17411: On WPP CEO Cindy Rose Raise, Raising, And Reaching.

 

The Times reported WPP CEO Cindy Rose could collect a maximum payout of £14.2 million (roughly $19.1 million USD) if she manages to raise the White holding company’s share price by 50 percent.

 

If successful, Rose would earn more than her predecessor, Mark Read, whose 2024 salary was capped at £8.6 million.

 

It might sound like progress given the gender pay gap issues prevalent at WPP (and Adland overall). However, there are at least two critical points to consider:

 

1. Read took multiple pay cuts in recent years resulting from his failure to even slow WPP’s financial free fall.

 

2. The £14.2 million Rose deal is still dwarfed by former WPP Overlord Sir Martin Sorrell, who once pocketed almost £30 million.

 

In comparison, Omnicom Chairman and CEO John Wren received $21.67 million in 2024; Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun has a base salary of roughly $1.25 million with perks and bonuses that could bump total compensation to over $10.7 million; Havas CEO Yannick Bolloré reportedly received roughly $11.4 million in 2024; Former Dentsu CEO Hiroshi Igarashi could’ve received a package exceeding $14 million (no word yet on new CEO Takeshi Sano); Stagwell CEO Mark Penn received $8.4 million in 2023. In short, holding company CEO salaries are all over the global map—and obscenely high.

 

Keep in mind too that WPP has been on a death spiral since at least 2018, making the goal of boosting the current share price by 50 percent downright delusional.

 

In the end, Rose will probably raise a White flag vs raising the share price.

 

WPP boss Cindy Rose could make £14.2m if she gets things right

 

The payout for her predecessor, Mark Read, was capped at £8.6 million for 2024, but she will only get the maximum amount if the shares rise by 50%

 

By Isabella Fish, Retail Editor

 

The new chief executive of WPP is in line for a significantly higher pay reward than her predecessor after the advertising group overhauled its remuneration structure to align UK packages with those in the US. 

 

Cindy Rose could receive a maximum payout of £14.2 million if she lifts the company’s share price by 50 per cent, under a newly proposed remuneration policy set out in the annual report. 

 

By comparison, the maximum potential payout for her predecessor, Mark Read, was £8.6 million for 2024. 

 

The advertising company said it was overhauling its pay structure to address what it described as a “disparity in incentive arrangements” between employees based in the UK and those in the US. In 2023 and 2024, total compensation for about a third of its US-based executive committee members exceeded that of the group chief executive under the previous framework, it said.

 

WPP said it “believes it is appropriate to narrow this disparity and alleviate some of the challenges of pay compression, creating a fair and sustainable framework across the global executive team”.

 

British companies have warned of a transatlantic pay gap and restrictive UK corporate governance frameworks. Unilever, the consumer goods giant, recently said it had missed out on high-calibre American candidates whose existing compensation packages far exceeded what the group could offer under its current structure. 

 

Rose, 60, is an American-British dual national who splits her time between the UK and the US. The former Microsoft executive, who took over at WPP in September, was appointed on a base salary of £1.25 million, with additional incentives paid in cash and shares depending on performance. 

 

Under the proposed policy, her maximum payout includes £5.9 million in bonuses and stock awards to compensate for those she forfeited by leaving Microsoft, as well as salary, benefits, pension, maximum annual bonus, and the combined value of long-term share awards, including a new restricted share plan.

 

The company is hoping to introduce a restricted share award worth 100 per cent of salary for the chief executive and chief financial officer, alongside existing long-term incentive plans. These awards would run over five years, with a three-year vesting period followed by a two-year holding period, and would be subject to performance conditions.

 

A 50 per cent share price increase might seem like a steep target for Rose to hit, but the stock is currently at a particularly low point. The group was ejected from the FTSE 100 in December after its shares fell to a near 30-year low. The stock is down 75 per cent over the past five years and about 63 per cent over the past 12 months.

 

Rose is seeking to stabilise the business through cost savings and having a simpler structure following a series of client losses and a downturn in advertising spending.

 

In February, she set out a plan aimed at cutting £500 million in costs, including removing duplication and combining human resources and back-office functions across parts of the group.

 

According to the company’s latest report, WPP employed 98,655 workers at the end of last year, 6,500 fewer than the year before. WPP declined to comment.

17341: On Working With Cancer.

 

MediaPost reported on Publicis Groupe’s philanthropical propaganda Working With Cancer launching a new $100 million global campaign.

