

And just to educate them about the risk and some of the short-term impacts. Additionally, about getting HPV and their responsibility in protecting themselves. So that's a fun educational campaign that we've really enjoyed leaning into and creatively focusing on with our partners at Digitas Health. And we're really proud of it.