Year in Review: WPP’s leadership, losses and learnings

March

Coca-Cola $700m media account shifts to Publicis: One of many earliest blows of the yr got here when Coca-Cola’s North American media business, estimated at around $700m, moved to Publicis following a aggressive overview, testing WPP’s built-in media mannequin and putting vital strain on the GroupM-led providing. 

Whereas WPP continues to deal with Coca-Cola’s wider world partnership, the lack of media duties within the essential US and Canada markets underlined ongoing challenges in defending marquee accounts towards aggressive rivals in 2025.

WPP has been Coca-Cola’s world community associate for 4 years. It gained the year-long pitch towards Publicis in November 2021, assuming duty for the advertising and marketing of over 200 manufacturers throughout 5 classes in 195 international locations and 9 territories. In whole, the enterprise is value $4bn to WPP.

Jay Pattisall, VP and principal analyst at Forrester, had instructed The Drum that dropping the enterprise would “contribute to WPP’s efficiency woes.”

Return to workplace sparks inner backlash: By the tip of March, WPP’s 2025 return-to-office mandate, requiring most employees to be within the workplace 4 days every week, prompted frustration throughout its world community. The Drum exclusively revealed flooring plans that confirmed some workers must work on couches, high-top tables or in pantry areas because of restricted desk area, whereas communication in regards to the coverage was inconsistent. Workplaces in Detroit and the UK confronted extra challenges, together with closures and insufficient know-how, which added to worker anxiousness.

Management, together with then-chief government officer Mark Learn, emphasised that in-person collaboration was essential for efficiency and shopper satisfaction and promised phased enhancements. Regardless of this, employees remained skeptical, feeling that the concentrate on presence over productiveness highlighted a spot between conventional workplace tradition and fashionable workforce expectations.

A supervisor from inside the WPP community within the UK mentioned on the time: “Temper stays low, particularly with the Publicis wins. And the workplace is just not match for a four-day RTO. There have been no extra desks added or assembly room amendments.”

April

Management in flux, Mark Learn speaks: In April 2025, Learn, a person not recognized for chasing headlines, broke cover in The Sunday Times, offering a rare and revealing portrait of a leader who felt each underestimated by the Metropolis and misunderstood by a few of his personal folks. 

He emphasised that WPP had quietly constructed superior AI capabilities, together with the WPP Open platform, and was remodeling into each a artistic and know-how firm. 

Regardless of inner criticism over return-to-office insurance policies and a halved share value since his appointment in 2018, Learn argued that the corporate’s strengths had been underappreciated and that he remained centered on a five-year plan for sustainable development.

“I do have a look at the share value, clearly,” he admitted on the time. “However I have to concentrate on setting the corporate up for the subsequent 5 years.”

Business expertise strikes, Ajaz Ahmed leaves to discovered Studio.One: In a separate however equally symbolic shift, AKQA agency founder Ajaz Ahmed left WPP to launch indie agency Studio.One, reigniting debates about holding firm forms versus the agility of unbiased retailers. Ahmed’s departure from the AKQA Group, lengthy one in every of WPP’s most revered artistic manufacturers, was framed round a need to flee “bloated” buildings and run a lean, fashionable company of the long run.

“When WPP went down the street of consolidation and mergers, at that time, I felt that the very best path for a really creatively led, values-oriented group like AKQA would have been to have been spun out as an unbiased company and brought personal,” Ahmed instructed The Drum. “However, you already know, the powers that be clearly didn’t agree with me.”

June

Mark Learn steps down as CEO: In June, Read announced that he would step down as WPP CEO at the end of 2025, after greater than 30 years with the corporate, together with seven years as its chief following the abrupt departure of his predecessor, Sir Martin Sorrell. 

His tenure had been marked by main enterprise transformation, together with the event of WPP Open, the consolidation of company manufacturers and investments in AI and know-how. In current months, nevertheless, the corporate confronted declining revenues, employees unrest over return-to-office insurance policies and the lack of its place because the world’s prime holding firm to Publicis Groupe.

Learn emphasised that he had strengthened WPP’s artistic and technological capabilities, gained recognition reminiscent of Inventive Firm of the Yr at Cannes Lions and maintained robust shopper relationships with 4 of the world’s 5 Most worthy firms. 

The board expressed gratitude for his management and deliberate a clean transition to his successor, whereas Learn highlighted that the corporate was well-positioned financially and operationally to face the long run.

September

A brand new chief no person noticed coming: When Cindy Rose was named WPP CEO on September 1, she inherited an organization with declining revenues, falling share costs and the lack of main accounts. Mark Learn’s remaining notes highlighted that she wanted to concentrate on strategic overview, shopper retention, operational effectivity and integrating WPP Media, whereas deploying AI instruments reminiscent of Open Intelligence and addressing structural inefficiencies.

Rose’s appointment stunned many, however her Microsoft expertise and prior WPP board function positioned her to steer a tech-driven turnaround. She additionally needed to rebuild employees morale after layoffs and office-policy backlash, whereas convincing shoppers of WPP’s worth amid a difficult, AI-driven advertising and marketing panorama.

Forrester analyst Jay Pattisall applauded her rent, saying she can be a “highly effective and articulate ambassador to the continued modernization of WPP.”

Rose’s first City Corridor: At her first Town Hall meeting, Rose outlined a imaginative and prescient constructed on three ideas: placing folks first, profitable for shoppers and harnessing AI. In her first world city corridor, she emphasised enhancing employees expertise, profession growth and tradition whereas sustaining a four-day return-to-office coverage, signaling a steadiness between construction and suppleness.

Rose additionally addressed shopper priorities, viewing current account losses as studying alternatives and stressing the significance of collaboration and worth creation. She pushed WPP Open, the corporate’s AI platform, as central to effectivity and innovation, urging all workers to develop into “AI superusers” to strengthen WPP’s aggressive edge and set the stage for transformation and development.

December

FTSE departure and what’s subsequent: WPP ended 2025 by being relegated from the FTSE 100 after practically 30 years, as its market worth plummeted from round £24bn in 2017 to simply £3.1bn. 

The corporate’s share value fell by two-thirds that yr, reflecting shopper losses, revenue warnings and struggles to maintain tempo with AI and information capabilities in contrast with rivals reminiscent of Publicis Groupe. 

Rose acknowledged that WPP had “not gone far sufficient or quick sufficient in adapting to the evolving wants” of its shoppers and launched a strategic overview to deal with structural inefficiencies, combine AI and stabilize shopper relationships.

Waiting for 2026

Inexperienced Sq.’s Barry Dudley known as 2025 WPP’s “annus horribilis,” a yr marked by main shopper losses, inner upheaval and the holding firm’s relegation from the FTSE 100. 

He argued that the challenges echo those faced by Marks & Spencer in 2019, when the retailer, hit by declining gross sales and a gradual digital transition, dropped out of the FTSE 100 earlier than embarking on a cautious restructuring, digital overhaul and sharper model focus to revive investor confidence.

For WPP CEO Cindy Rose, he added, that the comparability underlines the dimensions of the duty forward: modernizing a sprawling, legacy promoting group, addressing structural inefficiencies and proving that the standard holding firm mannequin can stay aggressive in a quickly evolving business.