 

The initiative is a pet project of Publicis Groupe CEO and Cancer Survivor Arthur Sadoun, who has enlisted major brands and rival White holding companies to provide backing.

 

Granted, Working With Cancer is a laudable endeavor. Yet it also symbolizes the reigning exclusivity and dominating hierarchy in Adland, whereby leaders dictate which projects gain priority status.

 

Working With Cancer receives a lion’s share of support. DEIBA+ gets a shrug.

 

It’s the difference between Working With Cancer vs Working With Crumbs.

 

‘Working With Cancer’ Breaks $100 Million Global Campaign

 

By Steve McClellan

 

Publicis today announced the launch of a new global “Working With Cancer” campaign that’s backed by $100 million in media donated by media companies across the industry.  

 

The campaign urges companies worldwide to commit to supporting cancer patients in their organizations.

 

The Working With Cancer initiative was launched three years ago after Publicis chairman and CEO Arthur Sadoun’s own cancer diagnosis and treatment in 2022. 

 

The latest campaign follows a research review done in collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, underscoring evidence that many employed cancer survivors report better quality of life compared to unemployed survivors. The research found that employed survivors tend to function better physically and are less prone to depression.  

 

Working with Cancer has also unveiled a new AI Coach designed to help employers better tailor support to individual employed survivors. The large language model-based system draws from curated, vetted resources to deliver responses that avoid potential privacy violations and other risks associated with open internet health queries.  

 

The anchor film of the new campaign was created by Publicis Conseil and features survivors from all walks of life sharing how working helped them maintain normalcy during treatment. Participants include Sadoun and other survivors, from companies like Walmart, L’Oreal, Pfizer, Barclays and others. It was directed by award-winning filmmaker Kailee McGee, a stage IV cancer survivor.  

 

“The most important thing to do when you get sick is listen to yourself,” Sadoun says in the film. “Some will consider that they need to stay home and others like me would consider that going to the office and being supported can make a big difference. It’s a very lonely experience, anyway.”  

 

The campaign includes a Times Square NYC out-of-home takeover today (Feb. 4) in recognition of World Cancer Day.   

 

To date, more than 5,000 companies covering 40 million-plus employees have signed the Working With Cancer pledge to support workers battling the disease.   

 

Media donors to the new campaign include Disney, Google, Zeta Global, TikTok, NBCUniversal, Paramount, iHeartMedia, Westwood One, Clear Channel Outdoor, Captivate, Screenvision and NCM.

17249: Retorting & Reporting.

 

Adweek spotlighted griping from Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun, who publicly pressured Omnicom to report its financials like the other holding companies (Omnicom currently reports gross revenue while rivals report net revenue). Oddly enough, Sadoun said if Omnicom does not change its reporting, Publicis Groupe will proceed to mimic the soon-to-be-biggest White holding company and report gross revenues too.

 

Don’t expect Sadoun’s suggestion to get placed on Omnicom CEO John Wren’s to-do list—alongside maintaining his Pioneer of Diversity status.

 

It all sounds like sour grapes between ex-lovers…?

 

Arthur Sadoun Urges Omnicom to Report Financials Like The Other Big Four Holdcos 

 

Publicis Groupe CEO criticizes ‘apples and oranges’ accounting ahead of Omnicom’s IPG takeover

 

By Rebecca Stewart

 

Arthur Sadoun is putting public pressure on competitor Omnicom to report its financials the same way the other Big Four holding companies do.

 

Ahead of Omnicom’s takeover of Interpublic Group (IPG), set to close this month, Sadoun called for the U.S.-based ad network to report net revenue, rather than gross revenue, in its financial updates. 

 

Sadoun said Omnicom’s current approach makes it “impossible” to compare its performance at a market level: “When Omnicom becomes the largest player, apples and oranges accounting has to end, to increase investor trust in the industry,” he said in a speech during Morgan Stanley’s European Tech, Media, and Telecom (TMT) conference in Barcelona on Nov. 12.

 

“What wasn’t a problem when they were a distant third will become one now. Investors and shareholders need transparent, comparable performance metrics across the industry,” he added. 

 

The Publicis Groupe CEO urged Omnicom to report net revenue, as WPP, Dentsu, Havas, Publicis, and IPG, which will soon represent 40% of the “new Omnicom,” all do. 

 

Sadoun stated that if Omnicom doesn’t bring its accounting in line with its peers, Publicis will start reporting both gross and net indicators for “a couple of quarters” before moving fully to gross.

 

When approached by ADWEEK, Omnicom declined to comment.

