WPP at Crossroads: Will a cultural reset deliver growth?

In an industry being reshaped by artificial intelligence, platform consolidation and shifting client expectations, WPP appears to be pursuing something more ambitious than a conventional turnaround. Under CEO Cindy Rose, the company is attempting to redefine what a modern advertising group could look like.

Recent moves suggest a two-track transformation. One is structural: simplifying the organisation—by a surprise announcement this February that WPP is not a holding company anymore–reducing overlap and consolidating brands–such as folding three flagship creative agencies—Ogilvy, VML, and AKQA—into a single overarching organisation. 

The other is cultural: rebuilding leadership confidence inside a business that many believe has spent years navigating uncertainty. Rose appears to be signalling that operational change alone may not be enough without a corresponding shift in mindset.

At a recent leadership summit in London, the company brought together roughly 175 senior executives for what attendees described as a blend of business planning and internal recalibration. Alongside strategy sessions were wellness-led programming, curated meals and team-building exercises—details that some within the industry interpreted as an attempt to reinforce a more deliberate leadership culture.

More notably, Michael Gervais, the Los Angeles-based performance psychologist known for advising elite athletes and corporate leaders, was invited to work with WPP’s senior management team—further underscoring the company’s focus on performance through mindset and wellbeing.

The appointment of Anne-Isabelle Choueiri as chief transformation officer further suggests that execution is now becoming as important as strategy itself, a company official points out. 

A Company Familiar With Reinvention

Reinvention, however, is not new to WPP. The company began in 1971 as Wire and Plastic Products, a UK manufacturer of domestic hardware, before being transformed in the mid-1980s into one of the world’s largest marketing services groups.

Through the late 1980s and 1990s, WPP expanded through aggressive acquisitions that reshaped the global agency landscape. The acquisition of Grey Global Group in 2005 further strengthened its market position, helping WPP emerge as the world’s largest advertising group for several years before rivals such as Publicis Groupe and later Omnicom Group gained ground.

“That growth delivered scale, but it also created a sprawling structure that some observers later argued became increasingly difficult to integrate. What once appeared to be a competitive advantage—scale through decentralisation—is now increasingly being reassessed,” an industry expert noted. 

Restoring Confidence Internally

The cultural reset comes against what many industry executives describe as a period of internal fatigue.

Years of uneven performance, client losses and strategic shifts are believed to have affected morale across parts of the organisation. Rose has acknowledged this in internal conversations, referencing feedback from leaders who felt the company had “lost faith” before beginning to see what she described as a clearer direction.

To reinforce that shift, WPP has also restructured its people leadership, appointing Mark Read Taylor to sharpen focus on performance and organisational culture.

Taken together, the leadership coaching, organisational redesign and symbolic messaging suggest WPP is not simply trying to improve execution. It is attempting to rebuild belief.

At the centre of the strategy is a broader restructuring aimed at reducing what Rose has described as “excessive organisational complexity.”

The ambition is to move WPP away from a traditional holding-company model towards what executives internally describe as a more unified operating business.

For decades, WPP’s growth was built on semi-autonomous agency brands. But as clients increasingly seek integrated solutions across media, data, commerce and creative, that fragmented structure is viewed by some analysts as increasingly difficult to defend.

The approach inevitably invites comparison with Publicis Groupe’s “Power of One” model, which has delivered stronger cohesion in recent years. WPP’s own programme—known internally as Elevate28—is widely seen as an attempt to narrow that gap.

The urgency is financial as much as strategic. WPP recently reported a sharp decline in annual profit, partly driven by a £641 million impairment charge, while warning that pressure could persist into 2026. Its market capitalisation has also fallen sharply over the past decade, underlining the scale of investor concern.

Rose has high hopes from Elevate28, an efficiency programme launched this February targeting £500 million in gross cost savings by 2028. In 2026, the company expects at least £100 million in in-year savings and £250 million in annualised savings. However, these gains are being fully reinvested into growth priorities, alongside restructuring costs of around £190 million. 

