MultiCultClassics

17478: WPP Open X + Coca-Cola + Premier League = Losing Campaign.

2026-05-16T00:39:52.433-05:00

The credits for this Coca-Cola/Premier League campaign state the work was developed by WPP Open X, led by Ogilvy UK, supported by WPP Media and VML.

Gee, a lot of White advertising agencies handled a project that looks like it could’ve been executed by a junior creative duo—or AI.

WPP should be penalized for having too many players on the field.

The scenario seemingly blocks the single White operating company’s goal of simplicity.

17477: Delving Into Droga5’s Diaspora.

2026-05-15T00:16:54.120-05:00

Advertising Age published a lengthy fluff piece on “Droga5’s diaspora”—spotlighting White advertising agencies whose White principals emerged from the White ranks of the White advertising agency launched by David Droga.

Diaspora seems an odd term to use for the perceived phenomenon. Cronyism or Brotopia might be more appropriate.

The scenario underscores an Adland reality: White men leverage politics, privileges, and advantages to dominate the field.

Don’t forget Droga5 staged the Ted Royer scandal too.

Diaspora? For the legacy of this place, the best term might be Broga5.

Behind Droga5’s diaspora—and why it’s not a ‘coincidence’

By Ewan Larkin

Walking around the Ad Age A-List & Creativity Awards gala last month, everywhere David Droga turned, there were familiar faces—including those who had once sat across from him on the couch in his office. This time, however, they were collecting awards for agencies of their own. “The magnitude of it was revealed there,” the Australian expat said in an interview. “That was the first time I was like, ‘Oh wow. It really is pervasive.’”

Droga is referring to the diaspora of independent agency founders who have emerged from Droga5’s ranks over the past several years—among them the creators of Isle of Any, American Haiku, Mirimar, Alto and Mojo Supermarket. These new guard leaders learned their trade at Droga5, a creative hothouse founded in 2006 that grew from a Lafayette Street fledgling into a Wall Street heavyweight and Ad Age’s Agency of the Decade.

Not all of these founders came up exclusively at Droga5; some also hail from storied creative agencies such as BBDO and Wieden+Kennedy, but for each of them, it was the last stop before hanging their own shingle.

“I don’t think it’s coincidence at all,” said John McKelvey, chief creative officer of 6-year-old Mirimar, which now counts Poppi and Rocket Cos. as clients. “Some of the DNA from those moments is alive in our new agencies.”

Ad Age spoke with several of the founders, as well as Droga himself, to understand what it was about one agency that produced so many others—the culture that bred independence, the lessons carried forward, the relationships that endured and the occasional tension that comes with building something new in the shadow of something great.

Built to leave

It’s easy to see this situation as something of a double-edged sword for Droga. Many of the industry’s hottest shops have spawned from under his tutelage, but that also means talent keeps walking out the door.

Droga, however, said he “doesn’t begrudge anybody that goes off to do something great.” He’s also quick to make clear the departures haven’t gutted Droga5, with the Accenture Song-owned agency recently nabbing Ad Age’s Global Network of the Year following an overhaul of its leadership team.

“There’s no bittersweetness for me at all,” said Droga, who recently stepped out of the Song CEO role and became vice chair of Accenture. He said one of his greatest dilemmas during his time at the helm of Droga5, which he sold to Accenture in 2019 for about $475 million, was having more great talent than he had room for at the top.

It’s natural that, at some point, “they are going to have to go off and do their own thing,” Droga said.

Droga5 is not the only agency to have seeded a new generation of independents. Over its 43 years in existence, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, the San Francisco-based Omnicom agency, has seen its own employees go on to launch shops including nice&frank, Bandits & Friends, Optimism BH and Argonaut.

Like Droga, GS&P’s co-founders Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein understand that talent walking out the door is part of the deal, said Sarah Thompson, GS&P’s CEO and a former longtime executive at Droga5. “They’re all three very confident people,” Thompson said, and they recognize “it’s never just about one person.”

The culture inside Droga5, former employees said, encouraged independence and entrepreneurship. Droga’s stories of leaving Publicis Groupe—after turning Saatchi & Saatchi into one of the most talked-about agencies in the world—to build something from scratch was the kind of inspiration you couldn’t readily find at a holding company.

“When you have a guy standing up and saying, ‘When I quit my job and did this’ like 900 times a year, it seeps into your head,” said Mo Said, founder of Mojo Supermarket. “And then you’re like, ‘Maybe I should do that.’”

Droga deliberately avoided imposing a house style, making room for vastly different creative voices to develop alongside each other. You can see that in the alumni shops: Jonny Bauer’s business transformation consultancy Fundamentalco, for example, bears little resemblance to Mirimar, which operates at the intersection of advertising and entertainment.

Droga5 was also intensely competitive, multiple founders made clear, but driven by ambition. “I never worked as hard anywhere as I did at Droga5, and I was never surrounded by the same number of driven people,” said Thom Glover, founder and chief creative officer of American Haiku, Ad Age’s 2026 Newcomer Agency of the Year. Other former executives would go as far as to call the atmosphere cutthroat, a meritocracy where, as Said put it, “if you were really creative and really good and you delivered, you stayed; and if you didn’t, you didn’t.”

Droga has never been shy about his determination to always be the best, and that pressure isn’t for everyone, but those who thrived within the agency say it left them well-equipped to go it alone. Felix Richter spent over a decade at Droga5 before leaving in 2022, not to start his own shop, but to join independent agency Mother, where he has risen to global chief creative officer and earned Ad Age’s 2026 Chief Creative Officer of the Year honor.

Still, Richter understands why so many of his friends and former colleagues have taken the risk.

“When you’re successful at Droga, you leave with the confidence that you’re able to be successful on your own,” he said. Added Laurie Howell, co-founder of startup creative boutique and Ad Age 2026 Creative Agency of the Year Isle of Any: “Being around that, seeing what David was doing with the company, made you think that it was possible.”

“There’s an osmosis of that—you go, ‘Oh, okay, cool. I can see how this works,’” said Howell.

While most of the indie agencies that have emerged from Droga5 appear to have been founded by men, Karen Land Short, a longtime Droga5 creative leader who went on to Accenture Song, recently founded her own shop, 400 Humans. Droga5 also pointed to a number of female alumni who have gone on to senior leadership roles across the industry, including Tara Lawall, chief creative officer at Rethink New York; Susie Nam, CEO of Publicis Creative U.S.; and Lindsay Cole, president of Uncommon New York.

Lessons learned from Droga5

For some ex-employees, striking out on their own provided an opportunity to scratch a different itch. Hannes Ciatti, who opened Alto in 2019 after co-founding JohnxHannes alongside Mirimar’s McKelvey, wanted to build a shop that reflected the nature of agency-client relationships, with marketers gravitating towards project-based assignments. His time at Droga5, he said, showed him what to “protect and what to shed” at Alto; he’s betting that a small, senior team armed with the right tech and freelancers can do what once took hundreds of people.

