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WPP has reported revenue of £3.4 billion in Q1 2024, down 1.4 percent from £3.5 billion in Q1 2023, and up 2.1 percent like-for-like. Revenue less pass-through costs was £2.7 billion, down 5.0 percent from £2.8 billion in Q1 2023, and down 1.6 percent like-for-like.

Q1 LFL revenue less pass-through costs were at -1.6 percent (Q1 2023: +2.9 percent), with growth in the UK and Western Continental Europe offset by declines in North America and Asia Pacific, which saw strong growth in India offset by a decline in China. Growth in India of 6.6 percent, reflecting last year’s strong new business momentum, was offset by a 15.4 percent decline in China, due to a challenging macro and client environment. 

Mark Read, Chief Executive Officer of WPP, said, “The first quarter of 2024 was very much in line with our expectations with performance reflecting the toughest comparator of the year. Strategically, we have progressed well on the priorities set out at our Capital Markets Day at the end of January. We’ve rolled out multiple AI tools through our intelligent marketing operating system WPP Open, including the latest foundation models from Bria, Google and OpenAI, and at Google Cloud Next we launched our Performance Brain to predict the best-performing content ahead of campaigns going live. These products are being deployed at scale, together with investment in training for our people. WPP Open was also at the heart of our most recent new business
successes, including major media wins with Nestlé.

“Structurally, VML is now well established and is on track to deliver savings. GroupM is progressing well with its simplification and Burson will be operational in July. I’m very pleased with the progress we are making and we are already seeing the benefits of a simpler and more agile structure for our clients. “Our outlook for the full year is reiterated. We remain on track to return to growth in the balance of the year, supported by an encouraging new business pipeline and the strength of our business creatively and in media, both powered by new AI capabilities, while our simpler structure will drive organisational flexibility and stronger cash conversion.”

GroupM saw growth in revenue less pass-through costs of 2.4 percent in Q1 (Q1 2023: +6.1%), with continued growth in client investment in media, partially offset by the impact of US client assignment losses from prior years and lower spending by technology clients.

BCW and Hill & Knowlton, which together will merge to form Burson in July, saw a combined decline due to the loss of Pfizer assignments and the impact of macroeconomic uncertainty on client spending. FGS Global grew against a tough comparison.

Specialist Agencies like Landor, Design Bridge and Partners, and a number of  smaller specialist agencies continued to be affected by delays in project-based spending. CMI Media Group, our specialist healthcare media planning and buying agency, continued to grow well, building on strong prior year performance.





WPP records £3.4 billion revenue; 6.6 percent growth in India for Q1 2024

Ogilvy has appointed Devika Bulchandani as its new global chief executive officer. In this role, she will be responsible for all aspects of the creative network’s business across 131 offices in 93 countries and spanning its Advertising, Public Relations, Experience, Consulting, and Health units. She will also join WPP’s Executive Committee as she takes on her new role. Bulchandani most recently served as global president and CEO of Ogilvy North America. She takes the helm from Andy Main who is stepping down as global CEO and will serve as a senior advisor until the end of the year.

Commenting on the development, Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said, “Over the last two years, under Andy’s leadership, Ogilvy has seen a transformation in its creative and business performance. This stems from the consistently outstanding quality of work from Ogilvy’s teams around the world, the investment in attracting and developing talent across the business, and the strong and more diverse leadership team Andy has built. With the agency’s transformation a year ahead of the schedule we originally envisioned, Andy has decided that now is the right time to seek a new challenge and he is moving on with my personal thanks and best wishes.

“Devika is a champion of creativity who brings passion, purpose, and an uncompromising focus on generating impact to everything she does. In partnership with Andy and Liz Taylor, she has been instrumental in Ogilvy’s recent growth and development. Her love for our industry, deep understanding of clients’ needs, and track record of delivering growth for agencies and brands, make her the perfect choice to lead Ogilvy to even greater success,” he added.

