🏕️ Opening Bite
For years, the big advertising holding companies felt untouchable. Sprawling empires of creative, media, and PR agencies, they were the titans of Madison Avenue. But a new force is rewriting the rules, and it’s not another holding company.
It’s artificial intelligence.
And today, one of the biggest giants, WPP, just announced a radical, painful, and necessary overhaul to survive. It’s a warning shot for every marketer, agency, and brand.
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🚨 The Big Marketing Story
WPP, the world’s second-largest advertising group, is cutting jobs, selling assets, and merging major agencies in a massive shake-up to counter the existential threat of AI.
In a strategy update today, new CEO Cindy Rose laid out a bold and defensive plan to transform the beleaguered UK ad giant into a “simpler, lower-cost, AI-enabled business.” The company plans to achieve £500 million in annual savings by 2028, with a significant portion of that coming from job cuts and the consolidation of its sprawling agency portfolio .
This isn’t just a minor course correction; it’s a fundamental restructuring of a global advertising powerhouse. WPP’s iconic ad agencies—Ogilvy, VML, and AKQA—will be brought together under a new “WPP Creative” umbrella, sharing back-office functions to slash costs. The company is also creating a new division called “Enterprise Solutions” to partner with clients on AI transformation, a unit that already employs over 1,000 people .
This move comes as WPP and its rivals face a perfect storm. Revenue is down, clients are taking more marketing functions in-house, and AI tools are threatening to automate many of the core tasks that have been the bread and butter of agencies for decades.
🧠 Why This Matters
• This is the industry’s “Kodak moment.” Just as digital cameras made film obsolete, AI is poised to automate and commoditize huge swaths of the marketing and advertising workflow. WPP’s move is a clear admission that the old model is broken. The days of large, siloed agencies with redundant departments are numbered.
• The future is integrated and AI-powered. WPP’s new structure—four main divisions (Media, Creative, Production, and Enterprise Solutions) all underpinned by AI—is a blueprint for the agency of the future. The value is no longer in the individual agencies, but in the integrated, data-driven, AI-enabled platform.
• The talent war is shifting. The job cuts at WPP are a painful sign of the times. But the creation of the 1,000-person Enterprise Solutions division shows where the new jobs are being created. The demand is for strategists, data scientists, and AI specialists who can help clients navigate this new landscape, not just create ads.
🔍 What Smart Marketers Are Doing
They are looking past the headlines about job cuts and focusing on the strategic shift. They are asking themselves: Are we structured to win in an AI-first world?
Are we treating our agencies as strategic partners in transformation, or just as vendors for creative execution? And they are investing in the talent and technology needed to bring more data and intelligence in-house, so they can be the masters of their own destiny.
⚡ 3 Quick Signals
Urban Outfitters is betting on community, not just reach. The retailer just launched a new creator program called “Me@UO” that shifts its focus from one-off partnerships with big influencers to an always-on community of micro-creators (under 10,000 followers). The goal is participation and authentic content, not just eyeballs. It’s a sign that even major brands are realizing that true influence comes from genuine community, not just a large follower count .
CTV ad spend is still exploding. New industry forecasts show that U.S. Connected TV advertising spend is expected to grow another 14% year-over-year in 2026, surpassing $37 billion. As audiences continue to shift from traditional TV to streaming, CTV is becoming a must-have channel for brands looking to reach engaged audiences at scale .
Salesforce is all-in on AI agents. In its latest earnings call, Salesforce beat revenue expectations but issued muted guidance for the year ahead, citing the disruptive impact of AI. The company is doubling down on its strategy of building AI “agents” that can automate complex tasks across sales, service, and marketing. This is another major signal that the future of enterprise software—and marketing—is autonomous .
🤖 Tool Watch
Clicta Digital launches a new OTT/CTV advertising service.
As CTV ad spend continues to surge, smaller, more agile agencies are spinning up specialized services to help businesses navigate the complex landscape of streaming advertising. Clicta Digital’s new offering is a prime example, providing a more accessible entry point for businesses that want to capitalize on the shift from linear TV to streaming but don’t have the massive budgets required to work with a large holding company .
🔥 Campfire Close
The ground is shifting under the feet of the entire marketing industry. The changes at WPP are not an isolated event; they are a symptom of a much larger transformation. The age of AI is here, and it will be both a creative and destructive force.
The question for all of us is: will we be the ones who are disrupted, or the ones who are doing the disrupting?
See you around the campfire.