“I’m trying to keep the ambition of a place like Droga5, but build it also for the realities of 2026,” Ciatti told Ad Age.

Droga, for his part, gets why. He noted that peak Droga5 New York was around 850 people, a scale he doesn’t think a creative agency needs to reach anymore. “Hannes is right,” he said of Ciatti’s approach.

Isle of Any founders Howell and Toby Treyer-Evans are leaning into their roots as industrial designers, blending product design and experiential work with advertising. The British-born duo is looking to move away from what they see as the “project” model most shops employ, prototyping early and iterating often. In other agencies, “there’s a process to how you make things,” Howell said. “We’re trying to collapse it all.”

Indie founders are, to some degree, going it alone, and the pressure to stay afloat presents the temptation to appease clients at the expense of the work. Droga5, though, taught employees the opposite instinct.

McKelvey described weekly Acela rides to Baltimore, and Droga’s work building creative trust with Under Armour founder Kevin Plank, as a crash course in client relationships. Droga “taught me a lot ... about how much nerve it takes to protect an idea before everyone understands it,” Ciatti said.

“There’s actually a bigger reward when you do work that might get you fired,” he added. “That was a big learning curve for me—not being afraid to be brave, sometimes needing to say no to lawyers or people that wanted to stop you.”

These founders cited Droga’s hands-on approach to the work and willingness to back his teams in client meetings, among other things. Many said he was involved as they prepared to strike out on their own, offering advice on everything from finances to landing first clients. As McKelvey prepared to leave, Droga told him the door would always be open if things didn’t pan out.

“Think about the confidence of someone telling you if this thing fails, the worst thing that’s going to happen is you’ll get a great job,” McKelvey said.

Bits of camaraderie, bits of tension

Some of these agencies, like Isle of Any, are now working with former Droga5 clients. The shop has drawn early raves for campaigns with Coinbase, OpenAI and The New York Times—a client they’d worked with for over six years back at Droga5. Treyer-Evans, however, said Isle of Any is careful to keep a clean break from their former shop, never poaching clients or staff.

Droga said he has no issue with the client overlap, noting that he introduced Isle of Any’s founders to Coinbase, the same client Accenture Song worked with on the 2022 Super Bowl QR code spot. “As long as great work is coming out of it, and it moves our industry forward, I’m not that insecure about it, to be honest,” he said.

American Haiku has staffed up with several Droga5 alumni, including Jessica Kingsbery, formerly managing director of Droga5 New York, who was named CEO. The agency’s heavy Droga5 representation wasn’t “by design,” Glover said, though it did result in an “awkward conversation” with Droga himself. “Those people all have a way of working and communicating with each other that makes it easy when you’re small and you want to get a lot done,” he explained.

Droga understands this part of the business well; he spent years bringing trusted people with him across stints in Singapore, London and beyond. Still, the AAF Hall of Famer is competitive and doesn’t want to see Droga5 hurt.

“You can’t come to me for advice one day but then also go around my back and take people the next day,” said Droga.

Said, who also hired Droga5 employees heavily early on, eventually came to see it the same way, that the “etiquette of having a mentor and stealing from a mentor” didn’t sit right.

As for the founders’ relationships with each other, not everyone talks all the time, but there is a general sense that the line is always open. Many of the former employees said they have a low-fi get-together at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, a slice of camaraderie that serves as a reprieve from the competition. “We’re on pitch lists together, we’re going after the same candidates,” said Glover. “But it’s all generally friendly.”

Across Ad Age’s conversations with Droga5 alumni, it’s evident that some are keen to avoid being pigeonholed as just another shop that came out of the agency. Said found himself feeling the same way in the first few years out of the gate, but time has a way of softening that instinct, especially when people start leaving Mojo Supermarket to start agencies of their own.

After Mojo Supermarket won Ad Age’s Small Agency of the Year in 2022, Said wanted to send the award straight to Droga. “I was just like, I’m so happy to be the ‘Better Call Saul’ to your ‘Breaking Bad,’” he recalled.

“We will never be that good of a show. But there are so many spinoffs that are bad, for one to be kind of good is the greatest compliment to you,” he added.

17476: Dentsu Deploys Duplicative Dumbness.

2026-05-14T00:21:11.925-05:00

MediaPost reported Dentsu flattened its EMEA org chart, which squashed the EMEA CEO, a 20-year veteran now being squeezed out of the holding company.

Gee, that move looks familiar.

Dentsu Global CEO Takeshi Sano declared, “Since stepping into the Global CEO role, my focus has been on building a simpler, more agile and an even more client-centric dentsu. Our evolved cluster model in EMEA reflects that commitment. It reduces complexity, brings leadership closer to clients, and improves our ability to collaborate, deploying talent and capabilities with speed.”

Gee, that scheme sounds familiar. Oh, right—it’s what every CEO from a holding company or single White operating company is saying.

Dentsu Flattens EMEA Org Chart, Regional Heads To Report To Sano

By Steve McClellan

Dentsu today announced what it called a “simplified model” in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) that will have Dentsu executives Annette Male, Sawomir Stepniewski, and Mariano Di Benedetto managing broader sections of the region and reporting directly to recently appointed global CEO Takeshi Sano.

With the new reorganization, the position of EMEA CEO is eliminated and long-time company veteran and EMEA CEO André Andrade will leave Dentsu after more than 20 years with the firm. Giulio Malegori, executive senior advisor, Dentsu & chairman, Dentsu EMEA, will continue in his post.

Sano stated in a release announcing the move that “Since stepping into the Global CEO role, my focus has been on building a simpler, more agile and an even more client-centric dentsu. Our evolved cluster model in EMEA reflects that commitment. It reduces complexity, brings leadership closer to clients, and improves our ability to collaborate, deploying talent and capabilities with speed.”

Under the new setup, Stepniewski will manage the “core cluster” of Central Europe. Male will lead the Northern Europe cluster, expanding her remit beyond the UK and Ireland to include Nordics, Benelux and the Baltics.

Di Benedetto will lead the Western & Southern Europe and MEA cluster, expanding his remit to take on Spain, Portugal, France and Sub-Saharan Africa, in addition to his current remit of Italy, Greece, Israel, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon, Qatar and Türkiye.

The changes are effective in July.

The EMEA management reorganization is not a template for other regions, a company rep stressed. “Each regional approach is specific to client needs and local market dynamics,” he said, noting the recent promotion of Beth Ann Kaminkow to CEO, Americas and chief global client officer. She was previously North America CEO.

17475: The WPP Strategy—How To Grow A Flaming Dumpster.

2026-05-13T01:01:00.004-05:00

MediaPost reported WPP elevated two White men to global presidents of client growth.

It must be a confusing time for WPP drones and leaders, as the single White operating company reels via restructuring, redundancies, and RIFs while simultaneously readying for revitalization, reinvention, and growth.

