WPP has appointed former Microsoft UK CEO Cindy Rose as its new CEO.
She will step into the position from 1 September, taking over from current CEO Mark Read. Rose has spent the last nine years in senior leadership positions at Microsoft and currently acts as the CEO for global enterprise.
Before being appointed to her current Microsoft role in March 2023, Rose was president of Microsoft Western Europe and CEO of Microsoft UK. She also brings brand-side experience from Vodafone, Virgin and The Walt Disney Company and has been a non-executive director on the WPP Board since 2019.
In a LinkedIn post, Rose wrote: “WPP is a company I know and love – not only from my six years on the board, but as a client and partner for many years before that.”
Read announced his departure in June, ending a career spanning more than 30 years at the holding company. He was appointed CEO in 2018, succeeding Sir Martin Sorrell, who stepped down from the role after an inquiry into his workplace conduct.
The appointment comes as WPP issued a profit warning yesterday (9 July). Against a “challenging economic backdrop”, the business anticipates H1 like-for-like revenue to decline by -4.2% to -4.5%, with a decline of -5.5% to -6% in Q2.
The downgrade sent the firm’s shares down 16%, but they have increased since the announcement of Rose’s appointment.
“Since the start of the year, we have faced a challenging trading environment with macro pressures intensifying and lower net new business,” Read said on the release of the profit warning.
“While we expected the second quarter to be similar to the first quarter, performance in June was worse than anticipated and we expect this pattern of trading in the first half to continue into the second half.”
WPP’s biggest clients include the likes of Unilever, Nestlé and Google. However, notable losses over the past few years include Coca-Cola’s North America media account, Starbucks’ US creative account and most recently Mars’ media business.
Brand marketers, and by extension their agency partners, are under increasing pressure to deliver more with less. ISBA’s ‘Future of Agency Remuneration’ report found only 48% of advertisers feel they receive value for money from their agencies, down from 65% in 2020.
Moreover, three-quarters (75%) of advertisers expect to change their agency remuneration model within the next three years, according to MediaSense and the WFA.
Industry reacts
With the news breaking this morning, people in the industry have taken to LinkedIn to share their thoughts. Deliveroo’s global vice-president of advertising, Lucia Mastromauro, shared that from a client perspective the move is “likely to resonate”.
“Assuming she delivers the operational clarity WPP urgently needs, this could be the leadership reset many have been hoping for,” she wrote.
Former WeTransfer marketer and co-founder of Media Futures Market, Dan Gee, noted that she “represents stability, rather than turbulence”.
“Her background at Microsoft shows a focus on two areas, enterprise customers and AI. Great for large multinational advertiser clients, less promising for mid-market clients,” he added.
Meanwhile, Marketing Week columnist Colin Lewis highlighted Rose’s background in tech businesses and the lack of reference to “creativity” in the announcement.
“No mention of being a ‘creative’ or ‘knowing how to work with creative,’” he wrote. “Advertising is a tech business, but its outputs and outcomes are portrayed by many as a result of ‘creativity’. No matter how much we may like or dislike this, it is inevitable.”