Artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t just reshaping industries, it’s upending them. Nowhere is this more evident than in advertising, where AI is reshaping how brands create, deliver and optimise campaigns.

While many firms are still finding their feet with AI, WPP is claiming it has hit the ground running.

For the global communications giant, the AI arms race is not just a fad, but rather a high-stakes battle to regain its footing in an increasingly competitive landscape.

Once the undisputed global advertising leader, WPP faced a bruising few years financially.

It’s share price dropped to a four-year low last month, and the firm’s warning of flat revenue growth and profit margins for 2024 was a trenchant reflection of the challenges ahead.

Coupled with recent client losses like Coca-Cola in the US to French rival Publicis, WPP is scrambling to reestablish its superiority.

Responding to these setbacks, the company has deployed AI across its global operations at a rate more familiar to Silicon Valley than to Madison Avenue.

It has accelerated its AI roll-out at unprecedented speed, as it aims to regain its reigning position in the industry.

A fight to stay competitive

WPP’s push to integrate AI into its operations forms part of a broader industry-wide trend.

Publicis, WPP’s biggest competitor, committed a €300m investment to AI in 2024 to build its CoreAI platform which integrates data, AI and creativity into a seamless cross-agency system.

Publicis’s approach to implementation has earned the company a reputation as a leader in the space, while WPP, once the dominant titan in global advertising, is working to keep up.

Stephan Pretorius, WPP’s chief technology officer, spoke to CityAM about the company’s approach to AI.

“We are delivering software at the pace of Google or Meta”, he said, showing the firm’s eagerness to close the competitive gap.

WPP has embraced agility in its AI rollout, pushing up to 30 software releases a day in a bid to constantly evolve and innovate in real time.

“We have never shipped more technology faster, in WPP’s history, than we are right now”, said Pretorius.

The drive may be partly about reclaiming industry leadership, given the financial losses and increased competition from platforms like Meta and TikTok, which now control nearly half of global advertising budgets.

With generative AI allowing more brands to bypass traditional agencies to advertise directly on their own platforms, WPP’s efforts fight to maintain relevance.

Yet, the pace of its innovation isn’t just about catching up with peers.

The company is also creating an environment where AI is integrated into every aspect of the firm’s operations to accelerate each facet, from media optimisation to creative ideation.

“We’ve given the team a lot of space to execute because if you’re too rigid, things slow down massively. You need reliability and governance, but you also need to move fast,” the ad exec says.

The result is a fundamental shift in how marketing is conceived and delivered, ultimately changing how brands interact with their audiences.

AI as a creative ‘thought partner’

WPP claims approach to AI is not about replacing human creativity, but rather enhancing it.

The company approaches AI as a collaborative force, reshaping the creative process rather than automating it entirely.

Pretorius refers to AI as “thought partner” in creativity, allowing WPP’s team to push the boundaries of traditional thinking.

The integration of AI into WPP’s creative processes is already paying dividends, acting as a thought partner to expand the realm of possibility.

“It’s like the ultimate ‘What if?’ engine’ he says, as he describes how this technology accelerates the journey from idea to execution.

Integrating AI spans multiple steps within the creative process. For production, the focus is on automation, enabling vast scale content adaptation across languages, markets and channels.

Meanwhile, optimisation is the operative word in its integration in media planning, allowing brands to make smarter, more data-driven decisions on media spend and content performance.

Beyond internal efficiencies, WPP is also using AI for hyper-personalisation in marketing campaigns.

WPP has already experimented with the fledgling technology to power several high-profile campaigns.

In one instance it deployed AI to enable Bollywood’s biggest star Shah Rukh Khan to promote small businesses across India, using deepfakes to tailor messages to consumers based on their location.

Other high profile AI-driven campaigns include Virgin Cruises with J Lo, and a football-focused Snickers campaign starring José Mourinho , demonstrating the potential for brands to engage with customers in ways that were previously impossible.

WPP Open: a unified AI operating system

At the heart of the company’s pivot towards AI is ‘WPP Open’, an AI-driven marketing operating system.