17650: On Strategery At WPP.

 

Adweek spotlighted WPP CEO Cindy Rose on why she’s “Not Claiming Victory Yet” with the Roserrection.

Accessing the content requires a subscription; hence, the following commentary is a response to the viewable free text.

Rose can’t claim victory because Eviscerate28 is still closer to failure than success. The best she can declare is slowing WPP’s death spiral—and just barely.

Doesn’t help that she’s restructuring while purported leaders are abandoning the global flaming dumpster. A revolving and revolting roster at the C-Suite level hardly inspires trust—for clients and drones alike—counteracting Rose’s repetitive use of the term.

WPP Media cannot proclaim revitalization. As Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun stated, 91% of account assignments are won by WPP, Omnicom, and Publicis. WPP Media nabbed new business by simply being among exclusively limited options.

Rose believes her strategy is on track. Herein lies an issue perhaps exposing her Adland inexperience.

There’s a basic advertising tenet: Breakthroughs happen when strategy and execution harmonize.

Rose might think her undisclosed strategy works. However, the execution sucks.

The delusional stabilization phase is stymied by companywide instability.

The recruitment of outsiders displays a lack of faith with insiders’ capabilities.

Ogilvy aside, WPP Creative lacks creativity.

Thanks to industry commoditization fueled by the single White operating company, WPP AI offerings are not extraordinary, but rather, extra ordinary. Ditto all WPP services.

Rose shouldn’t bear complete blame. She inherited a Titanic post-collision with an iceberg. Yet it will take way more than a strategy to save the sinking ship.

Finally, in 2021 when DEIBA+ was a performative imperative, former WPP CEO Mark Read admitted, “While our U.S. data shows progress between 2018 and 2020, it also underlines the work we have to do to ensure greater representation of Black, Asian and other under-represented communities within WPP—especially at the more senior levels.”

If the situation was bad five years ago, how much worse is it today?

Cindy Rose on Why She’s ‘Not Claiming Victory Yet’ and How AI Agents Could Boost Margins

One year in, the CEO says her strategy is on track. Here’s what has changed and what still needs to be done

By Alison Weissbrot

When Cindy Rose became CEO of WPP a little over a year ago, the company was in its worst decline since the pandemic, with revenue down 5.4% and margins eroding fast. 

Today, WPP reported that Q3 revenue, less pass-through costs, fell 2.1% to $3.2 billion (£2.41 billion), narrowing from Q2’s 2.8% decline. Reported revenue was up 0.5% year-over-year to $4.4 billion. Meanwhile, WPP Media returned to 0.3% growth for the first time in six quarters.

Rose said it’s a sign her strategy to return WPP to organic growth by 2027 is taking shape. Nearly a year into that plan, the business is starting to show signs of health, following two quarters of narrowing declines.

(Read the full story here—Adweek subscription required)

17648: Translating WPP 3Q PR WTF.

 

MediaPost reported WPP CEO Cindy Rose displayed the art of PR—propagandistic revisionism—during a 3Q earnings call.

WPP posted a “smaller decline” in the third quarter, which sorta sounds like things are not as shitty as previous quarters—but it’s still a shitshow.

WPP Media provided the least smelliness in the shit pile by recording a 0.3% gain year over year. Um, that’s closer to 0% than even 1%, no?

Meanwhile, WPP Creative was down 5.1%, meaning the guy recruited to replace the outgoing WPP Creative CEO inherited a shitstorm.

To summarize, Rose appears to be containing fires burning in the global flaming dumpster.

WPP Posts Smaller Decline In Q3 As Media Enters Positive Territory

By Steve McClellan

WPP posted a net organic revenue decline of 2.1% for the third quarter, a sequential improvement over the previous quarter. 

One of the brighter notes for the period: WPP Media returned to growth, albeit a slight 0.3% gain year over year.

On an earnings call Thursday CEO Cindy Rose noted that it was the first quarter of growth for the firm’s media division since 2024.  

The company’s full-year outlook remains unchanged. The organic revenue decline for the second half of the year will be low to mid-single digits with Q4 “toward the better end of his range.” The first quarter shortfall was 6.7% while Q2 was off 2.8%.  

“We continue to make progress, and I’m encouraged by our momentum,” Rose stated on the call, adding that the company as a whole is on track to return to growth in 2027, per the goals of its three-year turnaround plan which extends through 2028. 

