17629: On Grey Matters.

Advertising Age reported on executive moves at Grey that were overshadowed by the resignation of  VML Global CEO-WPP Creative CEO Jon Cook, adding accelerant to the global flaming dumpster.

Back in 2020, Grey almost vanished via plans to fold the White advertising agency into AKQA—until staffers and clients protested. The merger reignited in 2024–2025 and dissolved in 2025 when Grey shifted under the Ogilvy Group banner.

Now it appears even Grey employees don’t wanna be associated with Grey, as the Global Chief Creative Officer bailed out to launch his own White advertising agency.

Meanwhile, other Grey executives were shuttled to different positions within the single White operating company.

Instead of asking, “Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?” the question is, “Pardon me, would you have Grey pooped on?”

Grey’s global chief creative officer leaves to start his own agency

By Brian Bonilla

Multiple leadership changes are underway at Grey, according to an internal memo Laurent Ezekiel, global CEO of The Ogilvy Group, sent this morning, which Ad Age obtained.

Most notably, Gabriel Schmitt, Grey’s global chief creative officer, is leaving to launch his own agency, Ezekiel wrote in his memo. Schmitt’s departure from the WPP agency is effective Oct. 1.

“For a creative of Gab’s caliber, this marks a natural evolution in his leadership journey, which we are proud to champion,” Ezekiel wrote.

Schmitt wasn’t immediately available for comment. He joined Grey as global CCO in March 2023 after serving as co-chief creative officer of FCB New York. During his tenure, Grey produced work including Anheuser-Busch InBev’s “For Every Golden Moment,” which Ezekiel described in his memo as the brewer’s biggest-ever global campaign, as well as “SOS POS” for BCP Bank, which won a Creative Data Grand Prix at the 2026 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Two other Grey leaders are making moves within WPP. Global Chief Client Officer Jason Kahner and Global Chief Strategy and Data Officer Jonathan Lee will move into dedicated WPP global client and strategy leadership roles for Henkel and Kenvue/Kimberly-Clark, respectively, according to Ezekiel’s memo. Those transitions will take place over the next few months.

‘Grey remains Grey’

The moves represent another step in Grey’s integration with Ogilvy, which began in May 2025. The agencies have maintained their individual brands while increasingly operating as part of a broader Ogilvy Group.

Grey’s creative leadership will now report to Liz Taylor, Ogilvy’s global chief creative officer. This officially leaves Grey without a traditional global leadership team; its global CEO, Laura Maness, departed last year.

“Broadly speaking, reporting lines will remain as is—in most instances, routing directly through local office leadership and respective regional structures, and ultimately up through me,” Ezekiel wrote. “This gives teams the autonomy and ability to make decisions closer to client and other local considerations.”

The latest changes are intended to give Grey’s regional and local offices greater responsibility while connecting them more directly with Ogilvy’s broader capabilities, Ezekiel said. Grey’s local office leadership and regional structures will remain intact, according to the memo. Its teams will also continue to pitch for business and produce work under the Grey name, and its culture, social channels and email signatures will remain unchanged.

Grey teams will also have increased access to The Ogilvy Group’s capabilities across sports and entertainment, PR, health and innovation, as well as WPP’s technology offerings.

“Grey remains Grey,” Ezekiel wrote. “Day to day, Grey teams will continue to identify, pitch, win and create work as Grey.”

17604: Continuing Cola Wars Craziness.

 

More About Advertising opined on Ogilvy scoring a Coca-Cola European football project via a pitch featuring WPP Open X (presumably led by Ogilvy), Publicis’ Le Pub, Studio.One (led by former AKQA CEO Ajaz Ahmed), and Uncommon Creative Studio (co-founded by former Grey London Chairman and CCO Nils Leonard).

Was the pitch underway before Publicis Groupe landed PepsiCo global media duties?

Given WPP Open X was invented to solely serve Coke, facing competition from outsider enterprises does not seem to reflect favorably on the single White operating company and its offerings.

The scenario also indicates an industry shift, whereby reviews for major chunks of business are not necessarily closed affairs, exclusive privileges available only to a handful of White holding companies. Although it still involves cronyism and entitled relationships.

In the end, the self-proclaimed Trusted Growth Partner For The World’s Leading Brands hasn’t gained trust, realized growth, or been a partner for any brand in the world—and the global flaming dumpster now competes against ex-employees for assignments.

Coke goes great with humble pie.

