17623: Cooking With The Same Old Recipe, Serving Up The Status Quo.

Adweek published a different spin on the impending exit of VML Global CEO-WPP Creative CEO Jon Cook, stressing how he’s handing the baton to one of his “best friends in life.”

Soon-to-be successor Eric Campbell is a VML veteran currently serving as WPP Creative North America CEO, a title he’ll retain upon gaining the VML Global CEO role.

According to Adweek, “Knowing VML and WPP Creative will be in the hands of someone who has helped [Cook] build the business has made it easier to step away.”

Easier for who? And easier how?

Cook admitted in Advertising Age that he only started considering career options last summer—mere months ago. So, it was a relatively quick decision. Ditto the appointment of his replacement.

Through messy mergers and radical restructuring, WPP likely has a surfeit of qualified and available C-suite executives. Identifying the next leader for the largest White advertising agency and entire creative practice (although Campbell is not assuming full WPP Creative CEO duties) in the global flaming dumpster should have warranted an extensive, exhaustive search.

Under Cook, VML once boasted extreme dedication to DEIBA+ and Divertsity too.

Recent PR also positioned Cook as caring, concerned, and committed to people.

What’s more, WPP leadership expressed awareness of constant churn adversely affecting morale, trust, and psychological safety.

Yet when presented with an opportunity to fill one of the biggest positions in Adland—a choice that impacts WPP employees worldwide—Cook instantly opted for cronyism and selected a White man.

Jon Cook on 30 Years at VML and Handing the Agency Over to His Best Friend

The WPP exec said he’s ready to climb a new career mountain.

By Christopher Cicchiello

Jon Cook’s 25 years at VML was full of changes, from the early startup days to mergers and acquisitions to rebrands and integrations. Alongside him the entire time was Eric Campbell, who he described as not just a partner in his career, but one of his “best friends in life.”

Now, after announcing his departure from the agency on Friday, Cook has the rare fortune of handing the reins to his long-time friend, who succeeds him as global CEO of VML while retaining his dual role as North America CEO of WPP Creative. 

Knowing VML and WPP Creative will be in the hands of someone who has helped him build the business has made it easier to step away, Cook said.

(Read the full story here.) 

17622: One Less Cook In The Kitchen At WPP.

Advertising Age spotlighted VML Global CEO-WPP Creative CEO Jon Cook, who will abandon his acronyms and the global flaming dumpster in March 2027 “to pursue an undisclosed entrepreneurial venture involving advertising and technology.”

Cook contends his exit doesn’t reflect reservations about the Roserrection. Okay, maybe somebody should define “net impression” for the man.

The single White operating company doesn’t offer entrepreneurial opportunities involving advertising and technology?

Cook admits he started considering his career options last summer, making his departure a relatively quick decision.

In the end, Cook joins a growing number of WPP leaders who’ve bailed out or were booted out in the past couple of years.

WPP will struggle to be the Trusted Growth Partner For The World’s Leading Brands when leaders are regularly shuffled, shuttled, and shat on.

A key characteristic for gaining trust is consistency.

Right now, WPP puts the con in consistency.

Jon Cook plans to leave WPP after 30 years at VML—what his exit signals for himself and the holding company

By Brian Bonilla

After three decades helping build VML from a small Missouri agency into a formidable global network—and leading some of WPP’s biggest agency integrations—Jon Cook is getting ready to leave and build something outside the holding company model.

Cook, who serves as both CEO of WPP Creative and global CEO of VML, will leave WPP by March to pursue an undisclosed entrepreneurial venture involving advertising and technology. He said only that it will sit “outside the holding company landscape” and will involve agencies, creativity and technology. He added that he expects mergers and acquisitions will remain part of his career.

Eric Campbell, currently North America CEO for VML and WPP Creative, will succeed him as VML’s global CEO in March, while retaining his North America CEO role. WPP plans to announce a successor to lead WPP Creative soon.

Cook reflects on what’s next after WPP

Cook took on the WPP Creative role in February, placing him at the center of WPP CEO Cindy Rose’s effort to simplify the world’s fourth-largest agency company. He said that his decision to leave WPP reflected a desire for new challenges, rather than doubts about the turnaround.

“It has nothing to do with my optimism about WPP’s future,” Cook told Ad Age.

