Despite recent organisation restructuring efforts and rebranding of GroupM to WPP Media which connects WPP’s media, data and production capabilities, a move which comes with its own challenges, it has fostered some of the longest client partnerships in India – namely with HUL, Perfetti Van Melle, P&G, ICICI, Vodafone- Idea (Vi), Tata Steel and Tata Consumer Products Ltd, Colgate, Kellogg’s and many more.
Talking about the big restructuring exercise aimed at simplifying operations at the Group and the areas where their immediate investments in India will be centered on, Kumar underlines two broad focal points, “It would be AI, and upskilling and preparing the workforce for tomorrow. Looking at how we enhance technology and utility of that for each of our businesses is the other key focus, for e.g., commerce with inclusive marketing. We want to be aggressive about getting more customers be it via WPP Open Pro or by expanding client bases in multiple markets.”
2025 has not just been a transformative year but a turbulent one too for WPP globally – change in leadership with Mark Read making way for the first woman CEO of the company- Cindy Rose, loss of 20-year-old media accounts globally like Mars & Paramount, profit warnings; and still a year that holds the promise of change layered with groundbreaking partnerships with Google, £300 million investment in AI, simplified company structure etc. Partly due to global pressures and client spending slowdown WPP shares have plunged by close to 80% since 2017, when its valuation peaked. Its competitor, Publicis Groupe which recently upstaged WPP from its number 1 spot as far as net revenue is concerned, has seen its valuation nearly double in the same period.
But back in India, the plot can’t be more different for their media agency network. WPP Media has for years been the country’s strongest media agency network by a large margin. At the group level, in India WPP Media emerged as the clear leader with $6.6 billion in billings, followed by IPG Mediabrands at $2.0 billion, and Publicis Media at $1.7 billion, as per the Comvergence Rankings of 2024. Basically, WPP Media’s billings are close to double the combined billings of the No. 2 and No. 3 groups here. Raising the question, what is Kumar’s team doing differently from their counterparts globally?
Kumar clarifies, “We don’t look at it like that. All of us at WPP including my counterparts in other markets are trying to do our best for our customers. Ours is a derivative business and we strongly believe that if we do good for our clients; we’ll be taken care of.” He goes on to explain, “It’s true that globally many markets have been impacted due to uncertainty, in India too we have tasted similar flavours—be it an economic, consumption or regulatory issue. For e.g., the recent real money gaming ban impacted few of our clients. But we have been at the forefront of finding different solutions and widening the offerings with our existing customers. It’s not a one-ingredient solution, but a multi-ingredient bag that helped us. There was a lot of learning and not everything we did was super successful. But our team and our people were committed to learn faster and arrive at the right formula which works for our customers.”
Talking about the industry, Kumar highlights that the big advertising categories today are CPG, commerce, real estate, automobile (EV) and media itself. At a time when the advertising media mix is witnessing a serious overhaul, with digital first strategies being embraced by even legacy brands and media agency’s old favourite—Television witnessing a dip in TV ad volumes by 10% in the first half of the year (as per TAM), what is the client sentiment on media, which perhaps is going away from mass to more focused ad placements, like the west.
Kumar responds, “The era is about looking at cost cautiously, the cost of goods sold has been higher than the pace of growth of the business in the past five years, which impacts the marketing expenditures. Today the ability to understand and execute performance marketing on a regular basis has improved, because of the many options that have emerged in it. But will it be at the expense of something else? I doubt. TV reach is still very relevant and can be more so, if we can get more technology on to television. TV will not decline now, India has a stamina for the medium. Interestingly even other markets abroad have started coming back to TV in some ways, like CTV.”
He stresses that today advertising is not about a single platform dependency, “You won’t have uniform consumer behaviour on each, so how do you orchestrate the utility, behavioural aspect within the platform? That’s the task we should own as media planners.”
