WPP has announced 'Elevate28', a multi-year strategic plan as it aims to drive value for clients, talent and shareholders.

The strategy includes moving from a holding company structure to a single company operating under four operating units. After merging Essencemediacom, Mindshare and Wavemaker into WPP Media, WPP now has three creative units, WPP Creative, WPP Production and WPP Enterprise Solutions across North America, Latin America, EMEA and APAC. 

WPP Creative is a formation of unified model across creative, PR and design agencies like Ogilvy, VML, Landor, Grey, AKQA, and Burson. 

WPP Enterprise Solutions is the establishment of a new operating unit consolidating WPP’s customer experience, commerce, CRM, content transformation and technology and data capabilities.

The group also announced the initiation of a GBP 500 million savings plan to fund investment in growth drivers and rebuild margins.

In terms of talent, WPP is implementing a new framework to embed a culture and align objectives and incentives globally. 

The plan is designed to deliver sustained growth through three distinct phases:

Phase 1: Stabilise (2026): The immediate priority is to stabilise net new business performance. It will execute cost savings initiatives and rationalise the portfolio.
 
Phase 2: Build (2027): The go-to-market strategy is supported by a more effective operating model that will be embedded and will help deliver a fully integrated offer spanning media, creative, production and enterprise solutions. The network is targeting a return to organic growth during the course of 2027.
 
Phase 3: Accelerate (2028 and beyond): The aim is to be a simpler, lower-cost, AI-enabled business, recognised by clients as a trusted growth partner, showing accelerated growth, improved margin and strong cash conversion.
 
To achieve this transformation and deliver GBP 500 million of gross savings by 2028, WPP anticipates total cash costs of approximately GBP 400 million phased over two years.

This comes after WPP's revenue was at GBP 13,550 million, down 8.1% on a reported basis and down 3.6% like-for-like (LFL), with revenue less pass-through costs of GBP 10,176m down 5.4% LFL, ahead of latest guidance.

Global integrated agencies revenue, less pass-through costs, fell 5.7% with WPP Media declining 5.9% in the year (and 10.8% in Q4) and other integrated creative agencies declining 5.6% (Q4: -4.3%).

By geography, while most markets degrew, India witnessed growth by 3.8% in the year, with 8.6% growth in the fourth quarter. 

North America declined 4.6% (Q4: -7.3%), UK -7.6% (Q4: -9.2%), Western Continental Europe -4.7% (Q4: -3.5%) and the Rest of World -5.9% (Q4: -7.5%),  and China by 14.3% (Q4: -13.6%). 

WPP’s top 25 clients declined 4.1% LFL in 2025, including client assignment losses from the first half of the year. While the Healthcare and Pharma client sector improved in 2025, all other client sectors saw reduced spend year-on-year. 

Cindy Rose OBE, chief executive officer, WPP, said, “My first six months as CEO have only reinforced my conviction that WPP is an extraordinary company. As our clients navigate uncertainty, AI disruption and macro-volatility, we're looking ahead with a clear and focused mission: to be the trusted growth partner for the world's leading brands in the era of AI. Today we are unveiling a bold plan for a simpler, more integrated WPP. Our intention is to stabilise the business, return to organic growth, create capacity to invest in the future and deliver attractive returns for our shareholders. WPP will become a single company, streamlined into four operating units across four regions, all unified by our pioneering agentic marketing platform, WPP Open."

She added, “Our recent underperformance has been driven by excessive organisational complexity, a lack of an integrated operating model and inconsistent strategic execution. While disappointing, I see huge potential as these issues are all within our power to fix and we’re already making great progress. We have everything we need to succeed: exceptional talent, world-class capabilities, trusted data and technology solutions and groundbreaking partnerships, as well as the scale and reach to service the most complex multi-national, multi-brand clients in the world. The momentum we are seeing from the decisive action we’ve already taken gives me the confidence that we’re on the right path to creating a WPP that is fit for the future and built to win.”