WPP Calls in McKinsey — and Signals a Return to Ruthless Focus

By The Malketeer

When the world’s biggest advertising network hires the world’s most famous consulting firm to help “reset” its strategy, two things are clear.

First, trouble has moved from the footnotes to the front page.

Second, change will not be gentle.

WPP’s decision to bring McKinsey back into the fold, under new CEO Cindy Rose, isn’t simply another corporate tidying exercise.

It’s a public admission that the industry’s old playbook — protect billings, consolidate agencies, hope clients don’t notice the seams — is no longer enough.

After two profit warnings in three months and a full-year revenue decline expected to hit as steep as 6%, the patience of shareholders has thinned.

Rose’s blunt verdict — “unacceptable performance” — sets the tone.

A Reset for an Industry at an Inflection Point

Advertising is having its “management theory meets machine intelligence” moment.

What once looked like a creative empire now resembles a sprawling tech-services business dealing with the messy realities of scale, legacy structures, and shifting client expectations.

Simplifying operations and delivering measurable business outcomes isn’t optional anymore — it’s existential.

WPP’s strategic review reportedly targets four critical fronts:

• Cleaner, sharper client delivery — fewer silos, fewer handoffs, more integration that feels real, not powerpoint-deep.
• AI as a growth engine — not as a lab experiment or PR flourish, but as a core operating system across creative, media, and delivery.
• Enterprise-grade solutions — the consulting giants have moved into marketing; WPP now needs to move deeper into business transformation.
• Financial discipline — after years of mergers, divestments, and reorganisations, the hottest brief in the building might be simply: efficient, sustainable profit.

Why McKinsey Matters

The choice of partner reveals the scale of ambition — and urgency.

McKinsey isn’t here to write slides about “synergy.” They’re here to stress-test choices and force decisions.

WPP has been trimming — a 7,000-person reduction, asset sales like FGS Global, the creation of VML and WPP Media — but simplification isn’t a one-and-done act. It’s an organisational mindset shift.

Rose’s task is to convince the markets WPP can become faster, sharper, and braver — not just leaner.

Mad Men Meets Machine Logic

Strip away the corporate messaging and this is the industry story of our time.

Marketing isn’t shrinking — effectiveness demands and client expectations are expanding. But the model powering the holding companies is creaking.

Headcount-led revenue, layered structures, and legacy incentives simply don’t match the fluid world of AI-enabled creativity and enterprise-grade advisory.

The next era of agency leadership isn’t about slogans or awards. It’s about:

• Speed over sprawl
• Clarity over complexity
• Accountability over mystique
• Enterprise alignment over campaign cycles

It’s also about rediscovering creative confidence — the sort that inspires CMOs, not just reassures CFOs.

What Marketers Should Watch

By early 2026, WPP will reveal its new blueprint. Expect a sharpened organisation, bolder bets in AI and data, and a more muscular stance on commercial impact.

But the real test is cultural. Can WPP evolve from holding company to intelligent creation and enterprise solutions engine — without losing the creative soul that made it powerful?

If it succeeds, it will set the benchmark for how legacy giants rewire.

If it stumbles, the door opens wider for independent networks, consulting firms, and AI-native challengers to accelerate.

Either way, this pivot matters far beyond one balance sheet.

It’s a signal for the global industry: the new era of advertising belongs to those who streamline, smarten, and dare to reinvent — not those who tighten but hope.