They have dominated the media agency business in India for years and now they are preparing themselves to further increase the gap with their competitors, armed with their data and technology arsenal. Prasanth Kumar, CEO, WPP Media, South Asia in a detailed conversation with Neeta Nair, Editor of IMPACT Magazine, speaks about the challenges surrounding the media agency ecosystem in the country, and how they are not just fiercely protecting their territory but also spreading their wings to cover newer ground.
Watch what Kumar has to say about the changing dynamics and emerging strengths of WPP Media:
Q] Today, media agency business is threatened by consultancies and tech companies. Accenture Song with its $20 billion revenue is one of the largest advertising networks in the world today. How are you at WPP Media ensuring that media agencies stay relevant while also increasing the size of the playing field?
It’s great to see that everybody is finding an opportunity in each other’s so-called comfort zone. If you feel that the consulting companies are seeing some opportunity here, we media agencies are also finding a window in areas that were considered their domain. Consulting goes a long way for every part of the service intended to address customer needs. In our case, for the last many years, we might have been focused on the marketing needs-- which is a wide expanded view of looking at solutions for clients. But additionally, we have also made efforts to understand how we can have a diversified offering for our clients that goes beyond media planning and buying.
Q] What are some of those services?
From tech related and analytics related consulting, to influencer marketing, agile content production via WPP brands like Hogarth, etc., working with creative agencies to come up with the full integrated solution for brands like Coke, Amazon, Unilever etc which more and more clients are actively seeking; we have expanded to all of that. We are seeing some great fervour in the market on commerce, retail media, marketplace and quick commerce. So, introducing products and services for that is another way to widen the services for clients. Let’s say we are lucky to have been able to work with almost every single client you find on the Indian cricket team’s jersey and many more through our widened offerings.
Q] 98% of all assessed account moves and retentions (% as per new business value) in India during January to June 2025, were country-specific pitches—a striking contrast to the global average of 61% as per COMvergence report. Are local clients the key to business for media agencies in India? What kind of break up are we looking at, in WPP Media, between global and local clients?
If your question is —do we have enough global and domestic clients? Then yes and they are equal for us because both sets are working with us to drive outcomes for the India market. While this 98% figure has come as a surprise to me, I don’t think we can read too much into this data. Having said that, there are a lot more domestic advertisers in India, besides global ones. Those small in stature with regard to spends will see humungous growth in the next three years, which is a big opportunity for us. In fact, we have many domestic clients going global now and the number will increase in the next five years, which will become another data point.
Q] As part of a strategic shift, GroupM recently was rebranded to WPP Media without eliminating or merging its agency brands, unlike on the creative side of WPP. How will it help in leading the transformation into the next decade?
It’s not just a rebranding exercise; we want to strengthen our tomorrow. Our focus will always be customer centric insights and actions which will help clients to get to the outcomes they want. Much of what we have done at WPP Media helps in that—be it tools, technology or talent, our products or services. Our client teams will cater to client’s different needs in the evolving market, keeping the sensitivities in mind. We are going beyond portfolio to look at platforms, for e.g., WPP Open where we are investing in a big way. We want to take it to our large customers to give them the benefit of agility. We may not be 10 on 10 but we want to make it 10 on 10 for each of our clients.
Q] But this will also lead to repurposing of roles at WPP Media. Which verticals are having to pivot the most, also facing more layoffs?
Yes, repurposing of roles is very important. Some departments will have a larger play in it like commerce, influencer marketing etc. We want to encourage collaboration because clients love integrated solutions. Integrated skill development is also an area where we are dialling up and this needs continuous efforts. For e.g., out of the 30 offerings we have today, seven of them didn’t exist in 2018, while 15 were not known in 2013. You have to keep evolving. Creating the workforce of tomorrow commands the most attention from any leader today.
Q] AI powered platforms are taking over media buying – for e.g., a self-serve platform like WPP Open Pro which directly allows brands to plan, create and publish campaigns. Are big clients opting for it at this point - will it not cannibalise the jobs at large media agencies which have dedicated teams for several important clients?