 

What does it mean?

 

Based on 2023 figures, the combined Omnicom-IPG would generate approximately $25.6 billion in gross revenue, making it the largest of the “Big Four” ad networks.

 

Currently, Omnicom reports gross revenue, which includes client billings and pass-through costs. Its peers, meanwhile, publish net revenue figures, which exclude these costs to show only what the agencies actually earn for their services.

 

Sadoun believes Omnicom should measure its performance on the same basis as its competitors to give a clearer picture of how its IPG acquisition is performing. 

 

Brian Wieser, founder of strategic advisory and consulting firm Madison and Wall, told ADWEEK he would be surprised if Omnicom changed its financial reporting following pressure from Sadoun.

 

However, he agreed that Omnicom’s preferred way of reporting is “misleading” and makes any comparison between industry figures “untrustworthy.”

 

Wieser said the reporting discrepancy also comes at a cost. “When companies don’t report in a clear way, they make it harder for analysts to understand them, and when they become too hard to understand, investors and analysts will spend less time looking at them, resulting in a reduction of interest in the sector. That means there’s less capital going into these companies.”

 

In Q3 2025, Omnicom reported gross revenue of $4 billion. 

 

Publicis reported a 3.1% increase in net revenue, reaching $3.9 billion in the same quarter, while WPP posted an 11.1% decline in revenue, less pass-through costs. IPG’s total revenue before billable expenses was $2.14 billion in Q3.

17113: Compensation Charts Show Holding Company Honchos Holding Lotsa Loot.

 

Adweek published content exposing the paychecks of CEOs at White holding companies, even displaying the Advertising CEO-to-Employee Pay Ratio (depicted below).

 

Iconic Management Expert Peter F. Drucker advocated a ratio of 20 to 1 and stated, “I have often advised managers that a 20 to 1 salary ratio is the limit beyond which they can not go if they don’t want resentment and falling morale to hit their companies.”

 

Interestingly enough, Sir Martin Sorrell is the only honcho abiding by Drucker’s recommendation—although he greatly exceeded the ratio when serving as WPP Overlord.

 

Drucker was correct in recognizing the ratio could ignite resentment and falling morale. Mission accomplished, boys!

 

In the end, it just goes to show how it pays to be a White man in Adland.

16898: AI & A-Holes.

 

More About Advertising noticed B&T—Australia’s leading publisher for advertising, media, marketing, and PR news—ran a story on Omnicom planning to acquire IPG.

 

The content featured an Adobe Firefly-rendered portrait of WPP CEO Mark Read, Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun, and S4 Capital Overlord Sir Martin Sorrell (depicted above).

 

Much has been published on how AI fails diverse audiences; however, the B&T image demonstrates White men benefit from the technology—especially based on the portrayal of Sir Peanut.

 

George Parker commented, “Is that how the ‘Poisoned Dwarf’ AI’s himself before hitting [Shepherd Market]?”

16845: Buckle Up, Detroit.

 

Advertising Age reported on more casualties from General Motors’ decision to partner with White advertising agencies outside of Detroit. Publicis Groupe announced plans to shutter the Leo Burnett Detroit office—which lost Cadillac, Buick, and GMC—and lay off 79 staffers.

 

Add Leo Burnett Detroit to a pileup including Commonwealth, McCann Relationship Marketing, and the White advertising agencies bound to crash and burn in the impending Stellantis review.

 

Despite the setbacks and reductions in force, Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun thinks the White holding company will continue to perform far better than rivals. And the Bureau of Labor Statistics claims Adland regularly adds hundreds of jobs.

 

Meanwhile, news sources report General Motors cut about 1000 employees last week—mostly white-collar workers—adding to the 5000 white-collar workers who took buyout offers from the automaker last April. It’s unlikely the 6000 included any Chief Marketing Officers. But it wouldn’t be surprising to learn Chief Diversity Officers were among the terminated.

 

Analysts tie GM’s problems to failure achieving goals with electric vehicles sales. Hey, maybe President-elect Donald Trump can appoint Elon Musk to assist.

16823: Publicis Groupe Is On Fire—And On Firing Spree.

 

MediaPost reported Publicis Media axed over 100 US employees for failing to comply with RTO policies. Advertising Age reported up to 200 employees will also get cut from Publicis Groupe digital agencies, including Razorfish and Digitas—although it’s not clear if the digital dismissals are tied to RTO compliance.

 

Meanwhile, Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun gushed over Q3 results and declared “we should outperform the industry by 400 basis points on average in 2024.”