Both White men are credited for achieving success with media and advertising pitches at earlier versions of WPP.

Seems they’ll now face the challenge of first defining what they’re pitching.

Wise people have said it is only through adversity that we experience growth.

At least the newly appointed global presidents of client growth have plenty of adversity to leverage.

WPP Elevates Jenner, Heimann To Top Growth Roles

By Steve McClellan

WPP agency veterans Toby Jenner and Philip Heimann have been promoted to global presidents of client growth. The roles are new and designed to drive the company’s “single unified growth strategy” spelled out by CEO Cindy Rose earlier this year.

They both report to WPP chief operating officer Devika Bulchandani.

Jenner, a 20-year company veteran, was previously global chief business officer at WPP Media and before that CEO of company media agency Wavemaker. Most recently he’s credited with shaping WPP Media’s unified go-to-market strategy and leading successful pitches for adidas, PlayStation, Reckitt, Amazon and more. He will continue to oversee WPP Media growth as part of his broader holding company remit.

Heimann was previously global chief growth & marketing officer at Ogilvy. He’s credited with boosting the agency’s pitch win rate over six years from 22% to 60% leading the team that won assignments from companies such as Verizon, Audi, Kimberly-Clark and more.

With the promotions, both executives join WPP’s executive committee. Jenner will also serve on the WPP media global leadership team and Heimann will serve on the WPP creative leadership team.

17474: Heineken Puts The Con In Consolidation.

2026-05-12T12:14:00.005-05:00

Advertising Age reported Dentsu retained Heineken global media duties after a review, while creative duties were consolidated across Publicis Groupe, WPP, and Stagwell.

The Heineken Chief Commercial Officer stated, “Moving to fewer, better and bigger agency partners is part of our broader commercial transformation.”

Um, partnering with four of the six biggest holding companies underscores the exclusivity in Adland.

Independent White advertising agencies are shut out from serving global accounts.

Multicultural agencies likely receive even fewer crumbs—if anything at all.

Anyone not in a holding company is resigned to cry in their locally-brewed beer.

Heineken sticks with Dentsu for global media, shakes up creative roster

By Ewan Larkin

Dentsu has retained Heineken’s global media business following a competitive pitch process, with the brewer also consolidating its creative roster across Publicis Groupe, WPP and Stagwell.

Publicis retained global secondary production duties and, along with WPP and Stagwell, will handle creative for Heineken’s Amstel, Birra Moretti, Desperados and Tiger brands, as well as select local priority brands.

Creative for the flagship Heineken brand was not part of the review and remains with Publicis.

COMvergence estimates Heineken’s global media spend is $550 million.

Mediasense handled the agency review.

Dentsu’s reappointment is a much-needed vote of confidence for the Japanese holding company, which reported its worst annual loss last year and lost marquee media accounts including Microsoft. Dentsu has worked with Heineken since 2016, with the relationship expanding through a global media consolidation in 2021 and a two-year extension announced in March 2025.

The consolidation is part of Heineken’s EverGreen 2030 growth strategy and a broader commercial transformation initiative the brewer calls “Freddyai.” The goal, per the company, is fewer and deeper agency relationships built for speed, efficiency, and creative consistency across global markets.

“Moving to fewer, better and bigger agency partners is part of our broader commercial transformation,” Bram Westenbrink, chief commercial officer, said in a statement.

17473: WPP Seemingly Announces, “Houston, We Have A Problem.”

2026-05-12T11:41:00.000-05:00

Adweek and MediaPost reported WPP US President Michael Houston—a 24-year veteran of the recently relabeled single White operating company—is shifting to an advisory role through Q1 2027.

On a sidenote, it’s pathetic that Adweek still refers to WPP as a holding company, despite publishing content where WPP CEO Cindy Rose declared the corporation is “no longer a holding company.” Apparently, Adweek editors are not reading their own reporting.

The new appointment for Houston demonstrates a “natural and planned evolution for WPP, as our operating model continues to evolve,” Rose stated via a note to drones and leaders in the flaming dumpster.

The Adweek report is subscriber-only content not worth paying for, so it’s unclear if Rose provided more details, rationale, and/or motivation for reassigning Houston.

Regardless, it’s a bad look for WPP.

After all, Houston is a rarity—a Black man holding a C-suite position in Adland.

When DEIBA+ still mattered in 2020–2021, former WPP CEO Mark Read confessed internal data “underlines the work we have to do to ensure greater representation of Black, Asian and other under-represented communities within WPP—especially at the more senior levels … we have a huge amount of work to do…”

In contrast, Rose has not mentioned DEIBA+ at all. In her defense, the topic is no longer an industry concern.

Yet for someone whose alleged ambition is to revitalize and recreate WPP, Rose’s moves to date arguably indicate reverting to an enterprise of exclusivity.

17472: WSJ On WPP—A Failure To Communicate.

2026-05-11T10:51:00.007-05:00

The LinkedIn post depicted above called out Wall Street Journal content spotlighting WPP CEO Cindy Rose, questioning the article headline: Advertising’s First Female CEO Isn’t Afraid to Fail.

The post author felt the headline was misleading. While the article clarified Rose is the first female CEO of a holding company—or single White operating company—the author believed the net impression positions Rose as the first-ever female CEO in Adland.

The author asserts Mary Wells Lawrence earned the title of first female CEO of a White advertising agency by co-founding Wells Rich Greene in 1966, and the iconic leader has been followed by countless female CEOs in Adland over the years.

Initial comments ranged from White men in agreement to White women seemingly expressing passive offense with the author.

Of course, there’s no mention of Barbara Gardner Proctor, founder of the first advertising agency owned and operated by a Black woman—a feat achieved in 1970. Ditto snubbing for Caroline R. Jones of Zebra Associates and Mingo-Jones Advertising. Carol H. Williams is a living legend. And there are many other invisible women of color throughout the history of Adland—all of whom contributed waaaay more trailblazing accomplishments to the industry than Rose.

Yet the author and commentators arguably missed a bigger issue with the WSJ headline.

That is, over 98,000 WPP drones will see their leader isn’t afraid to fail—and will likely fire thousands of them to achieve resounding failure.

17471: ADCOLOR Progresses While Adland Regresses.

2026-05-11T00:23:00.002-05:00

Adweek reported ADCOLOR is celebrating its 20th anniversary while Adland is celebrating its never-ending commitment—and renewed dedication—to systemic racism.

Adding indifference to insult, Adweek couldn’t even bother to spell the organization’s name right—according to the website, ADCOLOR is all caps.

This year, ADCOLOR is revamping its program and pushing its annual awards soiree to 2027. Hard to guess if the changes are intentional or resulting from reduced White advertising agencies’ sponsorship. After all, the anti-DEIBA+ vibe impacting Adland—and corporations in general—diminishes any sense of obligation to support heat shields.