WPP Production also grew in the quarter—up 2.5%—while creative operations were down 5.1%. 

All regions declined: North America, -1.8%; Europe Middle East & Asia, -1.7%, Asia Pacific, -4.3% and Latin America, -1.2%. 

But Rose asserted that the company had succeeded in stabilizing its business, as evidenced by a number of big new business wins and retentions including the global marketing assignment for The Coca-Cola Company. Other significant wins included DoorDash, Nestle, Uber and Waymo. 

Rose asserted that clients have reacted positively toward the company’s integration efforts. “We’re showing up as one entity without individual agency constraints,” she said. 

One analyst on the call noted that the Coca-Cola retention excluded the North America media business, which went to Omnicom in a separate pitch. Rose responded that the company made the “tough call” not to pursue that piece of business and instead focus on the comprehensive work it will do for the company throughout the rest of the world.  

The firm said it was on track to save $100 million in costs this year, which will be reinvested in company services. It will save another $150 million in cost cuts next year, said company CFO Joanne Wilson, who previously announced she is stepping down next year to take the CFO spot at spirits marketer Diageo. The search for her replacement is underway.  

Commenting on the results, marketing advisory firm Madison & Wall said, “taken together, the quarter shows stabilization that is now visible in media, but not yet in creative, which at 48% of net revenue is the larger of the two. Comparisons remain easy through the end of the year, indicating a sustained return to growth will depend on whether Creative can follow Media.”

Company shares were up modestly (+1.4%) in early afternoon trading following the release of Q3 results.

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.”

17565: On Outcome-Based Remuneration Regurgitation Rhetoric.

 

Digiday reported WPP CEO Cindy Rose said, “I suspect it will take a few years” for outcome-based remuneration to take hold in Adland.

Um, it’s not the first time White advertising agencies pressed to have compensation tied to results and revenue enjoyed by brands via marketing initiatives.

Based on historical data, it will take much more than a few years. Outcome-based payment is an outdated proposition, with failed attempts dating back to the 1990s.

White holding companies—including a single White operating company—fueled the commoditization of Adland. Adding an intent to leverage AI for offering faster and cheaper services makes pursuing outcome-based remuneration outrageous.

Hell, it’s a safer bet Rose will be out long before outcome-based remuneration becomes reality—especially if her employment is based on outcomes achieved at WPP.

‘It will take a few years’: WPP CEO Cindy Rose says outcome-based pay is still years away

By Sam Bradley

 

Loud as the chatter about outcome-based remuneration is across the holdco space, the reality of it is still some way off, according to one of its most vocal proponents, WPP CEO Cindy Rose.

 

It’s a notable admission given Rose has made outcome-based pay a core pillar of WPP’s turnaround plan, overhauling how global client leaders — the senior execs running the biggest accounts — get paid, tying it directly to client growth. Getting clients to pay the same way is another matter. So far, only one has: Jaguar Land Rover.

“If you look at the history of this industry, the commercial model has been evolving for the past 40 years, and I think we’re going to have to continue to adapt because the time and materials model is probably not sustainable in the long term because AI ultimately will enable us to do our work faster with fewer people,” Rose told Digiday today (August 6) as the agency giant published its first-half earnings report.

She added, however, that Jaguar was so far “unique” in embracing the approach. “It’s going to take time for this evolution to take place… I suspect it will take a few years,” she said.

WPP’s recovery, too, remains a work in progress. Eleven months into Rose’s tenure and six months after she unveiled her turnaround plan, there are early signs from its latest earnings update that the group’s core media and creative businesses are stabilizing. To keep the momentum going, Rose said WPP would embrace a “mixed economy of business models.”

WPP’s first half

H1 revenues less pass-through costs were £5 billion ($6.7 billion), down 4.7% from the same period last year. Its creative businesses, including VML and Ogilvy, saw a 3.5% decline in revenue less pass-through costs, though its production unit saw revenue increase 1.9%. WPP Media saw revenues fall 5.4% compared with the same period last year, but Rose said higher spending from new and existing clients had contributed to an “improving quarterly trend” within the network.

Rose, who was appointed CEO last September, said the business was on track to recovery according to key indicators: new business, client retention, tech partnerships and cost cutting. Evidence for the former, she said, was in the wins for Heineken and Honda’s accounts, and retentions such as Huawei and Reckitt.