 

In short, Publicis Groupe terminates employees whether they come into the office or not—and while the White holding company is boasting strong performance.

 

The corporate motto “Viva La Difference” should be revised to “Viva La Indifference”.

 

Publicis Media Lets Go Of 100+ U.S. Staff Over RTO Compliance

 

By Steve McClellan

 

Publicis Media has parted ways with over 100 staffers in the U.S. because they did not comply with the agency group’s return-to-office policy.  

 

It wasn’t immediately clear which offices around the country the departures occurred. Publicis Media oversees agencies including Spark Foundry, Zenith and Publicis Health Media.

 

Last October Publicis Groupe announced that it would implement new companywide work-from-home policy—effective January 1 of this year—requiring employees to be in the office three days a week with Mondays a must for one of those days. Also consecutive work-from-home days are no longer allowed.  

 

While the new policy was rolled out globally at the start of this year, it was put into effect in the U.S. in the spring of 2023.  

 

In a video message to employees last fall, CEO Arthur Sadoun said work-from-home was a viable option during the COVID-19 pandemic. But he indicated that people are at their best workwise when they are interacting face-to-face in an office environment working together. Hence the post-COVID policy change. 

 

In regard to the recent U.S. departures Publicis Media issued a statement:

 

“We have been clear and consistent about our policy that employees work from the office at least three days a week—an expectation that is being met and exceeded by the majority of our talent. We do not comment on individual employment changes.”

16684: Detecting BS—And Deflecting Accountability—At Publicis Groupe.

 

As part of its coverage for Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Campaign published perspectives from holding company CEOs on making the business case for creativity investment in the wondrous age of AI.

 

The series reads like essays drafted by the holding companies’ respective PR departments—although it would have been more appropriate to generate the corporate content via AI.

 

Regardless, Publicis Groupe Chairman and CEO Arthur Sadoun leveraged the opportunity to create shameless self-promotion for his White holding company, unveiling a “BS detector bot”—while opening and closing by declaring, “Imagine what we could achieve if we all took the BS out of AI.”

 

For starters, if the BS detector bot were to directly engage with Publicis Groupe, it would explode from being overloaded by the endless bullshit that the White holding company excretes.

 

To make a sloppy segue, Sadoun’s declaration—Imagine what we could achieve if we all took the BS out of AI—must be explored through the lens of AI standing for Artificial Inclusivity.

 

Imagine if Adland—or even just Publicis Groupe—took the BS out of DEIBA+ commitments. Envision the elimination of performative PR, heat shields, Human Heat Shields, underfunded diversity budgets, crumbs, delegating diversity, diversity committees, embryo recruitment, ERGs, broken promises, faux dedication, outright lies, and more.

 

Indeed, it’s impossible to consider such a scenario, as the foundation of AI is BS.

 

Hell, Publicis Groupe absolutely prioritizes Artificial Intelligence well ahead of diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, allyship, justice, etc. Technology trumps responsibility, accountability, and respect.

 

Systemic racism is the ultimate achievement.

 

Imagine what we could achieve if we took the BS out of AI

 

By Arthur Sadoun

 

“In reality, it is not creativity that evolves: it stays the same. It is everything else that grows around it.”

 

Those words are as true today as they were in 1958 when Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, the founder of Publicis, first said them.

 

Creativity, its power and its importance at our group has never changed. And neither has the case we make for investing in it: creativity is the added value that we bring, which has the ability to transform the future of our clients’ businesses.

 

It is how a small hotshop, created in Montmartre almost 100 years ago, became the market leader on every front today.

 

What does change, as our founder said, is how we anticipate and adapt to everything “that evolves around” creativity. It won’t come as a surprise when I say that, right now, this means artificial intelligence.

 

It’s everywhere in our industry. We’re all caught up in announcing the same “exclusive” partnerships, everyone is obsessed by generative AI content, and each prediction and promise around AI seems more overblown than the last.

 

The AI revolution has created some hype, a bit of fear, and – excuse my French – a lot of BS. And you don’t just have to take my word for it, you can click here to see what I mean.

 

On one side you have the Sam Altmans of the world, who are prophesying that AI will kill off our entire industry. That’s BS.

 

Anyone who thinks AI will take our jobs or replace human creativity is lacking in imagination, foresight or both.

 

At Publicis, we have been putting AI at the heart of our operations and into the hands of our people since 2017.