Additionally, the ADCOLOR website currently lists IPG/FCB as Community Group Partner. Did the Omnicom acquisition of IPG create redundancies affecting partnerships on a financial level?

ADCOLOR Founder Tiffany R. Warren’s mood has shifted from Pollyannaish to hopeful melancholy. Although Warren insists her dream of a more diverse creative field—especially at senior levels—has surpassed her original expectations, which indicates delusional thinking or low expectations. Probably a combination of both.

Regarding ADCOLOR Nation, the organization’s Vice President of Partnerships gushed, “This is a true community of people who believe in the mission in a way that they’re not just talking about it, they are acting on it.”

Okay, except Adland is acting too—that is, the few remaining DEIBA+ initiatives continue to be performative stunts.

Adcolor Marks 20 Years With a New Program for a Changed DEI Landscape

Year-round events, a new awards approach, and a 2027 conference are among the evolutions to this year’s program

By Hannah Bowler

As Adcolor celebrates its 20th anniversary, founder Tiffany R. Warren acknowledges there have been “setbacks” in the fight for representation across the industry. That’s why reaching its two-decade milestone is a moment worth celebrating.

The organization focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in advertising has unveiled an expanded slate of programming for 2026 that addresses the shifting landscape and evolving needs of its community.

Since its launch two decades ago, Adcolor has built its community around an annual flagship conference and awards hosted in LA. Now, the organization is shifting to year-long event programming and making changes to its awards and mentorship initiatives.

“It can’t just be another year that we celebrate, particularly during these times when we have to remind not only our community, but the world how important and how beautiful it is to build and support a diverse community,” Warren said.

The activities will kick off at Adcolor’s annual networking event at Cannes Lions in June, followed by gatherings in New York in August and LA in October. The program will culminate with the Adcolor Awards and conference in LA in early 2027, pushed out from its usual early November date.

The format of the annual Adcolor Awards has also been updated. Instead of a traditional nomination process, winners will be selected by a jury of alumni. Warren positioned the shift as both a way to thank the community that has supported it over the past 20 years and to spotlight its own alumni.

The nomination process will return in 2027.

“We’re turning 20, and for a good 19 of the 20 years we have been going, going, going, and I’ve not realized how much of a milestone 20 years is,” Warren said. “We needed to take a step back and look at what we created and celebrate that in the way that it deserves.”

There will also be changes to the Adcolor Futures (early career) and Leaders (mid to senior-level career) programs. Instead of running within the main conference, both will have dedicated, immersive programming in LA in 2026. Applications for both are already open.

The goal is to create a more focused environment for mentorship, professional development, and community-building among the industry’s next generation of diverse leaders, Warren said.

Changing winds

When ADCOLOR was established in 2006, DEI conversations were “nascent,” Warren told ADWEEK. “Multiculturalism was growing, but it was still very unique, and you didn’t see it in various places within the industry. It was very much marginalized and siloed,” she said.

Reflecting on the current pull back on corporate DEI initiatives, Warren said the past two years have been “tough” but that her “dream” back in 2006 of a more diverse creative industry, particularly at senior level, has surpassed her expectations.

She said the current moment makes her “a little sad” because of the “swiftness of the change in temperature” of how people feel about “providing opportunities for underrepresented communities.” While she described her outlook as “melancholy,” she added that she has hope this moment is temporary.

“I hope to look back and say that that was a moment in time and that joy returns again and support returns again,” she said.

For Adcolor’s part, Ana Leen, vice president of partnerships, said the community is only growing stronger.

“What we’re seeing with these community groups is there is such a hunger to connect to learn from each other to support each other. The networks that the Adcolor community builds are really strong and supportive,” she said.

People are also becoming more vulnerable, Leen added, pointing to individuals asking for help on LinkedIn amid layoffs and job uncertainty. “We are seeing people very willingly help out a stranger just because they’re part of this community,” she said.

This sense of mutual support will sustain Adcolor through challenging periods, she said.

“This is a true community of people who believe in the mission in a way that they’re not just talking about it, they are acting on it,” Leen added.

17470: On Deep-Seated Racism.

2026-05-10T00:08:00.002-05:00

This campaign for Brazilian Men’s Football Team Corinthians—titled “Racists Have No Seat Here”—was produced by End to End and AREA 23 in Brazil. The concept is explained as follows:

After Palmeiras goalkeeper Carlos Miguel was racially abused during a match at Corinthians’ Neo Química Arena—and the individual responsible could not be identified—the club made an indefinite, visible intervention: it removed the seat from the section where the incident took place. In its place is a message reading, “Here, racism has no place. And never will,” along with a QR code that directs fans to educational resources on how to identify, document and report racist behavior during matches. The idea is simple, but hard to ignore: if racism cannot be allowed a place in the stadium, then the seat itself had to go. The empty space becomes the message.

The campaign, created with Corinthians and End to End, was developed with AREA 23’s creative leadership and is designed as both a symbolic act and a practical reporting tool turning an unidentified act of hate into a reminder of collective responsibility.

To call the tactic “a practical reporting tool” is ludicrous. After all, how many stadium visitors or sports fans might even be aware of the campaign, let alone see the missing seat message?

And why would a healthcare agency be involved in such an endeavor, except with the self-absorbed intention to submit the work for awards?

If the true objective is communicating people have a responsibility to report acts of hate against racial and ethnic minorities, start by calling out the systemic racism prevalent at AREA 23 and its new parent Omnicom.

17469: The Spirit Of ’76 At Age 26.

2026-05-09T00:06:00.000-05:00

A campaign celebrating America’s 250th anniversary includes the depicted promotion spotlighting Edward Rutledge, the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence.

The headline asks, “What Were You Doing When You Were 26?”

Um, not owning a plantation with slaves and likely engaging in the inhuman violations associated with such privileges.

17468: WPP Designs New Unit, Appoints New Leaders, Extends Same Old BS.

2026-05-08T14:55:00.012-05:00

MediaPost reported on the creation of WPP Brand & Design, yet another unit within the single White operating company.

So much for the goal of simplifying the flaming dumpster.

According to MediaPost, WPP Brand & Design will be run by White women, which might have been touted as a DEIBA+ victory a few years ago.

In today’s Adland, such performative PR no longer exists—although the WPP appointments underscore how White women continue to do waaaaay better than people of color in the global field.

WPP Brand & Design Appoints 2 To New Leadership Posts

By Fern Siegel

WPP Brand & Design, led by Global CEO Jane Geraghty, has appointed two executives to new global roles.

The WPP Brand & Design collective brings together growing specialist capabilities across leading brands, including Landor, Design Bridge and Partners, amp, ManvsMachine, Coley Porter Bell, BDG, CBA Design, and DeepLocal.

