Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
WPP and Google have struck a five-year deal to embed AI tools such as Gemini and video generator Veo into the UK advertising group’s offer to clients.
Google’s AI will be used to create advertising campaigns rapidly and more effectively by WPP’s agencies, including real-time personalised marketing for millions of customers.
The partnership includes a $400mn spending commitment from WPP for Google technologies to bring AI across its services.
The deal is the first to be struck by new chief executive Cindy Rose, the former Microsoft UK boss who took over from Mark Read last month, and reflects the rapid adoption of AI tools in an industry increasingly dominated by tech-led marketing.
WPP is in an arms race with rivals such as Publicis and Havas over adopting AI tools that clients are increasingly demanding to carry out their marketing, with agencies spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year on the technology.
On Tuesday, Publicis chief executive Arthur Sadoun told the FT that its strong performance was down to client demand for AI-led marketing.
Rose said that “by delivering bespoke AI solutions and enabling hyper-relevant campaigns with unprecedented scale and speed, we’re accelerating innovation across every facet of marketing”.
WPP is already investing heavily in AI technology, including through a prior relationship with Google. Those close to the company say Rose wants it to move faster and is developing a new strategy likely to be unveiled later this year.
WPP has suffered a difficult period with client losses leading to a succession of profit warnings, with shares down almost 60 per cent this year.
The Google partnership will give WPP clients access to Google’s AI alongside work done by WPP’s creative teams and offer personalised retail marketing that adapts visuals and messaging for each consumer, for example. Google Cloud’s AI products, which use DeepMind models, can quickly build bespoke audience models for clients.
WPP said that it would receive early access to Google’s latest video and image creation AI models including Veo and Imagen to devise campaigns in days instead of weeks.