Cook said his reflection began around the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this summer. While he described it as VML’s best showing—VML and Ogilvy ranked second and first among creative networks, respectively—Cook said that the achievement prompted him to consider what else he wanted from his career. “I want to do something more entrepreneurial, more independent, and just completely different,” he said.

Cook’s cardiac arrest experience nearly four years ago, which left him without a pulse for nine minutes, also reshaped his mindset. “When that all happened to me, I realized I’m here for a reason—to find my joy in life. I definitely found that joy in VML and WPP; I’m just going to go find it somewhere else,” he said.

Telling Rose was difficult. Cook said he had never been more nervous for a meeting. “I have to be honest: I think her first reaction was shock, sadness, probably some anger,” he said.

The pair spent months working through the decision, he said. Rose ultimately supported him and insisted on an extended transition. Cook said he will help Rose shape WPP Creative’s succession.

“Jon’s contribution to VML, WPP and our entire industry has been extraordinary,” Rose said in a statement. “He is an exceptional builder—of enduring client partnerships, world-class agencies and a culture built on generosity, optimism and genuine care for people. I am deeply grateful for everything he has done for WPP, and I appreciate his commitment to partner with us through March 2027 to ensure our teams, clients, and new leaders maintain their incredible momentum.”

A career of innovation and integrations

Cook joined VML in 1996 as an account manager, becoming its 28th employee. He rose through the agency as it expanded beyond its Kansas City, Missouri, roots and became a leader in digital marketing. WPP acquired the agency in 2001 and Cook was named VML’s global CEO in 2011.

He helped orchestrate two major combinations of WPP’s agencies. After leading the formation of VMLY&R following VML’s merger with Young & Rubicam in 2018, Cook became global CEO of the current VML when WPP combined VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson at the beginning of 2024.

This February, Rose expanded Cook’s remit to oversee WPP Creative, bringing agencies VML, Ogilvy, Grey, Burson, AKQA, Landor and Design Bridge & Partners under one operating structure. Cook’s initial focus was aligning agencies around four regions and regional profit-and-loss structures, removing barriers to collaboration while retaining agency identities.

He cited Kenvue and Heineken as major creative wins from the structure. “That wouldn’t have been possible in the past, either because of misplaced incentives, operational barriers or just bad blood,” Cook said.

He also helped extend enterprise solutions capabilities embedded in VML and Ogilvy across WPP under a WPP Enterprise Solutions brand, which now reaches other business units including media and production, as well as additional clients.

Cook attributed his integration abilities to communication and relationships.

“I’m not an operational genius. I’m not a super-consultant brainiac,” Cook said. “One of the things I’ve appreciated about both [former WPP CEO] Mark Read and Cindy Rose in my career … is they recognize that maybe the skillset needed for success isn’t those typical things. Rather, it’s someone who cares about people, cares about communication, celebrates success and puts people in successful positions.”

17621: On Creator Presence At Advertising Week New York.

 

Digiday published a lengthy report on Advertising Week New York, spotlighting the increased presence of creators at the exclusive event.

No word if the creator reverence and respect extended to creators of color.

‘We’re all going to live with uncertainty forever’: Advertising Week New York opens amid industry rebuild

By Kimeko McCoy and Seb Joseph

 

Nobody at Advertising Week New York this week will be stuck for conversation, though to be fair you could have said that about any of the last ten. Organizers claim more interest every year, and the trade press, Digiday included, has a habit of calling each one pivotal. What’s different in 2026 is how much of the business is being rebuilt around the people who work in it, with plenty of them turning up unsure where they’ll fit once it’s done.

Ask the execs heading over to Midtown’s The Penn District and the work that keeps coming up is implementation.

“We’ve moved quickly from experimentation to implementation,” said Alistair Hill, CEO & co-founder of brand uplift firm On Device. Roblox’s vp of global partnerships and advertising Stephanie Latham, said last year’s conversations were about how comfortable marketers felt using AI, and that they’ve since struck enterprise agreements with AI partners. Kochava CEO Charles Manning wants to see how far agentic AI has moved from talk to operations. He said CFOs are taking a more active role in discussions about costs, and security teams are paying closer attention to how first-party data could leak into AI models. Hill’s worry is trust, because faster optimization means little if nobody can trust the data and measurement behind it.

