Category: In the News

Based on its recent earnings, WPP’s financial outlook (and perhaps the traditional agency model overall) looks glib. But the holding company is banking on its AI arsenal, including its newly launched self-service platform aimed at small-to-medium sized businesses, Open Pro, to turn things around.

The trouble is that tech companies like Google and Canva seem to have the same idea. Google on Wednesday (Oct. 29) released Pomelli, an AI marketing tool “designed to help SMBs more easily generate scalable, on-brand social media campaigns.” And on Thursday (Oct. 30), Canva launched its creative operating system, which includes Canva Grow, a marketing platform that allows brands to design and launch ads across platforms like Meta.

Following the launch of similar solutions from Amazon, Comcast and Meta, it means there’s already competition to provide an AI-powered agency-in-a-box.

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A senior marketer at a major WPP Media client told me recently they’re thinking about shopping around for a new agency. That, in itself, isn’t surprising, especially after WPP’s new CEO Cindy Rose, publicly admitted the company had “lost its way”. What stood out was why they’re considering the move. It’s not about chasing AI breakthroughs or assembling yet another full-stack planning and buying setup. It’s something more fundamental — and harder to fix: the people. 

“They’re ultimately what matter to me as a client,” they continued. “If we put the account up for a review, that’s going to be part of our decision. We’re not big enough to get the best payment terms so we have to focus on where we get the best service.”

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