No, frankly, this will be a great help for our team. What you should understand is that with all of this, our aim is to increase our customer base. So, the business is only going to go up and that’s because these are utilities which allow you to further penetrate into the market. We are blessed with presence in many cities and want to make the best use of it through this platform. At our end it will give our teams the ability to see multiple data points. When clients put their own data into it, it will give them more precision. We are also trying to see how fast and how well we can customize some of the solutions for each of the client needs.
Q] Is it targeted at the new clients and not existing ones which have a large team servicing it at WPP Media?
It is a faster solution, an additional opportunity for us to serve our clients. So, this is a platform which helps you to synthesize, synergize, and get things together from a media, creative, content perspective which is useful for existing customers as well, as everybody wants agility. If I get to learn something now, I want to use it now. Real-time utility is the blessing of such platforms. So, if we come up with a tech solution we can’t say ‘sorry this won’t be used for existing customers’ The scope of work will be different for each client, we’ll customise it as per their need.
Q] At your end you are offering more agility for the client, but some of those clients have launched their own in-house media agencies, like Godrej in India and HP globally. What is your view on it?
Clients are not competing with us, they’re in the business of either selling cars, soaps, shampoos etc. If they feel there is a need to have an in-house perspective to grow that core business, I shall respect that. At our end we look at the opportunity to contribute to that business. There is nothing right or wrong about in-house teams, everybody has it. Let’s say, why do we have a finance department or administrative department? We can easily outsource that too right? It is a matter of perspective. As real partners we always see it as an opportunity to contribute more, not as a threat. Let’s not look at it from the context of ‘My God, will everybody take that route! I don’t think they will because their business is not running an advertising agency.
Q] Is possessing data and analytics the biggest gamechanger for any media agency network today? For e.g., Publicis’ success globally is heavily attributed to its 2019 acquisition of data company Epsilon? What is your approach to nailing that?
Data insights and what to do with it is very important. Our own teams have been working on that for many years. Choreograph, our data company comes in handy on that front. Even on our platform we have an open perspective on adding multiple other data pipes to see how the data synthesis between clients and other partners can produce a better result for clients. But fundamentally, yes, data and its utility has always given a great solution for clients.
Q] At the group level, in India WPP Media (formerly GroupM) emerged as the clear leader with $6.6 billion in billings, followed by IPG Mediabrands at $2.0 billion, and Publicis Media at $1.7 billion as per the COMvergence Rankings of 2024. Can you further increase this gap now that Omnicom has merged with IPG even as the full integration could take years, posing challenges?
There is definitely very strong competition in the marketplace and in situations where companies consolidate, the competition is only going to become fiercer. Because the point of the merger is to improve as a merged entity. It goes beyond the few companies you mentioned. However, someone else getting merged may not help us grow. Our efforts towards our existing customers and new ones, on the contrary, might.
Q] Coming to your team at WPP Media—Ajay Gupte, Amin Lakhani, Navin Khemka and Priti Murthy have been appointed presidents - client solutions under your leadership, these are additional roles made for some of your agency heads. What would be the immediate target for them?
We are blessed with some good leadership. We have structured leadership in such a way that we have an ExCo and a WLC team, the latter is significantly more important for us because they are the ones who handle the operations. But specific to your question, there is one important target- keep your customers happy which is a very difficult task considering the challenges we discussed.
Q] How much did WPP Media India grow in revenue in 2024 over the previous year and what is the target for 2025?
It definitely has to be progressive. I want to keep up the momentum and want our partners to grow as well. As far as 2024 is concerned, we had reasonable growth. We are not allowed to talk about some of these numbers. But let me tell you that we expected to grow slightly more, so, there have been hurdles. However, we have been lucky that the numbers are on the positive side and we want to keep it that way. Being greedy makes the journey more difficult. So, we are trying to find a balance—control what is in our hand, and understand what’s not.