More Coke pitches: this time Ogilvy’s on top

By Stephen Foster

They do love their pitches at Coca-Cola despite the creative part of the giant account supposedly safely harboured at WPP. This time it’s a WPP team led by Ogilvy reportedly winning a European football brief in a pitch against Publicis’ Le Pub (which handles Heineken), Ajaz Ahmed’s new Studio.One and Uncommon Creative Studio (there are nearly as many studios these days as pitches.)

Coke has invested heavily in football with some lively campaigns although this seems to be the first time it’s been a separate project. Coca-Cola is an official sponsor of the Premier League in the UK.

Nobody’s saying anything on the record but it’s an interesting pitch. Studio.One, the new creative company formed by former AKQA boss Ajaz Ahmed has already picked up a Christmas assignment from Coke. Ogilvy has won (or retained) a number of Coke assignments recently and seems to be the lead agency on WPP Open X work. Must be frustrating, not to say exhausting, having to keep repeating yourself though.

17463: Coke Adds Life—But Not For WPP.

 

More About Advertising reported WPP received an early lump of coal in its Christmas stocking.

 

Studio.One—launched by the former founder of AKQA and longtime WPP executive via acquisition—snagged the Coca-Cola 2026 Christmas campaign assignment from the single White operating company.

 

In mid-2025, WPP Open X—the bespoke Coca-Cola unit—saw its CEO bail out for Publicis Groupe, the White holding company that earlier had yanked Coke’s media business from WPP.

 

WPP executives probably feel driven to drink.

 

Ajaz Ahmed’s Studio.One snatches Coca-Cola Christmas from WPP

 

By Stephen Foster

 

Revenge is sweet they say, some add that it’s best eaten cold. Ajaz Ahmed’s new outfit Studio.One has reportedly pipped WPP’s Open X to Coca-Cola’s prized 2026 Christmas campaign despite Open X supposedly enjoying possession of the entire Coke business (except media, of which more later.)

 

Ahmed (above) was the founder of AKQA, the digital agency that more or less rewrote the rule book for highly creative digital and which enjoyed a long and profitable relationship with WPP in the Sir Martin Sorrell era after he bought it for £300m. Things didn’t go so well when Mark Read took over, reaching crisis point when he merged AKQA with Grey, a truly bizarre shotgun marriage amid a series of them. Ahmed left among with a number of key executives although AKQA continues.

 

Bespoke agencies with supposedly exclusive relationships with big clients are catnip for some holding companies but tend not to last. WPP has had a succession of them over the years. Coke, to be charitable, seems to have deliberately built some elasticity into Open X but when you then award North American media to Publicis (as it has) and the Christmas campaign to what is in effect a breakaway then the elastic is being stretched a pretty long way. Just last week WPP’s Ogilvy announced that it had won Diet Coke in a pitch against Uncommon and Mother. No mean feat but should you need to jump through these hoops in such a client/agency relationship?

 

As for Ahmed and Studio.One one of the marketing world’s most successful and truly creative entrepreneurs is off and running.

17352: WPP Creative Sounds Unoriginal.

 

MediaPost noted multiple UK sources reported WPP plans to combine its White advertising agency networks—Ogilvy, VML, and AKQA—under a single banner called WPP Creative.

 

In other words, WPP CEO Cindy Rose is mimicking predecessor Mark Read, as well as copying the consolidation schemes of other holding companies.

 

Adland commoditization is simplifying to Adland commode.

 

Reports: WPP’s Next Restructuring Move Will Realign Creative Agencies

 

By Steve McClellan

 

WPP is preparing to reorganize its major creative agency networks—Ogilvy, VML and AKQA—under a single entity called WPP Creative, according to multiple reports out of the UK on Monday. 

 

The move, expected to be announced later this month, is part of an ongoing streamlining effort at the holding company.  

 

Last year the firm restructured its media agencies including Mindshare, Wavemaker and EssenceMediacom, previously organized within GroupM, under a new entity called WPP Media.  

 

Production operations were similarly restructured under WPP Productions last month.  

A WPP spokesperson said the company had no comment on the reports. 

 

But the firm has announced that it will be releasing full-year results as well as a “strategy update” on February 26.

 

WPP has been trying to streamline its far-flung operations for years in a bid to make them easier for clients to understand and access. When Cindy Rose took over as CEO last September, she said the company hadn’t gone far enough with the effort and pledged to do more. 

 

She launched a new strategic review designed to further simplify and integrate the firm’s offering while simultaneously improving execution. She also pledged to build a “high performance culture,” expand the firm’s addressable market and strengthen financial operations. 

