Dive Brief:
- WPP is rebranding its media properties – previously known as GroupM – as WPP Media to better reflect the company’s focus on overall integration and AI capabilities, according to an announcement.
- WPP’s media companies, Mindstar, Wavemaker and EssenceMediacom, will continue to operate under WPP Media, and the entire division will be connected to the holding company’s larger AI-enabled marketing system, WPP Open. WPP Media manages more than $60 billion in media and represents more than 75% of the world’s leading advertisers across 80 global markets.
- The rebranding, first reported last month, is expected to impact about 40% to 45% of the media company’s 40,000-strong workforce.
Dive Insight:
With the mega-merger of rival holding companies IPG and Omnicom looming, WPP’s rebranding of GroupM is as much about demonstrating cohesiveness and heft as it is about establishing its artificial intelligence (AI) bona fides. WPP CEO Mark Read noted that the industry didn’t need “holding companies within holding companies” and that there was a symbolic message in changing the name to WPP Media to better reflect the entire network as “a company and not a group,” the executive said in an interview with Ad Age.
WPP’s media agencies Mindshare, Wavemaker and EssenceMediacom will operate more as “teams” than as individual agencies — though they will retain their brand names — and WPP Media will report its financials as a combined entity by market, rather than through individual agencies, per Ad Age.
“We believe that WPP is the strongest marketing partner for the world’s leading brands in the AI era, where technology and talent converge. The move to WPP Media continues our strategy to simplify and integrate our offer for clients,” Read said in a statement. “Our vision for the future is clear – marketing that is informed by data, led by seamlessly connected teams of brilliant people, and full of new opportunities for our clients.”
Nevertheless, the shift does help the company capitalize on its ongoing investments in AI and its WPP Open capabilities. An explanatory video notes that, in an AI-powered world, “media will be everywhere, and in everything” and that “this new era demands new thinking.” Using AI, WPP Media will harness “trillions of data points” to “unlock signals others miss” to drive client growth, per the video.
“Consumers already expect advertising to be relevant and engaging and buying experiences to be seamless; those expectations are only going to accelerate in the age of AI,” said Brian Lesser, CEO of WPP Media, in a statement. “By investing in our AI-powered product, integrating our offer with data and technology, and equipping our people with future-facing skills, we’re helping our clients to stay ahead of rapidly changing consumer behavior and unlock the limitless opportunities for growth that AI will create.”
WPP’s revenue, less pass-through costs, dropped 2.7% on a like-for-like basis (about $3.2 billion) for the first quarter of 2025. GroupM’s earnings declined 0.9% over the period, while the holding company’s other integrated agencies were down 4.4%. Those results were in line with expectations. The layoffs and restructuring associated with the rebrand of GroupM could help bring costs in line with revenue.
The announcement comes as WPP launches a new B2B marketing campaign highlighting the holding company’s investments in AI — to the tune of more than $300 million annually — as it positions itself for the future. The campaign, themed “Transforming How We Create,” included print placements in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
