WPP continues AI overhaul with $400-million Google partnership

A $400 million investment with Google has sent another signal about WPP’s commitment to quickly embed AI more deeply across the holding company as part of Cindy Rose’s plan to make up ground lost to its competitors in recent years. 

In a Tuesday morning announcement, WPP described the deal as an “expanded partnership,” with the spending going toward infusing AI into its services to “create hyper-relevant campaigns in days, not months.” 

The collaboration will touch everything from integrated creative, production, media, experience and commerce, it said in the announcement, “moving beyond traditional efficiency initiatives to unlock growth.”  

The investment is part of WPP’s previous stated commitment to up its AI spending to £300 per year from £250 million per year at the start of 2024 to build out WPP Open, the company’s technology and data platform. Launched in 2020, it has been more explicitly about AI in recent years as every leading player in advertising joined the AI arms race. 

But since taking over in early September, Rose said she would not “sugar-coat” the fact that WPP had a lot of work to do to catch up to its competitors, that it needed to lead all client conversations about its investments in AI, and calling on all WPP employees to become “AI superusers and embrace these tools to power our daily work.”

While WPP had already been working with Google and investing heavily in AI under Rose’s predecessor Mark Read, the FT reported sources “close to the company say Rose wants it to move faster and is developing a new strategy likely to be unveiled later this year.”  

Some of the specific use cases in the announcement included: 

• Reimagining content production: WPP will get early access to Google’s newest AI models — including Veo and Imagen — through WPP Open. The tools let teams produce campaign-ready images and video assets in days instead of weeks, delivering up to 70% efficiency gains and accelerating asset use by 2.5 times.

• Developing future AI talent: WPP is expanding its Creative Technology Apprenticeship, with Google now leading the curriculum. The program has placed more than 50 apprentices in permanent roles since 2022 and will train more than 1,000 early-career creative technologists by 2030. Participants will learn skills like creative coding, generative AI, and robotics, while working on real client challenges. 

• Modernising internal operations with Google AI: WPP is embedding Google’s AI tools into its own workflows to boost efficiency and client service. Automating tasks like data analysis, resource planning and access to global insights will help teams work faster and collaborate more effectively, leading to quicker solutions and greater value for clients worldwide.