 

And she’s under the gun to show results. Over the past year WPP shares are down more than 60% and have continued to fall since the beginning of the year by about 20%.  

 

Last week, most of the major holdco stocks and others outside the sector were down amid worries that AI would threaten, not improve, future revenue streams at many companies. 

 

Marketing analyst Madison And Wall notes that Publicis successfully centralized its creative operations several years ago, sensing correctly “the preferences that global marketers were expressing and the need for scale to free up resources for internal investments.” 

 

“Centralizing resources should be helpful for WPP as it was for Publicis, at least if doing so sets the stage for an eventual combination of the creative networks into a monolithic business unit," the advisory commented.

 

“The disadvantages of complexity and limited scale that follow from operating multiple creative networks no longer offset the advantages of operating several distinct brands within a single agency holding company, such as a potentially improved ability to attract talent and the higher costs they require. Today’s news is a step that appears to recognize this reality.” 

 

This story has been updated.

16591: WPP Merges Grey & AKQA, Excretes Titanic Turd.

Campaign reported WPP is once again merging outhouses—White advertising agency Grey and White digital and design firm AKQA—to create a global shitshow.

 

This latest twosome toilet re-flushes a rejiggering attempted in 2020, when the White holding company sought to place both companies under the banner of AKQA Group. The deal was nixed when Grey staffers—along with longtime client Procter & Gamble—staged protests.

 

WPP CEO Mark Read seemingly caved in to the complaints, despite reportedly having initiated the merger as early as 2018. It now turns out, however, that Grey and AKQA were quietly partnering all along, which makes the big announcement a farting formality.

 

Most outrageous is the WPP contention that only 11 people will be “impacted” by redundancies. Sounds—and smells—like fecal impaction.

 

AKQA and Grey merge operations in five markets in efficiency drive

 

By Gideon Spanier

 

Two of WPP’s creative agencies, AKQA and Grey, are to merge operations in five markets as part of an efficiency drive.

 

AKQA will become the sole or lead brand in four of the five markets – Australia, Belgium, Italy and the United Arab Emirates.

 

AKQA “assumes management” of these offices, “with Grey’s senior management becoming part of the local leadership teams”, the two companies said. Grey will be the lead brand in the fifth market, China.

 

Laura Maness, the chief executive of Grey, and Ajaz Ahmed, the founder and chief executive of AKQA, said in a joint interview with Campaign that the simplification would help to drive faster growth and appeal to their “burgeoning roster of global clients”.

 

The two agencies employ around 5,500 staff globally and share clients such as The Coca-Cola Company and Volvo.

 

About 225 people work in the five affected markets and it is understood fewer than 5% – or around 11 employees – will be “impacted” in “duplicative, non-billable or low-billable roles”.

 

Grey has been part of AKQA for financial reporting purposes since the end of 2020, but the two agencies have continued to go to market as separate brands.

 

The “strategic realignment” in five markets “enhances AKQA’s capabilities and focuses Grey’s footprint on growth markets”, the companies said.

 

This is what the changes mean in each market:

 

• In Australia, AKQA will become the sole brand and the Grey brand, which has operated as WhiteGrey, will be dropped.

 

• Similarly, in the UAE, AKQA will be the sole brand and Grey Dubai will be dropped.

 

• In Belgium, Famous Grey will rebrand to AKQA Brussels, where AKQA has not previously had an office.

 

• In Italy, AKQA and Grey will merge under AKQA’s leadership, but both brands will continue to operate for clients, which include Unicredit – a recent joint win.

 

• In China, AKQA and Grey will merge in Shanghai under Grey’s leadership, but both brands will continue to operate and serve clients, which include L’Oreal and Nike.

 

Maness said: “AKQA and Grey have already been working together in these regions and our areas of expertise complement each other perfectly.

 

“By bringing our teams together, we’re combining the best of both worlds – Grey’s renowned creativity and AKQA’s world-class design and innovation.

 

“I’m confident that this move will benefit not only our employees but also our clients, who will have access to a truly unparalleled pool of diverse talent and expertise.”

 

Following the restructure, AKQA and Grey will operate 50 offices – which they call studios – globally. AKQA will have 30 offices in 18 countries and Grey will have 20 offices in 18 countries.

 

The two agencies said: “There are no plans to integrate any other Grey studio into AKQA.”

