Advertising Age published a fluff piece hyping the WPP new business scheme under CEO Cindy Rose.
Okay, except WPP declined to comment for the content.
And most of the insider information came from anonymous consultants, which translates to worthless opinion, clueless commentary, and useless hearsay.
In short, the content is time-wasting bullshit.
According to Ad Age, the Roserrection—in terms of new business acquisition—features heavy involvement from Rose.
Hey, Rose must earn the potential $19.1 million via the pseudo outcomes-based payment plan applied to her salary.
Rose reportedly appears at pitches live and/or by pre-recorded videos.
Wonder if the videos are AI-generated messages, which would fortify the White holding company’s—er, White single operating company’s—alleged expertise with such technology. Or underscore how AI could easily replace the average CEO.
Rose already stated layoffs are imminent. So, is new business even a priority? Who would service newly acquired accounts?
Publicly juggling RIFs and RFPs is bad for morale. It doesn’t help that Rose is still in the probationary period too.
WPP once boasted its people “represent perhaps the most diverse example of diversity of any single organisation.”
The statement should be revised as follows:
WPP represents perhaps the most diverse example of dysfunction of any single organisation.
Inside WPP’s new business approach under Cindy Rose
By Ewan Larkin
WPP appears to be building some much-needed momentum in the pitch room, picking up a string of marquee accounts in recent months under new CEO Cindy Rose—though it still has a ways to go to fully right the ship.
The British advertising giant has notched recent wins with Jaguar Land Rover, The Estée Lauder Cos., SC Johnson, Kenvue, the U.K. government and Henkel. Some in the industry may attribute the streak to aggressive pricing terms—a familiar narrative when agencies hit a run—but the gains nonetheless offer some relief after 2025, when the company shed several high-profile accounts. WPP is now working through a broader turnaround plan to revive growth.
Early data suggests that momentum is translating into results. According to COMvergence, which tracks agency new business activity across 50 countries, WPP Media is currently the top-performing network among the top five holding groups so far this year. It has raked in roughly $1.2 billion in new client wins and $520 million in retained billings, against about $200 million in losses. The figures are provisional and subject to revision, COMvergence noted.
By comparison, Omnicom Media has posted $280 million in new client wins, $620 million in retained billings and $400 million in losses, according to COMvergence. Publicis Media has recorded $120 million in new wins, $75 million in retained billings and $25 million in losses. Publicis dominated the new business front in 2025.
WPP’s new business strategy hasn’t changed significantly in structure, according to people familiar with the matter, but it is improving in how it’s presented, led and understood by marketers. Key to this turnaround is Rose, who took the reins in September and is said to be quite present in pitches, engaging with senior client leaders.
Ad Age dives into what’s working so far. WPP declined to comment for this story.
Breaking down Cindy Rose’s involvement
The presence of a holding company CEO in a pitch is becoming increasingly meaningful, with reviews now often involving top executives on the client side. Those top-to-top conversations are taking on greater weight, and Rose, a former Microsoft executive, seems to be making the right early moves.
“She is very present,” said one marketing consultant who has encountered Rose in the pitch room, speaking on condition of anonymity. The consultant added that Rose has a different style from Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun—without the same “big personality”—but is “empathetic and very commercial.”
The consultant likened Rose’s approach to Wendy Clark at Dentsu, pointing to a transparent and measured leadership style that resonates with clients. Rather than dominating the room, Rose is seen as engaging senior marketers and CEOs directly while giving her teams space to lead the conversation. She has formed a tight partnership with Devika Bulchandani, whom she promoted from global CEO of Ogilvy to chief operating officer of WPP in September.
That new role appears to have given Bulchandani space to roam, as she has been prominent in reviews, including on the media side, bringing a different perspective to those pitches, according to one person close to WPP. “She’s involved in all of it,” this person said of Bulchandani. “She’s a new business machine.”
Rose has also been appearing at the beginning of pitches via pre-recorded video, according to David Indo, chief client officer at media consultancy ID Comms. ID Comms supported U.K. consumer goods group Reckitt’s recent review, in which WPP Media emerged as the European media agency of record, working across 21 markets.
“She has successfully and effectively set the tone, even though she’s delivering it remotely,” Indo said of Rose. “Her involvement in pitch meetings does make a difference, and for clients to see that the new CEO of WPP is actively investing in that particular process already positions the WPP agency that is presenting in a good light.”
Indo said Rose’s involvement also marks a shift from her predecessor, Mark Read. That added CEO presence, he said, represents a “significant difference” and a “significant improvement” in how WPP shows up in reviews.