The new structure is designed to improve client experience and speed of impact. The appointments are:

Emma Beckmann, formerly Global Chief Growth Officer at Landor, has been appointed Global Chief Growth Officer, WPP Brand & Design. Beckmann said the new template “allows us to move more fluidly across capabilities and markets — connecting the right thinking around the client’s problem, rather than asking clients to navigate our structure.”

Ann Higgins spent over two decades at Ogilvy, most recently leading its consulting business in EMEA. She joins as Global Chief Client Officer, WPP Brand & Design & Design Bridge and Partners. “In today’s era of the algorithm, brands need to be optimized for machines, strategically positioned in fast-changing markets, and crafted for human connection to capture growth,” she said.

“Brand is moving back to the center of business strategy and branding is a top priority for major clients,” added Geraghty. “Our evolved WPP Brand & Design structure strikes a critical balance: the integration of common data, technology and consulting to intelligently scale the business of branding, enabling us to predict financial outcomes of brand decisions. At the same time, championing specialist design craft, delivering bespoke solutions that deeply connect with human emotion.”

Both London-based hires report to Geraghty.

17467: WPP = Woman’s Pay Pending.

2026-05-08T14:08:00.000-05:00

Adweek reported WPP shareholders approved the pay plan whereby CEO Cindy Rose could collect up to $19.1 million, a figure that differs depending on which source is referenced—The Times or Financial Times.

Regardless, shareholders voted in favor despite rejection recommendations from two shareholder proxy advisory groups.

As it is, Rose faces a daunting task to meet the bonus incentive requirements, which include raising the single White operating company’s share price by 50 percent.

If successful, Rose should be voted Adland Magician of the Year. Or Messiah of the Millennium.

WPP Shareholders Approve CEO Cindy Rose’s Potential $14.8M Pay Package

The package significantly exceeds predecessor Mark Read’s salary and bonus compensation

By Rebecca Stewart

WPP shareholders have approved a proposal to pay CEO Cindy Rose a maximum of $14.8 million (£11.1 million) a year.

The pay package sets Rose’s base salary at $1.7 million (£1.25 million) with total compensation rising substantially if short- and long-term bonuses are paid in full.

This marks a significant increase on the maximum $10.8 million (£8.6 million) payout earmarked for Rose’s predecessor, Mark Read, before his exit in September 2025.

The vote took place during WPP’s annual general meeting, hosted in London. 75% of shareholders voted in favor of changes to the company’s executive director pay structure.

Read the full Adweek report here.

17466: Overreaction Of The Week.

2026-05-08T13:00:00.000-05:00

This Adweak post is hilarious—albeit probably unintentionally—for the depiction of an Agency Management Team.

One White guy accompanied by Blacks and Asian Americans?

The revision below would’ve been more accurate—and funnier too.

17465: Help Wanted At WPP…?

2026-05-07T09:29:00.008-05:00

Here’s more evidence WPP restructuring lacks strategic and intentional execution—rather, it’s a flaming dumpster.

For starters, the single White operating company recently launched WPP Commerce, stating the integrated unit was designed to collaborate across WPP’s four main parts: WPP Media, WPP Creative, WPP Enterprise Solutions, and WPP Production.

Okay, except VML—which was recently folded under the WPP Creative banner—still offers commerce capabilities. In fact, the White advertising agency just posted the job listing depicted above for a Creative Director (Commerce).

WPP CEO Cindy Rose claims the company is embracing simplicity—with ambitions of being a trusted growth partner for clients in the era of AI.

Somebody should explain to Rose that trust comes from consistency, integrity, empathetic caring, and transparency. Internally and externally.

It’s that simple.

17464: The Real WPP Story—From An Unreal Perspective.

2026-05-07T00:20:00.002-05:00

Adweek published a perspective from its resident marketing professor-fractional consultant-uninformed analyst—who, incidentally, seems open to selling his columns to any trade journal or business publication seeking pseudo thought leader content—speculating on the WPP never-ending story.

There’s even a disclosure-disclaimer indicating his wannabe MasterClass services are available—probably at subscription rates—to White advertising agencies.

The author declares the real WPP story is not about revenue decline; rather, it’s margin.

In recent months, WPP presumably won and retained business via low-balling tactics, but will clients eventually cough up mo’ money and pay standard costs?

Surely Eviscerate28 does not intend to position WPP as the bargain basement brand among competitive holding companies.

Yet the author—having zero real-life experience in Adland—appears to miss the true plot.

It’s not whether clients will pay more—indeed, it’s will clients pay at all?

As previously mentioned, WPP has led the commoditization of Adland.

Now, the single White operating company has nothing unique to provide—at any price tag.

The only people profiting from WPP are Monday morning marketing quarterbacks. And the most annoying are those who’ve never played in the ad game.

The Real WPP Story Is in the Margin, Not the Revenue

Despite promising around $675 million in savings, the only question that matters is whether clients will pay more

By Mark Ritson

Disclosure: Mark Ritson’s MiniMBA course has been offered to Omnicom Oceania staff. Omnicom is a competitor to WPP.

When WPP posted its first-quarter numbers last week, one line did all the talking. Net revenue down 6.7% like-for-like. Its key unit WPP Media is down 8.5%.

The company described this performance, with commendable composure, “ahead of expectations.” Which tells you everything about the expectations now governing the big end of advertising.

The more instructive story isn’t the revenue decline. It’s margin.

WPP’s full-year 2025 headline operating margin came in at 13%, down from 15% in 2024.

Two hundred basis points in 12 months—the kind of compression you associate with recessions or category collapse, not with a company that has a turnaround strategy in-market.

The Elevate28 strategy, unveiled in February, promises around $675 million in gross annual savings by 2028 at a cash cost of around $540 million to deliver. CFO Joanne Wilson told analysts that staff bonuses suppressed in 2025 will need to be rebuilt through 2026. That cuts both ways: employees get paid properly again, but the lever WPP used to protect margin last year is now spent.

On the Q1 call, Adrien de Saint Hilaire of Bank of America asked the question every CMO should be asking. Revenue with WPP’s top 25 clients was down low single digits even excluding losses.

What drove the decline? Reduced scope of work, fee pressure, or outright budget cuts?

The answer determines whether WPP has a cyclical problem or a structural one

Scope reductions are cyclical: clients buying less of the same thing. Budget cuts are cyclical: economies contract, marketing contracts with them.

Fee pressure is structural: clients paying less for the same thing. That is a different animal entirely. It doesn’t respond to patience or strategy decks.

The answer, given on the Q4 2025 call, from Cindy Rose herself, confirmed it was all three—and that WPP anticipates “some downward pricing pressure from AI productivity,” which it plans to offset through cross-selling and capturing more of clients’ addressable spend. Translation: fees are falling, and the plan is to win volume elsewhere in the client’s wallet to compensate.

The numbers make the case plainly. On a like-for-like basis, gross revenue declined 4.0%, while net revenue declined 6.7%.

