Advertising Age reported Wendy’s handed its US media business to WPP Media after a closed review featuring WPP and Omnicom.
The scenario is so messed up, it’s difficult to deliver focused commentary. Hence, here’s the bullshit excreted with random bullet points:
• A closed review between WPP and Omnicom underscores the exclusive arena created by White holding companies. How was Omnicom even a contender, given its deep ties to Mickey D’s? Perhaps Omnicom promised to erect firewalls separating legacy Omnicom and IPG enterprises. Regardless, it all shows big accounts will be divvied up between a cabal of predominately Caucasian corporations.
• Wendy’s creative business has been handled for over 14 years by VML, a White advertising agency within the WPP Creative confederacy. The client claims the media assignment simplifies marketing efforts via an integrated model. On the flipside, Wendy’s admits sales suck and brand performance has steadily declined in recent years. In most cases, such results would rightly prompt a full account review. Yet WPP was rewarded for incompetence with added Wendy’s business.
• Ad Age positioned the win as evidence of WPP CEO Cindy Rose’s direct involvement on pitches. Okay, except as detailed above, this scheme really wasn’t a pitch. Additionally, WPP Media was invented by former WPP CEO Mark Read. So, it appears Rose is simply riding Read’s coattails, which were torn, tattered, and disintegrating rags.
• Wendy’s US CMO has been with the fast feeder for nearly 15 years; however, she was elevated to the role only three years ago. Most of her previous professional personas involved serving as a financial analyst. Ad Age previously stated WPP wins under Rose leveraged price-cutting incentives. Need an explanation for Wendy’s decision to hire WPP Media? Do the math.
• In the end, it looks like Wendy’s ultimately chose the least stinky pile of dung.
Wendy’s is adding media to WPP’s remit—behind the decision
By Jon Springer and Ewan Larkin
Wendy’s has awarded its U.S. media business to WPP Media in a move it says will accelerate an ongoing turnaround and build on its longtime creative relationship with WPP’s VML.
The restaurant chain had long worked with Publicis Groupe’s Spark Foundry. That agency declined an invitation to defend and declined to comment. WPP and Omnicom participated in the closed review, said Lindsay Radkoski, Wendy’s U.S. chief marketing officer.
Wendy’s spent $319 million on measured media in 2025, down from $520 million in 2024, according to MediaRadar.
The shift comes as Wendy’s looks to reverse disappointing results, including U.S. same-restaurant sales that fell 5.2% last year, including an 11.3% plunge in the fourth quarter. To that end, the brand is rethinking how its marketing operates. It is moving away from siloed creative and media teams toward a more integrated model designed to speed up execution, reduce inefficiencies and better connect campaigns to sales, Radkoski said.
“Our business performance has not been where we want it to be. It’s not where the category’s been,” Radkoski said. She added that the review also reflects broader changes in how brands connect with consumers. “I really believe that the days are gone of the historical creative and media silos,” she said.
The brand and media agency are already cooperating in ways that are faster and more seamless than before. During this year’s March Madness college basketball tournament, Wendy’s was signing athletes to NIL deals in near real time as standout plays unfolded, turning them into social advocates for the brand. The brand is a longtime March Madness sponsor.
“In the past, who signs the influencer [the media agency or creative agency] led to some duplication and not being as efficient in the work as we need to be,” Radkoski said.
Tactics like this will help Wendy’s respond faster and produce more in-the-moment content that will change the way its social accounts feel, Radkoski said. The brand also plans to lean more into product-focused marketing and ongoing campaign storytelling.
Wendy’s longstanding creative relationship with VML
Although creative agencies are often in the crosshairs when brands attempt a turnaround, VML, Wendy’s creative partner of 14 years, isn’t going anywhere.
“We’re happy with that partnership,” Radkoski said. “Like any relationship, you have to have big conversations about how’s the team, how’s the business, how’s the talent, how’s our operating model, what do we need to adjust … We’re in a really healthy rhythm with the VML team.”
Bringing creative and media into the same ecosystem will help Wendy’s “build around VML,” Radkoski added.
WPP pitched a model in which Wendy’s retains control of its data through a private network, rather than relying on agency-owned data platforms, said Brian Lesser, CEO of WPP Media. The multiyear deal includes an outcomes-based component, linking a portion of WPP’s compensation to business results, he added.
Wendy’s is the second largest U.S. burger chain by sales but remains well behind McDonald’s and has struggled in recent years. Its CEO, Kirk Tanner, departed in July after just 18 months on the job to take the CEO job at Hershey Co. Ken Cook, Wendy’s chief financial officer, has served as interim CEO since.
In October, Wendy’s launched a comprehensive turnaround program called “Project Fresh” aimed at modernizing how consumers experience the brand. As part of that program it retained Creed UnCo, a consultancy led by former Taco Bell CEO Greg Creed, to sharpen how the brand targets customers.
Wendy’s marks another major media win for WPP under new CEO Cindy Rose, who took the reins Sept. 1. WPP has been battling declining revenue and a string of client losses as it works through a multiyear turnaround plan. But the company has recently shown signs of life in the pitch room, notching assignments with Jaguar Land Rover, The Estée Lauder Cos., SC Johnson, the U.K. government and Henkel.
Key to this momentum, as Ad Age previously reported, has been Rose’s increased presence in reviews, as well as a newfound sense of humility and selectivity. WPP still has a ways to go to right the ship, but a win with Wendy’s in the U.S.—where marketing consultants have said the agency group’s perception hasn’t fully recovered following years of internal reorganizations—is the kind of proof point it needs to start winning back advertiser confidence.
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