Implementation, in other words, comes with a long list of questions nobody has settled yet, and plenty of the execs heading over say they’re going mainly to listen. Channel Factory CRO Nico Greco and Summit House co-founder Steven Cundari both described the week as a chance to team up. “I want to understand where our clients and partners are in their technology journeys,” said Greco of what he wants to get from the meetings he’ll be having throughout the week.

Much of that listening will happen away from the stages. The Trade Desk opens the week this afternoon with drinks at The Perch, the rooftop on top of PENN 2 — a few minutes’ walk from the main venue. Amex Ads has the Riff Raff club in the evening. Ad tech’s card players will be at the Sigma Software invite-only poker night, which is into its fifth year. For anyone who’d rather sit down over lunch, The Landing at PENN 1 has private dining rooms right on the doorstep, and Bar Primi on West 33rd Street takes groups. Speakers and top-tier pass holders get the Chase Media Solutions lounge on the second level. By Tuesday night, some of the crowd will have drifted down to Little Rebel in the East Village for Proeller’s fringe party.

Creators have their own circuit this year. Meta is running a Creator’s Lounge on the second level for creator pass holders and Dhar Mann, Advertising Week’s first chief creator officer, hosts a karaoke night tomorrow and an omakase dinner with Rick Ross on Wednesday. There’ll be plenty of creators to fill them. Ruth Mortimer, global president of Advertising Week, expects around 2,500 creators this year, up from 1,000 creator tickets last time. She and Mann have set a target of $100 million in creator deals coming out of the week over the next 12 months.

It’s a long way from how creators used to land a meeting with a CMO here. “I used to joke, the only CMO meetings we were getting were if they had a 12-year-old daughter who watched our creators,” said Adam Wescott, CEO and co-founder of independent content and media studio Home Game Studios. The welcome is, indeed, warmer than it used to be. Trevant GM Kristina Coughlin said creators have become “a core part, often a leading part” of advertisers’ marketing mix, whereas in previous years they were an extra. Wescott wants to see what comes of it once the week is over. “Creators don’t just want the invite to help promote ticket sales,” he said in an email. “They want real deals to come from it.”

AI and creators come with the territory at an event like Advertising Week. Measurement tends to get less air time, though the arguments over it have been building all year. AI-driven shopping is pulling budget out of search, while creators and social platforms want credit for sales that close somewhere else. Newer sellers like ChatGPT are asking advertisers to spend before they can show what the money did. Kochava’s Manning will be watching how those conversations play out over the next few days: “Our sideline conversations are deliberately focused on deep, structural partnerships rather than transactional pitch meetings. Specifically, our calendar is booked with meetings in three categories: Enterprise Marketers seeking truth and leverage, ecosystem and platform partners that want strategically minded growth and organizations that want true AI-driven transformation in their processes.”

None of this gets settled by Thursday, and Mortimer isn’t pretending otherwise. “We’re all going to live with uncertainty forever,” she said. “So let’s try and find the opportunities together.”

AWNY wants creators in the room. Creators want to know what’s in it for them

At this year’s Advertising Week New York (AWNY), creators aren’t just part of the programming. They’re seemingly part of the draw for the event itself.

AWNY is trying something new this year. The conference brought on creator and entrepreneur Dhar Mann on as its inaugural chief creator officer. With Mann’s appointment comes the $100 Million Creator Challenge, a set of “interactive 30-minute experiences pairing leading talent with major CMOs to create ideas, content, connections and real business outcomes,” per the AWNY site.

There will also be an exclusive happy hour for creators, execs and cultural leaders, a curated dinner and a night out. The pitch to creators is clear: come to Advertising Week and maybe you’ll leave with a CMO-signed contract.

“It’s exciting more advertiser-first events are inviting creators, but what will be most telling is the results post-event,” said Adam Wescott, CEO and fo-counder of Home Game Studios, and Mind Chatter Media. 

It’s true the ad industry is taking creators more seriously. Just look at industry tentpole events, like the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this past summer. Creators all but stormed the French Riviera, looking to strike deals with business leaders. Dinners, key notes and other events that were usually reserved for CMOs were also hosting creators. 

While event organizers roll out the red carpet for creators, the question is whether or not the benefit is mutual. That’s what Wescott has top of mind heading into this year’s AWNY, he said. 

More ad industry events are starting to bring creators in not just as panelists and talent, but potentially to boost reach and promotion for these events themselves, he said. The question is: what’s in it for creators outside of a trip and photo op?