Pass-through costs—the media and production money flowing through WPP’s books to third parties—are holding up better than the agency-fee line. Clients are still spending. WPP is just earning less per dollar of that spend.

WPP is winning business too: the U.K. government media account, Reckitt, Estee Lauder, Jaguar. Revenue is still falling. Winning accounts while revenue drops is the diagnostic signature of a business defending share by cutting price. Every account won on tighter terms resets the floor for the next pitch.

Volume losses are real. Wilson flagged a 500 to 600 basis-point drag from gross client losses in 2026, up from 300 to 400 last year. Major U.S. and U.K. accounts walked. CPG and telecom, media, and entertainment spend is genuinely weaker.

Fee pressure and volume loss are not separate stories

They are the same story told twice. Clients negotiate harder on price, and walk when WPP won’t move, for the same reason: the holding company proposition has lost its differentiation.

Accenture Song owns the top of the funnel with strategy and tech. In-housing has gutted the middle, capturing retainer budgets clients once handed over without a second thought. Meta will take the rest. AI is eating production and media planning from below. WPP, like every big agency peer, faces a decade of simultaneous price and volume compression because it is no longer the default answer to a question only it can answer.

Elevate28’s $675 million in savings is a margin-defense operation—buying time while structural pricing erodes the top line. It can absorb a year or two of compression. It cannot solve what is causing it.

The harder task, the one WPP’s leadership avoided for a decade, is rebuilding a reason for clients to pay full price. WPP Open and the Adobe partnership are moves in that direction. Whether they produce a defensible category-of-one position, or simply make the cost reduction on commodity work cheaper to execute, is the question the market is now asking every holding company. Quarter by quarter. Pitch by pitch. Margin point by margin point.

17463: Coke Adds Life—But Not For WPP.

2026-05-06T00:12:00.001-05:00

More About Advertising reported WPP received an early lump of coal in its Christmas stocking.

Studio.One—launched by the former founder of AKQA and longtime WPP executive via acquisition—snagged the Coca-Cola 2026 Christmas campaign assignment from the single White operating company.

In mid-2025, WPP Open X—the bespoke Coca-Cola unit—saw its CEO bail out for Publicis Groupe, the White holding company that earlier had yanked Coke’s media business from WPP.

WPP executives probably feel driven to drink.

Ajaz Ahmed’s Studio.One snatches Coca-Cola Christmas from WPP

By Stephen Foster

Revenge is sweet they say, some add that it’s best eaten cold. Ajaz Ahmed’s new outfit Studio.One has reportedly pipped WPP’s Open X to Coca-Cola’s prized 2026 Christmas campaign despite Open X supposedly enjoying possession of the entire Coke business (except media, of which more later.)

Ahmed (above) was the founder of AKQA, the digital agency that more or less rewrote the rule book for highly creative digital and which enjoyed a long and profitable relationship with WPP in the Sir Martin Sorrell era after he bought it for £300m. Things didn’t go so well when Mark Read took over, reaching crisis point when he merged AKQA with Grey, a truly bizarre shotgun marriage amid a series of them. Ahmed left among with a number of key executives although AKQA continues.

Bespoke agencies with supposedly exclusive relationships with big clients are catnip for some holding companies but tend not to last. WPP has had a succession of them over the years. Coke, to be charitable, seems to have deliberately built some elasticity into Open X but when you then award North American media to Publicis (as it has) and the Christmas campaign to what is in effect a breakaway then the elastic is being stretched a pretty long way. Just last week WPP’s Ogilvy announced that it had won Diet Coke in a pitch against Uncommon and Mother. No mean feat but should you need to jump through these hoops in such a client/agency relationship?

As for Ahmed and Studio.One one of the marketing world’s most successful and truly creative entrepreneurs is off and running.

17462: On Cinco De Mayo In Adland.

2026-05-05T16:17:00.000-05:00

Many White advertising agencies likely celebrated Cinco de Mayo in stereotypical fashion, with employees donning sombreros, dancing to mariachi music, and drinking margaritas.

Indeed, more time, intent, and resources were probably allocated for partying versus participating in multicultural marketing—or pursuing DEIBA+ initiatives and/or inclusive hiring practices.

Expect the systemic racism to formally resume on May 6.

17461: OmnicoMusical Chairs.

2026-05-05T01:38:00.003-05:00

MediaPost reported on more musical chairs at Omnicom, with a CEO departure activating a dominoes effect of succession for White executives.

So, now Omnicom is reeling with restructuring, redundancies, RIFs, resignations, and reassignments—creating an R-rated experience for worker drones.

Rising Omnicom Star Painter Out: Gambino, McCord Succeed Omni, Commerce Respectively

By Joe Mandese

Omnicom this morning announced long-time Flywheel Digital executive Christine Gambino has been named CEO of its homegrown artificial intelligence (AI) platform Omni, succeeding Duncan Painter, who is leaving Omnicom.

In a related move, Omnicom said long-time Flywheel CEO Alex McCord will now lead Omnicom Commerce, a unit that previously reported to Painter.

Gambino, who joined Omnicom when it acquired Flywheel from Ascential PLC for $825 million in January 2024, has been serving as COO of Omni since October 2025.

McCord had been with Flywheel since 2016, when he joined from related company Compass Marketing Inc.

Painter, who had been a rising star inside Omnicom since he joined after serving as CEO of Ascential and negotiating the sale of Flywheel to Omnicom, has focused on integrating Omnicom’s commerce, retail media, and proprietary data companies -- including Flywheel and more recently, Acxiom (acquired as part of Omnicom’s purchase of Interpublic) had been seen by some as being a potential successor to Omnicom CEO John Wren.

In recent months, Omnicom executives have touted the company’s proprietary data companies as contributing to Omni’s competitive advantage vs. competing holding companies.

“I’m proud of how swiftly we launched the next generation of Omni following the Interpublic acquisition, establishing it as a unified asset for the combined group,” Painter said in a statement adding, that he has “complete confidence” in Gambino and McCord “as I move into my next chapter in the U.K., where I’ll be closer to my family.”

Omni and Flywheel will continue to operate as a core part of Omnicom’s Integrated Media capabilities.

17460: Introducing New & Improvised WPP Commerce.

2026-05-04T01:52:00.007-05:00

Adweek spotlighted the launch of WPP Commerce, an integrated team that will collaborate across the single White operating company’s four outhouses: WPP Media, WPP Creative, WPP Enterprise Solutions, and WPP Production.

The trade journal reported, “The creation of WPP Commerce is the first step in the holding company’s two-year turnaround plan”—aka Eviscerate28. Adweek apparently forgot the news it recently published stating WPP is no longer a holding company.

Whatever. It means drones handling commerce-related duties (e.g., shopper marketing and display design) won’t find themselves pruned like PR practitioners or others that don’t fit in the publicly undisclosed WPP strategic vision—pending identifying redundancies and restructuring RIFs.

