WPP's CEO Says the Old WPP Is Dead, and Q3 Numbers Are Starting to Back Her Up

WPP chief executive Cindy Rose spent the back half of October telling anyone who would listen that the ad holding company she inherited is not the one she is running now. In a Q3 trading update, she said clients are "responding very positively" to WPP operating as "one unified company" rather than a loose federation of competing agencies, and credited the shift for a second straight quarter of improving numbers under her Elevate28 turnaround plan.

The results back up at least some of the talk. North America's revenue decline eased to 1.8% from 4.3% in the prior quarter, EMEA swung to 1.7% growth, and WPP Media posted its first growth since 2024. WPP Creative, however, kept sliding, down 5.1%, which outgoing chief financial officer Joanne Wilson attributed mainly to lower client spending. The agency network's Australian business fell 4.8% even as it picked up new accounts with Suncorp, Lion, Asahi, Michael Hill, and BYD, with Rose noting new wins typically take months to a year to show up in revenue.

"The old WPP just wasn't set up to keep pace with the evolving needs of clients in that way, and now we are," Rose said. WPP Media also retained Coca-Cola and picked up Novo Nordisk during the quarter, two wins Rose is counting on to carry into 2027, the year she is targeting for a full return to growth.

Source: B&T

Kyle Duford, Founder & Editor, BRNDWIRE. More from Kyle →