The proposition becomes clearer, and outcomes take center stage
Much of WPP’s focus in recent years has been on building out its AI platform, WPP Open, and other tech capabilities. With much of that groundwork now in place, the company is getting better at articulating how those tools inform strategy rather than define it, according to the first marketing consultant.
The holding company’s messaging is now that WPP Open “informs good strategy, as opposed to the strategy being the data and the tech,” the consultant said. “That’s quite a big distinction.”
“The proposition is getting a lot stronger,” this person added. “The narrative is probably a bit stronger because they’ve picked up a few wins—and people are reading about wins now, not exits, both on the client side and among people.”
WPP is also pushing outcomes-based pricing more often during reviews, said another marketing consultant, who noted that in one recent media pitch the company proposed putting more of its fees at risk based on performance than it had in similar pitches just a year ago. The approach is not new—independent agencies, including Known, have adopted similar models—but WPP’s stance appears to be getting more aggressive.
Rose herself is focused on articulating a high-level “win together” narrative—emphasizing shared risk and “skin in the game”—while her pricing and client leads handle the specifics, said a third marketing consultant.
“They’re more upfront about it: ‘The way we work is outcomes. We’re not selling time; we’re selling outcomes,’” said the second consultant. “They’re introducing it earlier in the process.”
The Jaguar Land Rover win, in which WPP picked up media and creative duties, is emerging as a key test case. In an investor meeting in February, WPP said it was negotiating with the client on a model that ties fees to measurable sales and outcomes rather than hours worked. Jaguar Land Rover could not be immediately reached for comment.
Not all marketers are fully sold yet, however. The second consultant said clients still want proof the model can deliver in practice, particularly given the limited number of case studies and the level of data-sharing required.
Humility and selectivity
There’s also a newfound humility to WPP in the pitch room, said Indo, who noted a shift in tone over recent months, calling it “intangible” but “extremely telling.” He attributed that change in part to Rose’s more client-focused approach.
“For many years, WPP would attend presentations and there would be a degree of arrogance they would bring into the room with them; a degree of entitlement because they’d been so successful,” Indo said. “Sometimes that translated into confidence and well-presented, well-articulated, coherent pitches. Other times, it would be jarring for the client.”
Now, in the “pitches that I have been exposed to with WPP, there is a natural humbleness they bring to the meeting room,” he continued. “I don’t mean them being timid, but there is a level-setting and a degree of humbleness that they bring into the meeting that is disarming and engaging for the client.” Several other consultants also noted this shift.
WPP is also being selective, especially as it looks to defend existing accounts, Indo said.
“They need to make sure they don’t lose business, but they also need to generate some kind of organic growth, and so they are being far more selective in the reviews they work on,” said Indo. “Their ability to cherry-pick those reviews based on their perceived ability to win is very sensible and very strategic.”
IBM serves as a good example. WPP Media declined to defend the media account, and longtime partner Ogilvy is not participating in the tech giant’s creative review, despite working with IBM for 32 years.
Room for improvement and what’s next
WPP’s recent flurry of victories doesn’t patch over the broader issues, as the company works through a turnaround that includes £500 million ($678 million) in annual cost savings by 2028, including job cuts. The third marketing consultant characterized the company’s new business progress as stabilization rather than true momentum, noting that the sheer volume of pitches currently underway makes it too early to draw firm conclusions.
WPP has reorganized around four WPP-branded divisions, recasting itself as a single, unified company in a bid to make all its services easier for marketers to access. It is too soon to tell how this revamp will pan out, but the third consultant said some clients are wary that further consolidation could dilute talent and lead to more commoditized work.
“Quite a few clients are a little cautious, especially around the horizontal consolidation—what that means from a competition and conflict point of view, and whether they will still have the best talent," this person said.
A fourth marketing consultant said WPP still has work to do in the U.S., where its perception hasn’t fully recovered following years of internal reorganizations. Clients in the region want to see more of WPP’s data and tech capabilities fully operational and delivering results, too, this person said. (Rose holds both British and American citizenship and is splitting her time between London and New York.)
And of course, WPP is up against stiff competition. Publicis has been flying high in recent years, including scooping up WPP accounts such as Coca-Cola Co.’s media duties in North America and Mars’ global media business in 2025. Following its acquisition of Interpublic Group of Cos. in November, Omnicom is now the world’s largest agency company by revenue. But despite these challenges, many consultants voiced optimism about WPP’s prospects.
Right now, “it is a two-horse race,” said a fifth industry consultant, “but you can’t count WPP out. They will catch up.”
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