“Creators don’t just want the invite to help promote ticket sales. They want real deals to come from it,” Wescott added. 

What we’ve heard

“For us it was important [Dhar Mann’s involvement] had a business outcome. We’ve hand-picked a group of brands and we’ve asked them to identify what budget they’re spending creators. Then we’re getting them in the room with the creators here. We’re tracking it because we asked the brands up front to confirm what they were planning to spend.”

— Advertising Week global president Ruth Mortimer

Advertising Week New York by the numbers

• About 2,500 creators are expected this year, up from 1,000 creator tickets last year. 

• A $100 million target for creator deals coming out of the week will be tracked over the next 12 months against creator budgets brands confirmed up front.

• Nine stages and 36 day tracks. 

• Advertising Week’s own realtor network, built with the creator platform Breakr, gives it access to around 350,00 creators. 

• Brand marketers are now the largest audience segment, where agencies would have been a decade ago.

On stage

The creator advantage in AI search, 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. (leadership breakfast)
Jenny Penich, CRO at Influencer and Eleanor Hooker, head of community and customer marketing at Profound discuss answer engine optimization, how LLMs rely on human recommendations and why creators could link AI discovery to consumer trust.

Dhar Mann’s opening keynote, 9.30 a.m., Great Minds Stage
This is the headline Monday session. Mann will launch the $100 million creator challenge from the stage, and the event says he’ll reveal a big initiative for 2027 for the first time.

After hours

Amex Ads happy hour, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at The Riff Raff Club (invite only)
Sigma Software AdTech Poker Night at 7pm. This is the fifth anniversary edition and its invite only.

Future is Female Awards at 7 p.m.
The anchor event of Advertising Week’s Future is Female programme, recognises women and allies in the industry. Invite only.

17620: Converse Controversy Continued.

From Adweek…

Former CMO Rodney Rambo Had Nothing To Do With Converse’s Controversial Ad. He Still Got Death Threats.

Doxxed and mislabeled by AI answer engines, Rambo found help from the people in his network

By Christopher Cicchiello

The threats started pouring into former Converse CMO Rodney Rambo’s phone on a Friday morning.  

He had departed the company in January, and had nothing to do with the widely-condemned ad that featured Kpop star Karina in a white skirt, holding a pair of new Chuck 70 X sneakers, and lit in a way that recalled Ku Klux Klan imagery for some social media users. 

But he had seen it the night before, the day it went viral on social media. 

“You should be disgusted that this ad was ever approved,” one user wrote to Rambo on LinkedIn, in one of multiple comments seen by ADWEEK.

(Continued here.) 

17619: WFA, WPP, WTF.

 

More About Advertising spotlighted a World Federation of Advertisers report showing the use of labor-based models has significantly declined over the past 15 years, while outcome-based remuneration continues to dramatically rise.

In short, WPP is not doing anything innovative with payment schemes; rather, the single White operating company has been slow in adapting to industry reality.

The global flaming dumpster is an outdated outhouse.

More clients move to payment by results – WFA

A new report by the World Federation of Advertisers and Agency Mania Solutions reveals that the use of labour-based models has fallen dramatically over the last 15 years dropping from 54% in 2011 to 17% today, with a significant drop from 33% in 2022 when the research was last carried out. Over the last decade and a half, fixed-fee/output models have risen from 20% to 35% and labour-plus-performance models have more than doubled, from 9% to 23%.

Performance-based fees show the strongest momentum, with 58% expecting increased use, followed by value-based models at 43% and fixed-fee or output-based approaches at 36%. By contrast, 42% anticipate further reducing labour-plus-performance arrangements, while commission models also face more contraction than growth.

How Brands Define, Scope and Reward Agency Work also predicts that AI will accelerate this process, given that the technology allows agencies to do more, faster. Brands, however, are still catching up, with only 20% already evolving their commercial models in response to AI, although 61% intend to.

The findings are based on responses of 69 different multinational companies, representing 6 different industry sectors and a collective global marketing spend of $147 billion. Most (71%) respondents were in a global marketing procurement role.

“Clients ultimately care about the quality, impact and performance of the work – not how many people or hours were required to produce it. AI is accelerating this transition by enabling agencies to complete many activities faster, making time an increasingly weak proxy for value,” says Laura Forcetti, Director of Global Marketing, Sourcing and Director Marketing Services, Asia Pacific at WFA. “The growth of hybrid approaches also shows that no single model suits every discipline or assignment. The future of agency compensation is not paying for effort, it is rewarding valuable work, delivered effectively.”

