WPP Media’s principal-based media trading practice was built with clients and they want more, said the group’s CEO, Brian Lesser.
Questioned by an analyst on the use of principal-based media trading, Lesser said that WPP had always been a ‘pioneer’ in building products that drive value, then confirmed that the company does engage in the practice.
Lesser said that the products were ‘built with our clients’ and that they are ‘asking for more’. He explained that most of their clients are CMOs who are under pressure to prove value, and principal-based media provides that value.
He added that he expects that principal-based media trading will ‘continue to grow’ in the future.
Last week, documents filed in a US court by WPP included claims that in 2023 the holding company’s global net sales from non-product related income (which comprises ‘rebates, services and purchase risk trading inventory’) was $1bn, but also that ‘top spending clients are not taking up the offer of purchase risk inventory.’
Lesser made the latest comments about principal-based media trading during WPP’s strategy and earnings presentation on 26 February. During the presentation, Rose invited Lesser to the stage to detail the ‘extraordinary job’ he had done in transforming WPP Media.
Lesser, who rejoined the company in 2024, stressed that 12 months ago he had ‘promised a transformation’ and he had delivered that by rebranding GroupM to WPP Media and bringing Mindshare, Wavemaker and EssenceMedia under one roof.
The transformation to a simplified structure, he said, was necessary in making sure that each client’s unique needs are at the heart of the business.
Combined with the use of the WPP Open AI platform, Lesser said that the restructuring has led to ‘true integrated marketing’ across the company. WPP Media’s best January in terms of net new media wins for four years was used as an example of potential clients’ positive reception.
Rose also used the presentation to announce her turnaround plan for WPP, which she diagnosed as having become too complex for clients. The restructuring, called Elevate28, will take place over three, year-long phases.
In 2026, the priority for WPP is to improve its new business performance, winning more accounts and losing fewer. At the same time, WPP will cut costs across the group and sell parts of the business that are not essential to its strategy.
In 2027, WPP aims to return to organic growth through its new operating model. Media will be at the forefront of WPP’s new proposition, along with three other simplified divisions: creative, production and enterprise solutions.
In 2028, WPP plans to grow as a result of its transformation into a ‘simpler, lower-cost, AI-enabled business’, with the integration between its four divisions driving growth, as well as ‘the global scaling of agentic workflows’.
To fund WPP’s transformation, Rose said that she will deliver annual gross savings of £500m by 2028 — a process that is expected to cost £400m over two years — by de-duplicating support roles, changing how the business operates, and by selling assets.
At the end of the restructuring, ‘WPP will no longer be a holding company,’ said Rose. ‘It will be a single company model.’
Technology has changed the dynamics in which brands operate, added Rose. Now, she said, brands are discovered in AI-driving conversational search, creators shape consumer preferences, media is everywhere all of the time and every interaction is shoppable, but trust is scarce and the demand for human creativity is increasing.
Within this environment, ‘Clients don’t need more traditional marketing agencies,’ said Rose. ‘They need a new playbook for growth.’
And WPP wants to find its place in this new world as ‘the trusted partner for the world’s leading brands in the age of AI’.