<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/631b6e800e717-631b6e800e71aWho-is-Devika-Bulchandani-Ogilvys-new-global-CEO.jpg-434x1024.jpg" alt="" width="434" height="1024" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-1950" />

On his exit, Main said, “When I joined Ogilvy, my goal was to build on the company’s incredible heritage, raise its ambitions, and deliver growth for our clients through work that has impact. Our progress is a testament to all the talented people across the network and our amazing clients for whom I have the deepest gratitude and respect. David Ogilvy spoke about the importance of hiring giants and Devika is truly one of the giants in the industry. It has been an honor being a part of this company’s rich history and I know Devika will continue accelerating the momentum our team has built.”

On her new role, Bulchandani said, “David Ogilvy changed the industry 74 years ago when he founded this iconic agency. As we write the next chapter in the history books of Ogilvy, we will do it together with our clients, using creativity to push the boundaries of what’s possible. I am honored and humbled to take on this role, and to do it with all our incredibly talented people all over the world.”

Prior to joining Ogilvy, Bulchandani spent 26 years at McCann in various leadership roles including President of McCann North America. She was the driving force behind Mastercard’s long-running “Priceless” campaign as well as “True Name,” a first-of-its-kind feature launched in 2019 that empowers transgender and non-binary people to display their chosen name on their Mastercard. Known for ideas that capture the cultural zeitgeist, Bulchandani also helped launch “Fearless Girl,” an iconic and beloved symbol of women’s equality; the campaign became one of the most awarded campaigns in the history of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. 

Next month she will be honored by New York Women in Communications (NYWIC) at the 2022 Matrix Awards, which honors women who are making a difference, building community, and inspiring the next generation of female leaders in their field.

Devika Bulchandani is Ogilvy’s new global CEO; Andy Main steps down

Top media investment forms in India are working to refresh their teams with future-ready talent. According to industry estimates, media agencies in India are increasing their workforce strength by about 12-15 percent this year. A quarter of these recruits will be on-boarded to drive new capabilities from content to commerce.

Marketing is rapidly transforming on the back of evolved consumers, believes Ajay Gupte, CEO – South Asia, Wavemaker, a WPP group company. “Instant access to information and products/services has put the consumer purchase journey on steroids. Ability to access, enhance and activate data in ways customized to cater to every individual need of our massive consumer base is key to success,” he says.

Today, the GroupM-owned agency is looking for data analysts, audience scientists, content specialists, and more performance marketing experts to augment teams. The company wants its talent to be entrepreneurial to keep up with the scale and speed of work today. Much like the mainline creative and digital marketing companies, media investment agencies are also ideating in real time for several brands and are no longer just crunching weekly viewership numbers or strategising one big project at a time.

The talent quest

Homegrown company Madison World has been hiring more freshers from various academic streams to increase the agency’s bench-strength, says the company’s executive director Lara Balsara Vajifdar. She adds, “We are hiring for more thinking roles as doing roles are getting automated. We are also looking at more specialized roles to boost domain expertise across categories.”

Madison World also wants its talent to “be happy”. The agency uses Happyness.me, a proprietary tool that measures the happiness quotient of corporations and its people. Happyness.me is a part of media veteran Raj Nayak’s company House of Cheer. Vajifdar says the agency is setting up periodic surveys to keep a check on employees’ happiness quotient.

Last year, Omnicom Media Group India launched ‘OMG Bootcamp’, with a focus on training and developing aspirants for the future. This paid internship program focuses on helping young graduates hone their craft and not only tests their mettle but also gives them the opportunity to work full-time at OMG and its agencies. 

Anju Kurien, talent head at Omnicom Media Group – India, is looking for “problem solvers and integrated thinkers”. OMG India is also invested in adding new skill sets to its existing team members. Kurien shares, “With transformations in the advertising ecosystem, brands today are turning to media-agnostic professionals with a keen understanding of integrated thinking. It plays a key role in having a larger understanding of the brand and consumer needs.”