17618: On WPP Leadership—An Oxymoron.

 

MediaPost reported VML Global CEO-WPP Creative CEO Jon Cook is taking a walk toward an undisclosed destination, handing the baton to another VML veteran White man.

So, after orchestrating the epic erasure of iconic White advertising agency brands—and eliminating thousands of jobs—Cook is bailing out of the global flaming dumpster, undoubtedly with a golden parachute.

Cook is scheduled to remain in his leadership roles until March 2027.

In contrast, WPP drones don’t enjoy the privileged luxury of such advance notice—and their exits only include golden showers.

VML Global CEO Jon Cook Set To Depart As Campbell Prepares To Succeed Him

By Steve McClellan

Jon Cook, Global CEO of VML and CEO of WPP Creative, is leaving WPP to pursue the next chapter of his career, the holding company announced this morning. Cook will remain in his leadership roles through March 2027. He was a co-founder of VML in the 1990’s.  

Another VML veteran, Eric Campbell, currently CEO of VML and WPP Creative in North America, has been named to succeed Cook as Global CEO of the agency, while continuing as CEO of WPP Creative North America.

Cook has spent three decades helping guide and shape VML from an emerging digital agency in Kansas City into one of WPP’s largest creative networks. In 2024, he led the effort to combine what was then VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson, bringing together brand experience, customer experience, commerce, data and enterprise technology across more than 55 markets.  

In February 2026, Cook took on the additional responsibility of CEO of WPP Creative when that unit was created as part of WPP CEO Cindy Rose’s efforts to return the company to growth. WPP Creative includes VML, Ogilvy, Grey, Burson, AKQA, Landor and Design Bridge & Partners.    

Rose stated: “Jon’s contribution to VML, WPP and our entire industry has been extraordinary. He is an exceptional builder – of enduring client partnerships, world-class agencies and a culture built on generosity, optimism and genuine care for people.”    

Added Cook: “This has been one of the hardest decisions I have ever made in my life. But after three decades of pouring everything I have into this agency and all of WPP, it is time to build something new.”    

Campbell has been with VML for more than 25 years and has held central leadership roles, including President of VML, Global President of VMLY&R, Global Chief Client Officer and CEO of VML North America.   

WPP said that further details on the leadership structure at WPP Creative would be announced soon. 

17617: On The White House & White Advertising Agencies, Part 11.

 

More About Advertising reported President Donald J. Trump aired a self-promotional video, prompting accusations that government funds were used to pay for a campaign advertisement.

The White House defended the video with a variety of legal and arguably looney responses.

It appears Trump is like the client—or White advertising agency—who greenlights executions without running concepts through the legal department.

Then again, maybe Trump is campaigning for a White Man Of The Year repeat.

Trump accused of using government funds for campaign advert

By Emma Hall

Only six weeks before the US midterm elections, President Trump has aired an ad providing a highlight reel of his second term and a promise that America will never be a communist country. The soundtrack repeats the words “Love me” over and over.

The controversial bit comes with the text overlay, “Paid for by the US government,” coupled with the timing – six weeks ahead of the critical mid-term elections. The White House denies using government funds to pay for a campaign ad, claiming that the work is a celebration of Trump and acts “as a reminder for Americans to love their country and know why it’s worth defending – at home, at the border, and abroad.”

The sped-up clips apparently include some of Trump’s signature moments like the US military raid on Venezuela, hosting a state dinner for Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, and accepting the FIFA peace prize, and pardoning a turkey.

The White House claims the ad is not campaigning and that “patriotism isn’t partisan,” but here he is boasting about his second-term achievements including tax cuts, manufacturing growth, and improved law and order. The broadcast version also features Dana White, CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, saying “he is the toughest, most resilient human being I have ever met in my life.”

Albanian-American singer JMSN, who wrote and performed the song “Love me,” says he is “looking at lawyers” due to the unauthorised use of his work.

Further defence from the White House references Obama’s ads to promote Obamacare and Biden’s “We can do this” public health campaign. As Trump’s second term unfolds, it looks increasingly like he’s taking an ongoing trajectory to its logical extreme – and no one can stop him.