WPP

Name

WPP

Legal name

WPP plc

Website

https://wpp.fr

Company type

Public

Founded year

1971

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Advertising Services

NAICS

Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (5418), Advertising Agencies (54181), Media Buying Agencies (541830)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

Media Relations & Press Office Services (MPAAADAI)

Keywords

• Advertising sales management
• Media planning buying
• Public relations
• Marketing communications
• Creative services

Headquarters

HQ city

Levallois-perret

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Advertising and Marketing Services: Core revenue from providing advertising, media planning, creative services, and marketing solutions to global brands. Revenue declined 8.1% with underlying revenues declining 5.4% year-on-year.
2. Media Operations: Revenue from media planning, buying, and trading through GroupM and WPP Media operations. The company faces pressure on media operations amid client losses in US, UK, and Europe.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

WPP is a French advertising sales house (régie publicitaire) managing advertising across more than 40 media outlets spanning press, television, radio, web, and display (affichage). The company provides media agency services, creative production (Création), cross-media campaign execution, press relations, content creation, public relations, field promotion (promo terrain), events, and budget management for French advertisers. It also operates the WPP Magazines digital platform hosting archives of French magazine publications including Voici, Challenge, and Press Actu titles.

Product overview

WPP is a global advertising and communications services company undergoing major transformation under its Elevate28 strategy announced in February 2026. The company has restructured from a holding company model into four core business units—WPP Media, WPP Creative, WPP Production, and WPP Enterprise Solutions—connected through its AI platform WPP Open. In France specifically, WPP operates as an advertising regie (sales house) managing advertising across multiple media channels (press, TV, radio, web, display) and maintains an online magazines platform (magazines.wpp.fr) hosting numerous French publication archives. The portfolio includes agency services, media planning, production, and cross-media solutions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Régie Publicitaire (Advertising Sales House) Full-service advertising sales management across press, TV, radio, web, and display channels, offering cross-media campaigns, public relations, field promotion, content creation, budget management, and special operations (opérations spéciales including barter, exchange, contests). Designed for French brands and agencies seeking consolidated cross-media advertising execution.
• Agence Media (Media Agency) Media agency services for brands and products, focused on delivering permanent visibility through media planning and buying across WPP's portfolio of 40+ media outlets. Includes special operations, barter, exchange arrangements, and contests. Designed for advertisers wanting a single media partner for multi-channel campaigns.
• Création (Creative Services) Creative production services including conception, creation, and realization (production) of advertising content. Part of the integrated offering alongside media buying and press relations for French advertisers.
• WPP Magazines (Digital Publications Platform) Online platform hosting digital editions, archives, and media kits for WPP's French magazine portfolio. Serves both as a content distribution channel for readers and as an advertising inventory vehicle for French advertisers buying into those publications.

Quantifiable outcome

• WPP named most creative company on WARC Creative 100 List for fourth consecutive year in 2026
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• McKinsey & CompanycoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 13 February 2026WPP engaged McKinsey for advice on restructuring its creative agencies. The consulting firm provided guidance on the organizational restructure that led to the Elevate28 strategy, which is WPP's biggest organizational restructuring in years.
• IAB (Project Eidos)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 February 2026WPP participates in IAB's Project Eidos, an industry initiative to establish an interoperable, AI-ready measurement framework. The initiative involves 30 marketing companies including Amazon Ads, Google, and Unilever, addressing trust, transparency, and privacy challenges in media measurement.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Omnicom Group: Omnicom is one of the 'big four' global advertising holding companies (alongside WPP, Publicis, and IPG), operating agency networks like BBDO, DDB, and TBWA across creative, media, and PR services for global enterprise clients with similar business models.
• Publicis Groupe: Publicis is a direct global competitor headquartered in France, operating agency networks (Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi, Publicis Worldwide) with comparable full-service advertising, media buying, and digital transformation offerings, also pursuing AI-led strategies.
• Interpublic Group: IPG is another 'big four' advertising holding company operating McCann, FCB, MullenLowe, and Mediabrands, providing identical full-service advertising, media planning/buying, and marketing services to global enterprise advertisers with similar cost structure challenges.
• Dentsu: Dentsu is a major global advertising holding company with strong Asia Pacific presence, offering creative, media, and digital marketing services. It is the closest direct competitor in geographic and service overlap, particularly in Japan and broader APAC.

Broad incumbents

• Havas: Havas is a global communications group offering creative, media, and healthcare communications, traditionally seen as a smaller alternative to the big four. Comparable in offering set but with smaller scale and a stronger creative-led positioning.

Emerging players

• Accenture Song: Accenture Song is the marketing-services arm of Accenture, competing with WPP on large enterprise marketing transformation mandates, particularly at the intersection of advertising, technology, and consulting with an AI/digital-first orientation.
• Stagwell: Stagwell is a publicly traded marketing and communications group that has been actively acquiring agencies and consolidating the mid-market, directly competing with WPP for digital-first, technology-enabled client mandates.
• MediaMonks (S4 Capital): MediaMonks is a digital-first creative, content, and media production company within S4 Capital, competing with WPP Production and WPP Creative on digitally native, content-heavy campaigns for global brands with an AI-enabled operating model.
• Horizon Media: Horizon Media is the largest US independent media agency, competing with WPP Media/GroupM on media planning and buying mandates, particularly for challenger brands seeking non-holding-company alternatives.

Regional players

• Hakuhodo: Hakuhodo is Japan's second-largest advertising agency, providing integrated marketing services across Asia with strong local market expertise. Comparable in service offering but operating primarily in a different geography from WPP's core markets.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about WPP