Cindy Rose Bets on Structural Reset to Reinvent WPP in the AI Era

WPP’s newly appointed Chief Executive Officer, Cindy Rose, is planning a major structural overhaul of the global advertising and communications group to position the company for long-term success in an AI-disrupted industry. The transformation aims to move WPP away from its traditional holding-company model toward a more unified and integrated operating structure that better reflects how clients buy services today. 

Since taking charge in September 2025, Rose has emphasised the need to simplify internal operations, streamline collaboration across creative, media, data and commerce capabilities, and build a more seamless client experience. She has indicated that a detailed blueprint for the restructuring will be shared early in 2026. The announcement comes amid challenging market conditions for WPP, including client losses, profit warnings and a significant drop in shareholder value. The company has seen its market capitalisation fall sharply over the past decade and exited the FTSE 100 earlier this year.

Rose has framed the overhaul as a mission to safeguard the future of what she described as a “great British company.” She stressed the importance of operational efficiencies and stronger direct engagement with clients, highlighted by recent account wins and increased billing momentum. On artificial intelligence, Rose pushed back against views that WPP is lagging peers, spotlighting the company’s AI-powered marketing platform, WPP Open, as central to future growth.

Rather than seeing AI as a threat, she characterised it as a once-in-a-generation opportunity that can automate routine work while amplifying high-value creative output. Under her leadership, WPP also plans to evolve its workforce mix balancing creative talent with engineers, data scientists and AI specialists and shift toward technology-led fee models and outcome-based remuneration.