“My priority, my north star, is to get WPP back to positive organic growth,” she told analysts during the company’s earnings call. “The priority in 2026 has been to stabilize the business, make the structural changes needed, and strengthen our execution. The next phase is to build on these foundations, returning the company to growth sometime during 2027.”

The market appears to agree with Rose’s diagnosis. WPP’s share price had risen 25% following the earnings release at the time of writing.

AI plans

The company’s turnaround plan is closely tied to its AI investment and development plans. CFO Joanne Wilson declined to provide details on WPP’s token costs (the firm committed in 2024 to invest £300 million annually), but said its Open platform was a key tool for “optimizing” AI-related costs.

“We are using AI and applying it across our business. So, as you would expect, with that comes token costs… we’re actively optimizing that cost. We’ve also been very thoughtful about how we use agents across the business,” she said.

“Open is widely deployed across our business now, and our clients. We use [Open Intelligence, WPP’s AI media targeting solution] in all of our pitches. It’s absolutely front and center of our proposition,” added Wilson. 

Wilson suggested that outcome-based commercial models might provide a means for WPP to operate without absorbing all AI-related costs. “In the past, our business and values really come almost entirely from people, now it’s people and tech costs. We’re evolving our commercial model so that we’re reflecting those inputs between people and tech,” she said.

What role WPP Open Pro, the self-service SME creative tool launched last autumn, will play in the holding company’s commercial model is less clear. Rose said 24 clients were now using the tool. “We’ve got a very healthy pipeline of active client opportunities, and we’re encouraged by the progress there too,” she said.

Token costs, outcome-based models and organic growth expectations weren’t the only subplots updated this morning:

WPP’s open to offers

By the end of this year, WPP will have clawed back £200 million ($269 million) through sales of “non-core” business units, to use Rose’s terminology, and what CFO Wilson referred to as the “long tail” of agencies, during the company’s investor call. It’s quite a turnaround for a company once defined by its aggressive approach to agency acquisition.

“We identified assets in the group which are great assets, but we felt that they were of more value to the outside of the group than inside. We have initiated processes on those assets earlier in the year, and those processes are ongoing,” said Wilson, who didn’t name the agencies in question. “I would expect some more in 2027.”

Staff cuts will continue

WPP isn’t the only major agency group shedding staff at the moment, but it’s shrunk its headcount by around 8.1% in the past year. The company now employs 97,400 staffers, versus 105,900 during the first half of 2025. Though most of those job cuts fell in the second half of 2025 Rose indicated this was an ongoing project, telling reporters that “some jobs will be impacted” as the company pursues £500 million ($673 million) in cost cuts over three years. “This isn’t just about cost savings per se. These actions will make us more agile and simpler to navigate, and that’s an important part of our new simplified operating model,” she said.

Those cuts mean that WPP, once the industry’s largest employer, is now smaller by headcount than either Omnicom or Publicis Groupe, which both have over 100,000 employees. Rose argued that embracing alternative commercial models like outcome-based pricing would enable it to compete.

“Moving away from a time-and-materials model,” she said, “frees me up from staffing plans so that I can serve clients with a hybrid workforce of humans and agents, and that reduces my cost to serve, and ultimately becomes a source of expansion.”

17564: WPP Metaphorically On Track.

Adweek spotlighted the WPP H1 2026 report, indicating the single White operating company experienced a 5.6% decline in revenue, yet saw its stock rise over 26% after beating analysts’ estimates.

During an earnings call, WPP CEO Cindy Rose declared, “We’re on track with where we said we would be,” referring to the fuzzy Eviscerate28. Meanwhile, regarding outcome-based remuneration—a key notion in the turnaround scheme—Digiday reported Rose said, “I suspect it will take a few years.”

Not officially stated about WPP: The runaway train is being built in breakneck flight—ditto the rickety track it’s careening along. And upon reaching the dismal destination, there will be far fewer passengers on board versus when the dizzying trip started.

WPP Is ‘On Track’ With Turnaround Plan, as Revenue Drops 5.6% in First Half of 2026

Six months into its 3-year turnaround plan, WPP’s revenue beat analysts’ estimates

By Brittaney Kiefer

WPP’s stock rose more than 26% in the early hours of trading, after the company’s first-half earnings beat analysts’ estimates. 