 

In that time, we’ve gone from a 70,000-strong organisation to 100,000, with several thousand more people set to join us this year.

 

Then you have those in our industry who position AI as the great saviour of all their business challenges and organisational woes.

 

Let’s be honest, AI is not the solution to siloed legacy structures and a lack of capabilities. So that’s BS, too.

 

The truth is AI can only be fully leveraged if you have unique proprietary data, a single infrastructure and tech innovation expertise.

 

At Publicis, when others were buying back shares, we were buying technology and data, investing more than €9bn in the acquisitions of Sapient and Epsilon.

 

We also did the hard work of simplifying our organization, putting into place the Power of One.

 

And we can’t forget how we radically changed our culture, implementing AI for all of our people with our Marcel platform, long before AI was de rigeur.

 

Today, seven years after we launched Marcel in Cannes, we’re back on the Croisette to take the BS out of AI.

 

To hold ourselves accountable, we have created a BS detector bot that will translate the AI hype and jargon clients encounter into straight-up refreshing talk, while also prompting critical questions to ask themselves and their partners – starting with us.

 

We are also holding 30 closed-door sessions for clients to share real AI apps, customised to their specific industries, driving to real business outcomes, not cute gen AI output.

 

Everyone talks about investing in creativity. In Cannes, we all dedicate a lot of time, money, and carbon emissions to celebrate it. But, so far, we haven’t been having the right conversations about what it takes to get the best out of AI for creativity that drives business.

 

So let’s check ourselves, get off the AI hype loop and imagine what we could achieve if we all took the BS out of AI.

 

Arthur Sadoun is the chairman and chief executive of Publicis Groupe

 

16657: Bored By Publicis Groupe Board.

 

MediaPost reported Publicis Groupe executed another merger/consolidation, although this time involving its supervisory board and management board. In short, the two boards are now one, with Arthur Sadoun adding Chairman to his CEO title.

 

Looks like a more streamlined, exclusive group of White men and White women—and the person named vice chair of the new board is the daughter of late Publicis Groupe Founder Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, so there’s potential nepotism at play too.

 

Given the White holding company’s grand investments in technology, wouldn’t it be cheaper and more efficient to handle board duties with Marcel or other AI tools?

 

Shareholders Approve Single Publicis Board, Sadoun Adds Chairman Duties

 

By Steve McClellan

 

At its annual meeting today, Publicis Groupe shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favor of a proposed new governance structure for the company, replacing its current supervisory board and a separate management board (called the Directoire) with a single board of directors. The proposal was approved by a margin of 95%.

 

The board of directors met following the general meeting to formally adapt the new structure and appointed Arthur Sadoun chairman of the board, in addition to his current CEO role.

 

The company announced the proposal last month, asserting that the new streamlined structure would be the best way to ensure the company’s continued momentum and growth in the future.

 

Earlier this month, the firm disclosed that Andre Kudelski would be appointed lead director of the new board. He is the chairman and CEO of Swiss technology firm Kudelski Group and has been on the Publicis Supervisory board since 2016.

 

Maurice Lévy, who is now honorary chairman of Publicis Groupe (previously chairman of the Supervisory Board and CEO before that) stated: “Arthur Sadoun knew how to take the right turns, ensure growth and place the Group at the top of the sector pyramid. I am very proud of his career and convinced that under his leadership the Group will go further and higher.”

 

“The governance adopted by the shareholders leads, following the decisions of the Board, to an exemplary balance of powers with Élisabeth Badinter as Vice-President, and who continues to ensure that all stakeholders are treated fairly in the respect for the Group’s values, André Kudelski as Lead Director who will provide valuable support to the Board in this new framework, and finally, tighter Committees with very clear missions.”

 

Those committees include Nomination, Remuneration, Audit and Financial Risk, and Strategic, Environmental & Social. Committee leads were appointed by the board after the annual meeting.

 

Added Sadoun said, “This change makes it possible to maintain the tandem that we have formed with Maurice Lévy since 2017, and to continue the dynamic that has propelled Publicis to the top of its sector. Thanks to the stability of our partnership, the incredible commitment of the Group’s talents in all their diversity and our unique offering, we are more confident than ever in our ability to support our clients in their transformation, in a constantly evolving world.”

 

Lévy is credited with the idea of switching to the new governance setup.

 

As expected, Élisabeth Badinter, vice chair of the previous supervisory board, has been named vice chair of the new board (she is the daughter of Publicis Groupe Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet).

 

All other resolutions made at the annual meeting were also approved by shareholders.