By The Malketeer
The exit of Mark Read from WPP isn’t just a leadership transition.
It’s a punctuation mark.
Maybe even an ellipsis.
After all, who replaces the guy you send in when the party’s over, the ashtrays are full, and the goat on the roof won’t come down?
Mark Read was never going to be the next Sir Martin Sorrell.
And frankly, that’s precisely why he was hired.
After a founder’s exit clouded by investigations, ego, and expense reports that read like rock star tour riders, WPP needed a grown-up.
Someone with the patience of a monk and the bland reliability of an oat biscuit.
Read was that guy.
He didn’t build WPP 2.0.
He stabilised WPP 1.5.
He swept up the broken glass, sobered up the culture, and began nudging the holding company into the present.
He dismantled the tangled web of agencies, bet on AI early (bless his clairvoyance), and even had the decency to keep his name out of the tabloids.
Credit where it’s due:
But here’s the rub: calm doesn’t win pitches.
And cleaning up the past doesn’t always future proof a company.
While Read was ironing out the wrinkles, Publicis took the revenue crown.
Coca-Cola and Mars both walked out the door.
The stock price quietly halved.
And Omnicom and IPG?
They’re busy planning a mega-merger that could eat WPP’s lunch — and maybe even its executive buffet.
The ad world changed.
Holding companies were once the grand cathedrals of the marketing industry — vast, awe-inspiring, but slow to renovate.
Now, brands don’t care how big your network is.
They care how fast you deliver.
How integrated your tech stack is.
How well your team plays with AI, creators, commerce, and chaos.
In that world, WPP’s legacy feels more like luggage.
And let’s not ignore the timing.
Read “stepped down,” but let’s decode that for the PR-challenged: Philip Jansen walks in as chairman, and suddenly the CEO starts humming “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”
That’s not timing — that’s choreography.
What Now for WPP?
WPP doesn’t need a janitor anymore.
It needs a builder.
A storyteller.
A risk-taker.
Someone who can turn a lumbering global giant into a sharp, lean, API-enabled predator.
Someone who gets that TikTok isn’t just a trend, it’s the new telly.
Someone who doesn’t need a 78-slide PowerPoint to explain the metaverse — or worse, still believes in it.
The next CEO will inherit a company with 100,000 employees, a world-class logo, and a question that haunts the halls of holding companies everywhere: What exactly are we holding on to?
This isn’t about just winning Cannes Lions anymore.
It’s about proving you’re not a dinosaur with a deck.
Because clients are voting with their feet.
And the exits are getting crowded.
A Farewell, not a Flameout
Mark Read deserves credit — and maybe a standing ovation — for taking on the role no one envied.
He was the bridge between chaos and clarity, between legend and legacy.
But he wasn’t the future.
He was the firewall.
And now that he’s gone, WPP has a chance — a scary, exhilarating chance — to finally become something new.
Just maybe… this time, skip the white man in a navy suit.
Aim for someone who understands culture, code, and consumers.
Someone fluent in algorithms and authenticity.
Someone who’s not afraid to say: We’ve been doing it wrong — let’s do it right.
Because the grown-up has left the room.
And maybe that’s exactly what WPP needs.
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