The numbers

• –5.6%: Year-over-year decline in revenue less pass-through costs for the first half of 2026 to $6.39 billion (£4.75 billion), down 4.7% on a like-for-like basis 

• –2.3%: YOY decline in revenue less pass-through costs for the second quarter to $3.34 billion (£2.48 billion), down 2.8% on a like-for-like basis 

• –8.4%: YOY decline in average headcount, from 106,000 in the first half of 2025 to 97,000 in the first half of this year

• –3.5%: Decline in WPP Creative’s net sales for Q2, versus a 6.3% decline in Q1

• –2.8%: Decline in WPP Media’s Q2 net sales, versus an 8.3% decline in Q1

Watercooler talk 

WPP is six months into its three-year turnaround plan, Elevate28, which is designed to stabilize the business and return it to growth, while delivering annual cost savings of $676 million (£500 million) by 2028. Chief executive Cindy Rose is nearly one year into her tenure.

“We’re on track with where we said we would be,” Rose said on an earnings call with journalists on Thursday (Aug. 6). 

Rose said WPP made progress on its four strategic objectives, which are to deliver growth for clients, become a simpler and more integrated company, unlock the advantages of its agentic marketing platform WPP Open, and to “create firm financial foundations for the future.”

Earlier this year, WPP restructured into four business units—WPP Media, WPP Creative, WPP Production, and WPP Enterprise Solutions—across four key regions—North America, Latin America, EMEA, and APAC. For the first time, its earnings report split its results into those units.

On the new business front, Rose cited “landmark wins” including Estée Lauder, Jaguar Land Rover, Avon, Airbnb, Wendy’s, SC Johnson, and Heineken. WPP topped J.P. Morgan’s net new business rankings as number one for the first half of 2026 and for the nine months to Q2 2026.

WPP also “completed more than 15 non-core asset disposals that will generate over £200 million [$269 million] of sales proceeds in 2026,” according to Rose. The company said it is on track to make $134.5 million (£100 million) in savings this year.

While WPP is reportedly planning to cut hundreds of jobs globally by the end of this year, Rose declined to share specific numbers, other than confirming that “some jobs will be impacted.”

“This isn’t just about cost savings per se. These actions will make us more agile and simpler to navigate, and that’s an important part of our new simplified operating model,” Rose said.

Rose touted the company’s technological advancements through WPP Open, which she said allows clients to “connect their data with signals from across WPP and our 350 data partners, giving them access to 5 billion consumers in over 100 markets, drawing on trillions of real-time signals.”

Key quote

“What excites me the most is to see how AI is fundamentally changing how we deliver growth for our clients,” Rose said. “In an environment where AI is rapidly transforming our industry and trust is in scarce supply, I believe that our commitment to client data ownership and control will become increasingly compelling.” 

17563: On S4 Capital H1 P&L OMG WTF BS.

 

MediaPost spotlighted the S4 Capital H1 2026 report, indicating the White holding company continued to experience net revenue declines. Dramatic cost cutting, however, helped to ignite a profit boost.

Gee, Sir Martin Sorrell might earn the distinction of being unable to orchestrate a financial turnaround for the biggest White holding company (WPP) and his current peanut factory.

That’s quite a range of abject failure.

S4 Shares Soar 26% On First-Half Profit Boost

By Steve McClellan

Martin Sorrell-led S4 Capital continued to shrink in the first half of the year with declines in reported and organic net revenue while sharp cost cutting led to a profit boost. The firm also declared a dividend and reduced debt during the period. Shareholders applauded, giving S4 shares a 26% bump up in Wednesday trading after the release of the firm’s first-half results.  

Reported net revenue for the first half was 308 million GBP (approximately $415 million), down 6.2% with a 4.7% organic net revenue shortfall.  

S4 sited continuing macroeconomic uncertainty exacerbated by the Middle East conflict as part of the reason for the revenue falloff. Also, some clients spent less with the firm while boosting capital expenditures in artificial intelligence infrastructure. “Clients continue to be cautious leading to longer sales cycles,” S4 stated. 

But pre-tax profits were up 82.7% to a record 38 million GPB ($51 million). Cost reductions included back-office efficiencies and staff cuts. Total staff at the company was down 10.5% as of June 2026 versus a year ago to 6,150.  

