- WPP saw like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs, an indicator of organic agency growth, decline 1% yr over yr in 2024, per a trading statement from the ad-holding group. The declines were steeper than analysts anticipated.
- The like-for-like measure was down 2.3% YoY in Q4, a period affected by particularly strong pullbacks in China, where revenue plunged 21.2%. WPP has also recently been battered by the lack of some large accounts, such as Starbucks.
- The company said it expects 2025 revenue to land somewhere between flat to down 2%, with performance improvements expected within the second half. The cloudy outlook sends a warning sign to an agency space that’s facing down higher macroeconomic volatility.
WPP closed 2024 on a down note, with steep declines in markets like China and a few punishing client losses. In a press release attached to the earnings report, CEO Mark Read acknowledged a level of caution given the present macroeconomic environment, which has been rattled by President Donald Trump’s trade war maneuvering and broader global uncertainty.
Weaker ad spending is usually a bellwether of a bigger economic downturn. Read still emphasized confidence in WPP hitting its medium-term growth targets, together with further simplifying its client-facing structure and making advances in areas like artificial intelligence.
“We’re excited in regards to the prospect of AI augmenting human creativity, rigorously and systematically … and we imagine it is going to be a chance for us as an organization. It’s going to affect and augment our people’s creative talent and make them more efficient and goes to deliver greater integration and grow the worth of information that we’ve got throughout the business,” Read said on an earnings call.
Still, the brand new yr has already delivered some unwelcome setbacks for WPP. Starbucks U.S. shifted its creative to Stagwell’s Anomaly in January, a surprise change on condition that WPP was only on the business for a couple of months and was within the technique of constructing out a bespoke unit for the coffee chain. Starbucks is within the midst of a creative overhaul as it vies to reverse its own sales slump and fading relevance.
WPP notched some notable wins on the media front within the second half of 2024, bringing on deep-pocketed accounts from Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, Kimberly-Clark and Unilever that might provide a lift within the months ahead. WPP has been busy restructuring its media-buying behemoth GroupM.
“2025 marks a defining yr for GroupM. Our strategic priorities, AI-driven data strategy and commitment to innovation will position us as the industry leader. With our unparalleled global capabilities and relentless concentrate on simplification, efficiency and growth, we are going to drive results for our clients as true business partners,” said GroupM CEO Brian Lesser, who returned to the WPP fold last yr, on the earnings call.
While creative shop VML just won the account of Italian insurance giant Generali, the general picture for WPP stays patchy in 2025 as the group faces a yr of flat or negative growth. The performance gulf between the world’s largest agency network and rivals like Publicis Groupe has widened while the broader category is primed for consolidation as Omnicom moves to integrate Interpublic Group as a part of a planned $13 billion acquisition in H2.
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