Taken together, the leadership coaching, cost cutting, organisational redesign and symbolic messaging suggest WPP is not simply trying to improve execution—it is attempting to rebuild belief.

Cost Discipline Meets Identity Questions

The group’s target of £500 million in cost savings sits at the heart of the overhaul, alongside portfolio reshaping and a sharper focus on core, high-growth areas.

Among the most closely watched moves is the possible sale of Burson, its public relations arm. While WPP has not publicly framed it as a retreat, some analysts see the move as part of a broader portfolio reshaping designed to prioritise higher-margin, technology-led services.

Yet, if WPP’s leadership sees the challenge as one of alignment and culture, parts of the industry view it as a consequence of deeper, long-standing trade-offs.

Meenakshi Menon, veteran advertising leader, is among the more candid voices. “The problem with WPP is that for too long they focused on profits and neglected people and their partners. The chickens are coming home to roost,” she says, adding that the organisation, at one point, became “a soul-sucking” environment that prioritised financial outcomes over culture and brand equity.

While that critique is specific, others see the pressure as structural.

Shradha Agarwal, Co-founder and CEO, Grapes, frames the challenge as part of a wider industry shift. Agencies today, she notes, are under pressure from multiple fronts. Clients are producing content at unprecedented scale—often upwards of 1,000 pieces—and significantly increasing marketing spends, prompting a natural move towards in-house capabilities.

“AI is accelerating this transition, making content creation faster and more accessible, while also reducing long-term agency loyalty,” Agarwal explains. At the same time, she cautions that building everything in-house requires diverse skill sets across data, tech and creative—areas where agencies still offer scale advantages.

More critically, she points to a growing talent strain. With marketing roles expanding in scope and expectations rising, teams are being pushed to deliver more, faster and at lower costs—leading to burnout and shorter leadership tenures. “In many ways, retaining the right talent has become a bigger challenge than winning new business,” she notes, adding that structural resets alone may not address what is fundamentally a systemic imbalance.

That concern is echoed by Ashish Bhasin, Founder, Bhasin Consulting and former CEO, dentsu Asia Pacific, who sees legacy agency networks caught in a difficult cycle. “Most are focused on cutting costs rather than investing in people and capability,” he says. In a landscape where agencies increasingly compete with technology firms, talent quality becomes the defining differentiator.

Bhasin warns that aggressive cost-cutting—particularly in people-heavy businesses—can be counterproductive. “With nearly 70% of costs linked to talent, many are cutting muscle, not fat,” he observes. While initiatives around culture and wellness are directionally positive, he adds, they are unlikely to deliver outcomes without parallel investment in high-quality talent and technology. “Without that, agencies risk being perceived as a sunset industry.”

A Long Road Ahead

WPP officials note that building a simpler, integrated WPP – powered by WPP Open – is resonating with clients and driving strong new business. They also highlight their recent account wins including the UK government, Estée Lauder and SC Johnson and a series of senior-level appointments as early signals of momentum.

The early signals, however, remain mixed. WPP’s Q1 2026 trading update points to a weak start to the year, with revenue of £3,030 million down 6.6% year-on-year on a reported basis and 4.0% on a like-for-like (LFL) basis. 

Revenue less pass-through costs stood at £2,260 million, declining 6.7% LFL, underscoring continued pressure on underlying performance. At the same time, gross client losses are expected to create a 500–600 basis point drag on growth in 2026, up from 300–400 basis points last year.

Framing the transition, Cindy Rose, CEO, WPP, said in the company’s latest trading update, “Building a simpler, integrated WPP – powered by WPP Open – is resonating with clients and driving strong new business. While it is only a few months since we unveiled our Elevate28 strategy, I am encouraged by this momentum which validates the ‘Stabilisation’ phase of the plan and our path to growth.”

She added, “Consistent organic growth remains our North Star. While it will take time to outpace historical losses, our Q1 results are in line with expectations and ahead of Q4 2025,” underscoring the company’s expectation of gradual recovery rather than an immediate rebound.