The firm downgraded its organic revenue outlook for the full year, forecasting a decline in the mid-single digits versus the previous “slight dip” the company guided to at the end of the first quarter. But pre-tax profits should reach the analyst consensus of 85 million GBP ($115 million) with a profit margin increase of 1.4%.  

“We anticipate that clients will remain cautious in the near term reflecting heightened macroeconomic uncertainty, including the continuing conflict in the Middle East,” stated Sorrell. “While the macroeconomic environment remains uncertain, we see growing opportunities as clients become more selective about growth geographically and increasingly focused on implementing technologies such as AI, Blockchain and Quantum to drive efficiency.”  

The Americas, the firm’s largest region by revenue, was down slightly (0.8%), while Europe and Asia Pacific were both down double-digits.   

The company’s marketing services unit posted net revenues of 281.9 GBP ($380 million), down 4.4% organically while technology services totaled 26.1 million GBP ($35 million), down 7.4%.

17518: On WPP Media Global Ranking & Worldwide Tanking.

 

Advertising Age reported WPP Media maintained its lead global ranking; however, the trade publication foresees the White media firm losing its top position as Adland continues to dramatically churn.

 

Ironically, WPP Media could benefit from PR, promotion, and advertising—disciplines diminished in the WPP worldwide flaming dumpster—to hype its fuzzy success, suspect capabilities, and questionable innovations.

 

WPP Media clings to the lead in Comvergence’s global ranking, but likely not for long

 

By Lindsay Rittenhouse

 

WPP Media maintained its position as the top agency group worldwide in global media billings last year, but it is slipping from the leaderboard, according to Comvergence’s 2025 Global Billings and Market Share Report.

 

The holding company led the pack with 13% market share and $63.9 billion in 2025 global media billings, but that’s down from the 14.2% share it captured in 2024. Publicis Media is not far behind, posting the highest growth rate among the holding companies, with a 12.8% rise to $62.4 billion in global billings last year, per the report.

 

Omnicom Media Group ranked third with $48.5 billion in global media billings last year, which represented a 5.5% increase from 2024. However, Comvergence flagged that the report did not combine the media billings of the newly merged Omnicom Media Group and Interpublic Group of Cos., as the deal closed in late November. A combined Omnicom Media Group would have had $75.6 billion in global billings, according to the report, landing it well ahead of WPP Media.

 

Among agency networks, Omnicom’s OMD led with $26.9 billion in total media billings, up 1.7% from 2024. WPP’s EssenceMediacom came in second place with $23.3 billion, a 3.9% decline in global billings from 2024, while its Mindshare ranked third with a decrease of 5.5% to $20.5 billion in total 2025 billings.

 

Publicis Media’s Zenith and Starcom rounded out the top five agency networks, per the report, posting the highest growth rates among the rivals, at 11.4% to $17.2 billion and 9.5% to $17.18 billion in total billings, respectively.

 

The report represents 55% of global media spend, which Comvergence estimated to be at $478 billion across 49 markets, up 4.6% from $457 billion in 2024. It also covered 107 independent media agencies, which collectively account for 12% of global market share, according to the report, representing $32 billion in total 2025 billings. Horizon Media US was the largest independent agency worldwide with $7.4 billion in 2025 billings, according to Comvergence.

17464: The Real WPP Story—From An Unreal Perspective.

 

Adweek published a perspective from its resident marketing professor-fractional consultant-uninformed analyst—who, incidentally, seems open to selling his columns to any trade journal or business publication seeking pseudo thought leader content—speculating on the WPP never-ending story.

 

There’s even a disclosure-disclaimer indicating his wannabe MasterClass services are available—probably at subscription rates—to White advertising agencies.

 

The author declares the real WPP story is not about revenue decline; rather, it’s margin.

 

In recent months, WPP presumably won and retained business via low-balling tactics, but will clients eventually cough up mo’ money and pay standard costs?

 

Surely Eviscerate28 does not intend to position WPP as the bargain basement brand among competitive holding companies.

 

Yet the author—having zero real-life experience in Adland—appears to miss the true plot.

 

It’s not whether clients will pay more—indeed, it’s will clients pay at all?

 

As previously mentioned, WPP has led the commoditization of Adland.

