WPP Brings in McKinsey to Stress-Test Cindy Rose's Turnaround Plan
The advertising giant is pulling out the big guns as it battles to reverse a troubling decline.
WPP has appointed management consulting firm McKinsey to advise on its much-anticipated strategy review, as pressure mounts on new CEO Cindy Rose to chart a recovery path for the beleaguered agency group.
The move comes after WPP issued two profit warnings in three months in July and October sending shockwaves through an industry already grappling with client budget pressures and the upheaval of AI-driven transformation.
Rose, who took the helm from Mark Read on 1 September, first flagged the strategic review in August. She’s promised shareholders full details in early 2026, but the clock is ticking. Annual revenues are projected to decline by between 5.5% and 6%—a performance Rose herself described as “unacceptable” during the Q3 results presentation in October.
McKinsey’s Role: Facilitator and Reality Check
While WPP’s senior leadership is driving the review internally, McKinsey’s management consultants are understood to be helping to “facilitate and stress-test” the planning for the new strategy. It’s a familiar playbook leading companies, including rival agency groups, regularly hire management consulting firms for strategic reviews or significant restructuring.
WPP reportedly tapped McKinsey for strategic advice back in 2020 as well. The consultancy’s fingerprints are already visible elsewhere in the organisation: WPP Media recruited Emily Del Greco, a former McKinsey partner, as its global chief operating officer in February.
What Rose’s Review Will Cover
At the Q3 results, Rose offered glimpses of what’s in store, outlining several focus areas:
“Simplifying and integrating our client offer” and using AI “to deliver growth and business outcomes for our clients”.
“Significantly improving our execution and building a high-performance culture.”
“Expanding our addressable market through enterprise and technology solutions.”
Improving finances through “operational efficiency and a disciplined approach to capital allocation”.
Analysts at Bank of America reckon the narrative around the strategic review points to “likely deep and bold restructuring actions”. Translation: expect meaningful changes, not cosmetic tweaks.
Restructuring Fatigue?
WPP is no stranger to major overhauls. The company has already executed a series of significant restructures, including the internal merger of Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R to create VML at the end of 2023, and the simplification and rebranding of Group M as WPP Media in May 2025.
Headcount has taken a hit too. By the end of H1, the workforce had fallen by 7,000 to 104,000 compared to a year earlier though WPP also sold off FGS Global during that period.
When journalists pressed CFO Joanne Wilson on whether further cuts are coming, including redundancies, she didn’t rule it out. “The agency business is a variable cost base, and when the top line deteriorates, we do have the levers therefore to take cost out, and that’s what we’ve been doing this year,” Wilson said.
She insisted the efficiency drive, including the WPP Media restructure, “is not at all impacting our client service” and that WPP is “serving them [clients] incredibly well.” Last week offered some validation: WPP won Reckitt’s consolidation of its £700m European media account.
The Rose Effect
Rose, a former Microsoft executive, has been on the WPP board since 2019. She served as a non-executive director whilst working as chief operating officer for global enterprise at Microsoft before landing the top job at WPP. Her appointment signals a shift towards enterprise technology thinking—precisely the kind of perspective WPP needs as traditional advertising models continue to erode.
She’s working alongside Philip Jansen, the former chief executive of BT, who became chair of WPP in January. Together, they represent a leadership team with deep technology and telecoms experience—a departure from the advertising industry insiders who’ve typically run the show.
WPP declined to comment on McKinsey’s involvement in the strategic review.
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