WPP Commerce will be led by a White man who formerly ran a forgettable White retail marketing agency in the WPP network.

This poses the £14.2 million question for WPP CEO Cindy Rose: Does WPP Commerce—along with WPP Media, WPP Creative, WPP Enterprise Solutions, and WPP Production—offer distinct and better services versus competitive holding companies?

Sorry, but WPP Commerce is just another generic choice on a cluttered corporate commerce shelf.

17459: WPP = Worldwide Problems Proliferating.

2026-05-03T13:17:00.005-05:00

Financial Times reported WPP CEO Cindy Rose might not earn up to £14.2 million (roughly $19.1 million USD) as previously reported by The Times, pending an investors vote scheduled to happen this week. Financial Times, incidentally, indicated the potential payout could reach £11 million versus The Times’ £14.2 million figure.

Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis—two prominent shareholder proxy advisory groups—recommended that investors vote against the proposed pay deal.

The ISS rejection recommendation stated the payment scheme “is considered out of proportion to the company’s market positioning and its financial performance,” and there is “no sufficient justification to set her total pay package at a premium to her predecessor.”

While former WPP CEO Mark Read’s 2024 salary was capped at £8.6 million, former WPP Overlord Sir Martin Sorrell once pocketed almost £30 million—so it’s tough to dispute or agree with the ISS position.

Glass Lewis stated investors should oppose pay proposals given “the significant salary on appointment for the CEO, the discrepancy between financial and non-financial metric outcomes under the annual bonus, and the lack of disclosure surrounding the decision to grant [long-term investment plan] awards at maximum level despite a significant fall in share price.”

Regarding the Rose pay package, WPP claimed it had “undertaken extensive consultation with our shareholders on the proposed changes to our remuneration policy, with strong support indicated from the vast majority.” Plus, the single White operating company stated the changes were “essential to align us with global peers, restore growth, and position WPP as a company fit for the future and built to win.”

The entire mess underscores three key points:

1. Rose should attend all earning calls, seizing such opportunities to justify her salary—whatever the actual amount might be.

2. Given the fuzzy pay figures, confusion surrounding organizational restructuring, and overall lack of transparency, WPP should consider keeping Burson, as there is great need for professional PR to hype the company’s progress.

3. WPP is a flaming dumpster.

17458: On Brand Investment, Interest, And Indifference For Black Consumers.

2026-05-02T02:51:00.009-05:00

MediaPost published an almost stereotypical perspective on connecting with Black consumers.

From emphasizing Blacks shape culture to insisting Black audiences are swayed by authentic and accurate representation in advertising, the op-ed offers nothing new. The exposition mimics pitch decks of every past and present Black advertising agency.

The author delivers the standard declaration: “Brands that invest in authentic cultural representation have a larger, more responsive audience ready to engage and convert.”

Okay, except history has shown brand investment rarely exceeds crumbs—and brand interest is even crumbier. Indeed, the current anti-DEIBA+ vibe in Adland fuels brand indifference.

Cultural Trust As Currency: Why Black Consumers Shift Spending Due To Brand Values

By Charlene Polite Corley

Black consumers continue to shape culture that captures attention, but tokenism alone is not enough to earn loyalty. Increasingly, Black consumers are making intentional decisions about where they spend their money, and those decisions are directly tied to whether a brand demonstrates real cultural understanding and alignment. In times of economic uncertainty, that bar is only getting higher.

The data makes the stakes even clearer. According to Nielsen’s 2025 Attitudes on Representation Study, over half of Black consumers say a brand’s stance on social issues is a major factor in their purchasing decisions, and 70% say they will stop buying from brands perceived as devaluing their community, up from 66% in 2023. That upward trend signals that Black consumer expectations are growing, and brands that are not keeping up the pace are actively losing ground.

What drives this shift is visibility and relevance in practice. Black audiences are more than twice as likely to rank authentic and accurate representation of their race or ethnicity as the strongest motivation to engage with new content compared to respondents overall. Additionally, 67% of Black consumers say they pay more attention to brands that reflect their culture, compared to 46% overall.

For marketers, this gap represents both a risk and a clear opportunity. Brands that invest in authentic cultural representation have a larger, more responsive audience ready to engage and convert.

Where and how brands show up matters significantly. Fifty-six percent of Black consumers prefer to buy based on ads that appear in culturally relevant content, compared to 35% overall. This is not a preference to ignore. It means that media placement is a value signal, not solely a targeting decision. Showing up in the right cultural contexts communicates that a brand understands and respects the audience it is trying to reach.

Earning attention from Black consumers requires cultural fluency built over time, through community partnerships, creator collaborations and storytelling that reflects the full range of Black experiences. For example, Black suburban consumers are among the most likely to agree that a brand’s stance on social issues influences their purchasing decisions, at 59%, compared to 51% of the suburban total, according to Nielsen’s 2025 Advanced Audience Attitudes Study. Strategies that treat Black audiences as monolithic will miss this nuance entirely.

Ultimately, brands that earn lasting loyalty are the ones that approach cultural understanding as an ongoing commitment—and a competitive advantage. Black consumers watch to see how brands show up consistently, how they listen and how they invest the time to understand the communities they are trying to reach. When consumers feel genuinely seen, they respond with loyalty and advocacy. When they feel like an afterthought, they spend elsewhere.

In today’s marketplace, cultural trust is a business metric, and it is one that Black consumers are actively scoring every day.

17457: On The Fabrication Of Lola USA.

2026-05-01T12:21:00.005-05:00

MediaPost reported Omnicom executed another erasure-mashup involving two White advertising agencies—180 US and adam&eveDDB NY—to launch Lola USA.

The Lola agency brand was already established globally, with Lola Madrid and Lola\TBWA in Brazil.

The Lola name derived from combining the Lo from Frank Lowe of Lowe & Partners and the La in Latino. Lowe & Partners was a White advertising agency that IPG merged with Mullen Advertising in 2015 to create MullenLowe—which was ultimately erased and absorbed by TBWA after Omnicom acquired IPG last year. Oh, and IPG is gone too.

Pity the drones who shuffle through constant merging, erasing, restructuring, redundancies, and RIFs—including endless revisions to org charts, business cards, email footers, and LinkedIn profiles.

An executive at the new Lola USA declared, “We’re unashamedly ambitious. From top to bottom, there’s something beautifully irrational about how driven this team is to solve hard problems for our clients. We’re hungry. We’re obsessed. And we won’t rest until our friends jealously text us about what we’ve created.”

But first, the team must figure out who, what, when, where, why, and how they are.

Lola USA Debuts, Combines 180 US And Adam&EveDDB New York

By Fern Siegel

Lola USA has debuted, combining 180 US and adam&eveDDB New York into a micro-network within Omnicom. Lola Madrid and Lola\TBWA in Brazil are also part of the company.

The new agency is led by CEO Agathe Guerrier and CCO JD Jurentkuff. Lola USA reports 50% of the agency is dedicated to creative roles.

