Dive Brief:
- WPP in a trading update detailed a major strategic overhaul following a year marked by punishing revenue declines and account losses. In short, WPP wants to transform from a holding company into a single company, the announcement reads.
- The U.K.-based advertising firm saw like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs, a measure of organic health, drop 10.1% in Q4 2025 — an important period that includes the holidays — and 5.4% for the full year. It expects LFL revenue less pass-through costs to be negative in the mid- to high-single digit range throughout the first half of 2026.
- The Elevate28 plan will reorganize WPP’s sprawling network into four operating units anchored in four regions, all of which will be supported by WPP Open. The extensive turnaround effort comes as rivals like Omnicom are also breaking with established business models amid a period of significant advertising disruption.
Dive Insight:
WPP’s Elevate28 plan will streamline the group’s agency portfolio into four operating units based in four regions. Those units are: WPP Media, WPP Creative, WPP Production and WPP Enterprise Solutions, and they will operate across North America, Latin America, the Europe, Middle East and Africa region as well as Asia-Pacific.
WPP Media formed last year as part of a rebranding of media-investment arm GroupM while WPP Production was previously unveiled in January as a rollup of existing production brands like Hogarth.
The newly announced Creative division unites WPP’s creative, PR and design shops under one roof and “preserves distinct agency cultures while implementing a shared operating system” to reduce friction, according to WPP. Meanwhile, WPP Enterprise Solutions brings together customer experience, commerce, CRM, content transformation and technology data capabilities.
Each division is expected to lean more into WPP Open, an operating network that WPP has souped up with heavy investments in artificial intelligence. WPP’s bid at remaking itself as a single company speaks to the pressure legacy agencies are facing to change amid a time of disruption driven by AI, shifting client needs and external economic pressures.
“Our recent underperformance has been driven by excessive organisational complexity, a lack of an integrated operating model and inconsistent strategic execution,” said WPP CEO Cindy Rose, who stepped into the role in September, in a statement. “While disappointing, I see huge potential as these issues are all within our power to fix and we’re already making great progress.”
Elevate28 will focus on stabilizing WPP in 2026, building momentum in 2027 and returning to “high-quality” growth from 2028 onward. The strategy aims to deliver 500 million pounds, or roughly $677 million, in annualized cost savings, with an eye on reinvesting in high-growth areas, such as media, commerce and “high-velocity production.”
Competitive advantages outlined by WPP include: strengths in data-driven marketing, bolstered by its acquisition of InfoSum last year; integrated media, data, creative and technology supported by WPP Open; and global scale paired with established client relationships. In addition, WPP is implementing a new talent framework that will foster a “high-performance culture” and align employee objectives and incentives with actions that drive client results and support the overall business.
“We have everything we need to succeed: exceptional talent, world-class capabilities, trusted data and technology solutions and groundbreaking partnerships, as well as the scale and reach to service the most complex multi-national, multi-brand clients in the world,” said Rose. “The momentum we are seeing from the decisive action we’ve already taken gives me the confidence that we’re on the right path to creating a WPP that is fit for the future and built to win.”