 

A year of efficiency

 

Ahmed said: “We are proud to partner with Laura’s team and believe the Grey brand has lasting value. Driving operational excellence is core to our mission of delivering sustainable growth and in service of building a leaner, more agile agency to improve our performance and better enable our long-term vision.”

 

WPP has been making efficiencies across the holding company, most notably with the merger of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson to create VML in October 2023, and it told investors at its capital markets day in January that it plans to save £125m through restructuring as well as investing £250m in artificial intelligence and technology.

 

Revenues from its creative agencies declined 1.6% last year.

 

Ahmed conceded that creative agencies have been facing “increasing competition” and “different competition” from new and existing players in the marketing eco-system and the rise of AI has brought new issues.

 

“The way that an agency stays relevant is by increasing the level of innovation and its value-add for its clients, and that’s really what we’re focused on,” he said.

 

Ahmed described the merger of offices in five markets as part of “a year of efficiency” for AKQA and Grey – a nod to how Meta positioned its global overhaul in 2023 that led to a big leap in profitability.

 

Asked why AKQA and Grey have not followed VML in going for a full-blown merger, he said: “The easy thing to do is to make one brand but it’s not the right thing to do and there’s immense value in the Grey brand and the Grey leadership team.

 

“And that’s reflected in the in-bound [interest] we're getting, the opportunities we're getting and the incredible team that's been built under Laura's leadership.”

 

Grey wants to focus more on global clients

 

Ahmed founded AKQA in 1994 and he has remained in charge after selling to WPP in 2012. Grey was founded in the US in 1917 and WPP bought it in 2004.

 

Maness, who joined as CEO in 2022, was upbeat about the changes, saying “I have never been more excited or optimistic about Grey’s future” and claiming its pipeline of client opportunities is “the strongest it’s been in a decade”.

 

But she said Grey needs to focus more on global clients: “I think there had been an over-emphasis on local clients and local markets, and this really re-positions Grey to super-charge its growth engine and to deliver on behalf of the current base of local clients and to continue to add global clients.”

 

She went on: “We’re transforming ourselves to grow faster and we have an incredible opportunity to make the most of our collective scale. And this intentional [smaller] footprint [for Grey] is going to create new opportunities for our people, and it will deliver even better results for our clients. The goal for Grey has never been to be WPP's biggest agency. It’s to be the fittest.”

 

Maness said Grey has already made progress in a number of areas that go beyond headline staff numbers including improving the gender balance and diverstiy of leadership.

 

“We believe we’re in the business of value creation and we’re also in the continuous improvement business and if you're not changing, you’re not growing,” she said.

15216: Not A-OK With AKQA BS…

Adweek spotlighted a Nike film from AKQA that allegedly celebrates Black women, featuring Brazilian singer Ludmilla and dance troupe The Turmalinas Negras. Celebrating Black women by showing a song and dance routine? Wow. How stereotypical original. The piece demonstrates that AKQA is just as capable as its new sister, Grey, of producing patronizing pap. Oh, and AKQA is hardly qualified to trumpet itself as a gender defender. Perhaps someone should inquire about how AKQA celebrates Black women in its own hallways—keeping in mind that the subsegment is woefully underrepresented in the field.

 

Nike Celebrates the Power of Dance and Enduring Strength of Black Women

 

Film by AKQA uses choreography to tell a story of ‘birth, connection, roots, protection, recognition and awakening’

 

By Sara Spary

 

Nike has launched a beautifully choreographed film titled “The Awakening in Dance: An Experience in Motion” to celebrate Black women and encourage new generations to explore different forms of sport and movement.

 

The spot, which features Brazilian singer Ludmilla and dance troupe The Turmalinas Negras, was created by AKQA and Think Eva, with direction from Juh Almeida.

 

It aims to show the “empowerment and manifestation of Black culture” through dance, according to AKQA said, with the choreography designed to show six important moments: birth, connection, roots, protection, recognition and awakening.

 

Members of the Nike Training Club will also have access to exclusive content that explains the steps of the choreography via short videos so they can reproduce the movements and “connect with the transforming power of dance” as part of the campaign.

 

The ad is Nike’s latest work centered around the theme of black empowerment.

 

In May, at the height of Black Lives Matter protests, the brand released a 60-second ad titled “For Once, Don’t Do It” from Wieden+Kennedy Portland that took direct aim at racism.

 

“Don’t pretend there’s not a problem in America. Don’t turn your back on racism,” the earlier ad said. “Don’t accept innocent lives being taken from us. Don’t make any more excuses. Don’t sit back and be silent.”