“Many marketers are feeling the squeeze, with shrinking ambition driven by tighter budgets and uncertainty,” said Guerrier, the former 180 US CEO. “We’re here to position a new type of agency. One that combines the artisanal culture of an independent, with the depth of technology and connected capabilities only Omnicom can provide. An agency reimagined for the future, with consultative acumen and cultural edge.”

Clients include Porsche, adidas, Molson Coors, JetBlue and Disney. First work is expected in the coming months.

The agency specializes in brand and marketing strategy, creative campaigns, brand design, and social and editorial storytelling, supported by Omnicom’s AI capabilities.

“We’re unashamedly ambitious,” added Jurentkuff, a former 180 US TBWA\Worldwide and Apple agency executive. “From top to bottom, there’s something beautifully irrational about how driven this team is to solve hard problems for our clients. We’re hungry. We’re obsessed. And we won’t rest until our friends jealously text us about what we’ve created.”

Additional staff includes Kimmy Harvey as head of creative operations, with Mike Bokman and Jason Ashlock as ECDs. Mitch Horton leads as head of design. On the business side, Elliott Bastien is head of strategy, Laura Cona is Chief Growth Officer, Devon Hay is managing director, Caroline Jackson is Chief Client Officer and Margaret Coleman is head of account management.

17456: WPP Win Doesn’t Wash Away Losses.

2026-04-30T13:16:00.004-05:00

MediaPost reported Henkel Consumer Brands completed a worldwide shootout that started over a year ago, awarding its global creative and production business to WPP.

The move follows Henkel consolidating its European media business with WPP Media last year.

According to MediaPost, WPP CEO Cindy Rose gushed the latest win presented more evidence that the turnaround plan for the single White operating company—Eviscerate28—was working.

Thousands of former WPP drones, however, are not working—with additional RIFs to come.

Given the Q1 earnings report detailed declines across all WPP divisions, it appears Rose is mimicking her predecessors and other holding company leaders.

That is, Rose is peddling Pollyannaish bullshit.

WPP Wins Expanded Remit From Henkel Consumer Brands

By Steve McClellan

WPP has been awarded the consolidated global creative and production business for Henkel Consumer Brands, including brands such as Persil, Schwarzkopf, and Syoss.

The additional remit follows Henkel’s decision last year to consolidate its estimated $825 million consolidated media business in Europe with the holding company.

The win follows a competitive global pitch that began more than a year ago. WPP Open, the company’s agentic marketing platform, will serve as the “strategic backbone” for the new assignment.

Cindy Rose, CEO of WPP, said the win was further evidence that the company’s turnaround plan, unveiled earlier in the year, was working.

17455: FYI WPP Q1 WTF (Cont’d).

2026-04-29T00:21:00.002-05:00

MediaPost spotlighted additional details on WPP Q1 earnings, revealing WPP Media delivered the worst decline for the single White operating company.

This is extra bad news given pseudo thought leaders and analysts speculate WPP CEO Cindy Rose is restructuring the flaming dumpster to become a media-first enterprise.

Based on the earnings report, WPP is now a media-worst enterprise.

WPP Media Delivers Worst Q1 Decline, ‘Enterprise Solutions’ Seen Most Promising

By Joe Mandese

Media was the biggest drag on revenue during WPP’s first quarter, the “unholding” company disclosed in its earnings release this morning.

WPP Media, which accounts for the greatest share of company revenue (41%, see chart below), saw its revenue decline 8.5% in the first quarter -- nearly two points greater than WPP’s overall decline and markedly greater than its other reported divisions, including creative services, public relations and specialist agencies.

While WPP did not disclose the explicit performance of a newer category of services – “enterprise solutions,” which now accounts for 13% of total revenue -- it was cited as a potential area of higher revenue growth.

The earnings report called out a recent enterprise solutions deal with Adobe as an example, but did not explicitly disclose the nature of the services or the revenue model.

17454: FYI WPP Q1 WTF.

2026-04-28T16:36:00.004-05:00

MediaPost spotlighted the WPP Q1 earnings call, where the White holding company—er, single White operating company—reported revenue declines in line with expectations.

Clearly, expectations are low—albeit probably realistic.

WPP CEO Cindy Rose dodged the call, contrasting the attendance practice established by predecessors Mark Read and Sir Martin Sorrell.

MediaPost stated, “Rose will participate in the mid- and full-year earning calls, following the practice of most other UK and European public companies.”

Okay, except WPP is unlike most other UK and European public companies, at least in terms of experiencing dire financial straits. One would think Rose might feel obligated to appear at every earnings call to provide status reports on Eviscerate28.

Sadly, no one seems concerned about employees’ expectations.

WPP Reports Q1 Dip, In Line With Expectations

By Steve McClellan

WPP reported first quarter net revenues of 2.26 billion GBP ($3.05 billion), down 6.7% on an organic basis (excluding currency and M&A impact), in line with previous guidance from the company.

The firm reiterated that it expects a first half organic revenue decline in the mid-to-high single digits for the first half of 2026 “with an improving trajectory in the second half.” The firm also stated that full-year pre-tax profit margin is expected to be in the 12% to 13% range.

CEO Cindy Rose stated that the company’s latest turnaround plan unveiled in February is “resonating with clients and driving strong new business. While it is only a few months since we unveiled our Elevate28 strategy, I am encouraged by this momentum which validates the ‘Stabilization’ phase of the plan and our path to growth.”

Rose was not on the company’s earnings call, which is a departure from past practice during both the Mark Read and Martin Sorrell eras. It’s understood going forward that Rose will participate in the mid- and full-year earning calls, following the practice of most other UK and European public companies.

Major first quarter wins included being named Estée Lauder’s first-ever global media partner, and media assignment wins for Wendy’s, SC Johnson and Norwegian Cruise Lines in the US.

“Elevate28” is designed to stabilize the business this year, build momentum in 2027 and deliver sustained growth from 2028 and beyond.

The company said it would cut costs by 500 million GBP a year to help achieve the plan. That cost saving is expected to be fully achieved by 2028.

By business segment revenue, global integrated agencies were collectively down 7.4%, which the company attributed largely to prior year client losses. There was a sequential improvement from the 10%+ dip seen in Q4. PR was down 2.6% and specialist agencies were down 2.3%.

By region, North America declined 7.8% due largely to prior year client losses at WPP Media and spending cuts at Ogilvy and AKQA.

The UK declined 6.6%, Western Continental Europe saw a 4.7% shortfall, and the rest of the world combined was off 6.9%, driven by Asia Pacific (-8.2%). India grew 1.0% on new business wins, offset by China declines (-12.2%) on continued spending pressures and client losses. Middle East & Africa declined 11.1% on cuts to client spending caused by geopolitical strife in the Middle East.

Latin America was down 3.4% and Central & Eastern Europe declined less than 1%.