Identifying the roadblockers

Attracting and retaining the right talent is the biggest challenge facing ad companies today. Gupte points to the increasing level of competition agencies are facing from companies in other industries looking for similar profiles and fishing in the same pool. “Apart from media agencies, today we compete with marketers, consultants and even tech companies for talent. As industry leaders, the onus is really on us to add to the talent pool,” says Gupte.

The agency is building a steady supply of talent suited for the roles that are opening up. Wavemaker India regularly hires freshers from colleges and gets them on board after grueling classroom and on-the-job training. The agency is also upskilling its current workforce to keep them future-fit.

Kurien notices another trend that’s proving to be a challenge for recruiters at agencies. 

“The challenge faced during the courtship journey from recruitment to joining is a new phenomenon. Candidates are on the lookout for opportunities, sometimes even while they are in the courtship period. Today, it is more important than ever to keep potential candidates engaged until they are fully assimilated into the system.”

The advertising industry is grappling with one of its worst talent crises ever. The problem isn’t that there aren't enough talented people. It’s that many people don’t want to join agencies these days. Making matters worse is the exodus of talent to brands’ side, with new-age companies like D2C firms and streamers attracting the best of the lot with bigger paychecks and better work-life balance.

Further exacerbating the issue are phenomena like ‘quiet quitting’ and ‘the Great Reshuffle’ which is defined by a large-scale resignation by working professionals who are prioritizing both flexibility and fulfillment. In April 2021, according to LinkedIn data, globally two-thirds of the workforce had either left a job or considered leaving a job. The trend continued into 2022.

The Great Skill Reset: Audience scientists, integrated thinkers, people with high HQ in demand

Enormous and Nuvoco

Cement, concrete manufacturers suppliers Nuvoco has awarded the complete communications mandate to Enormous. The agency will work on strategy, mainline creative and digital for all brands of Nuvoco. Recently, Nuvoco acquired LaFarge cement and Emami's cement brands. Two weeks ago, Enormous strengthened its leadership teams at Mumbai and Delhi offices, where Pratik Adhikari, Parijaat Sehgal and Swati Agnihotri were appointed as the associate vice president - account management, client servicing director and head at its Gurgaon office, and client servicing director, respectively.


WPP and Mondelez

Ad holding company WPP retained American multinational confectionery company Mondelez’s media mandate in India. Globally, the brand has split its media account between Publicis Groupe’s agencies, Wavemaker and VaynerMedia. Publicis will lead the business of the brand in Latin America, Europe, Middle East and the North African Peninsula, South Africa and China. Publicis Groupe won the bulk of Mondelez’s global media business that’s worth $1.6bn. VaynerMedia will lead communications planning and digital buying in the US and Canada. Wavemaker will lead media in Southeast Asia, India, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. The media billings come up to $225 million.

IPG Lodestar and BMW

Earlier this week, Storyboard18 reported that BMW India has put its creative and media account up for review. As per the industry sources, the pitch is underway in Delhi and is pegged in the vicinity of Rs 150 crore. IPG-owned Lodestar UM has been handling the account since 2017. In 2021, IPG’s Team Dynamic was announced as BMW India’s integrated communications partner after a multi-agency pitch. Team Dynamic is a bespoke IPG solution created for BMW India, with regional resources drawn from across IPG. The unit has been working on the brand's creative, digital services and studio production work. This week, BMW India reported that the brand saw a robust demand for luxury vehicles in India, reporting record sales of 5,570 cars in India in the first half of the year.

Contract Advertising and Haldiram

Contract Advertising has won the mandate of Haldiram, an Indian multinational sweets, savories and restaurant company. The account was won following a multi-agency pitch where 16 agencies had participated. The mandate includes brand strategy and creatives for the domestic market, the export market, and retail or quick service restaurants. Recently, beverage startup LB Brewers partnered with Haldiram to market its iced-teas, Borecha Icey.

Compiled by Kashmeera Sambamurthy