 

Now, the single White operating company has nothing unique to provide—at any price tag.

 

The only people profiting from WPP are Monday morning marketing quarterbacks. And the most annoying are those who’ve never played in the ad game.

 

The Real WPP Story Is in the Margin, Not the Revenue

 

Despite promising around $675 million in savings, the only question that matters is whether clients will pay more

 

By Mark Ritson

 

Disclosure: Mark Ritson’s MiniMBA course has been offered to Omnicom Oceania staff. Omnicom is a competitor to WPP.

 

When WPP posted its first-quarter numbers last week, one line did all the talking. Net revenue down 6.7% like-for-like. Its key unit WPP Media is down 8.5%. 

 

The company described this performance, with commendable composure, “ahead of expectations.” Which tells you everything about the expectations now governing the big end of advertising.

 

The more instructive story isn’t the revenue decline. It’s margin. 

 

WPP’s full-year 2025 headline operating margin came in at 13%, down from 15% in 2024. 

 

Two hundred basis points in 12 months—the kind of compression you associate with recessions or category collapse, not with a company that has a turnaround strategy in-market. 

 

The Elevate28 strategy, unveiled in February, promises around $675 million in gross annual savings by 2028 at a cash cost of around $540 million to deliver. CFO Joanne Wilson told analysts that staff bonuses suppressed in 2025 will need to be rebuilt through 2026. That cuts both ways: employees get paid properly again, but the lever WPP used to protect margin last year is now spent.

 

On the Q1 call, Adrien de Saint Hilaire of Bank of America asked the question every CMO should be asking. Revenue with WPP’s top 25 clients was down low single digits even excluding losses. 

 

What drove the decline? Reduced scope of work, fee pressure, or outright budget cuts?

 

The answer determines whether WPP has a cyclical problem or a structural one

 

Scope reductions are cyclical: clients buying less of the same thing. Budget cuts are cyclical: economies contract, marketing contracts with them. 

 

Fee pressure is structural: clients paying less for the same thing. That is a different animal entirely. It doesn’t respond to patience or strategy decks.

 

The answer, given on the Q4 2025 call, from Cindy Rose herself, confirmed it was all three—and that WPP anticipates “some downward pricing pressure from AI productivity,” which it plans to offset through cross-selling and capturing more of clients’ addressable spend. Translation: fees are falling, and the plan is to win volume elsewhere in the client’s wallet to compensate.

 

The numbers make the case plainly. On a like-for-like basis, gross revenue declined 4.0%, while net revenue declined 6.7%.

 

Pass-through costs—the media and production money flowing through WPP’s books to third parties—are holding up better than the agency-fee line. Clients are still spending. WPP is just earning less per dollar of that spend.

 

WPP is winning business too: the U.K. government media account, Reckitt, Estee Lauder, Jaguar. Revenue is still falling. Winning accounts while revenue drops is the diagnostic signature of a business defending share by cutting price. Every account won on tighter terms resets the floor for the next pitch.

 

Volume losses are real. Wilson flagged a 500 to 600 basis-point drag from gross client losses in 2026, up from 300 to 400 last year. Major U.S. and U.K. accounts walked. CPG and telecom, media, and entertainment spend is genuinely weaker. 

 

Fee pressure and volume loss are not separate stories 

 

They are the same story told twice. Clients negotiate harder on price, and walk when WPP won’t move, for the same reason: the holding company proposition has lost its differentiation. 

 

Accenture Song owns the top of the funnel with strategy and tech. In-housing has gutted the middle, capturing retainer budgets clients once handed over without a second thought. Meta will take the rest. AI is eating production and media planning from below. WPP, like every big agency peer, faces a decade of simultaneous price and volume compression because it is no longer the default answer to a question only it can answer.

 

Elevate28’s $675 million in savings is a margin-defense operation—buying time while structural pricing erodes the top line. It can absorb a year or two of compression. It cannot solve what is causing it.

 

The harder task, the one WPP’s leadership avoided for a decade, is rebuilding a reason for clients to pay full price. WPP Open and the Adobe partnership are moves in that direction. Whether they produce a defensible category-of-one position, or simply make the cost reduction on commodity work cheaper to execute, is the question the market is now asking every holding company. Quarter by quarter. Pitch by pitch. Margin point by margin point.