After tough 2024 and a Q1 revenue fall, what do clients want from GroupM?
WPP looks to its media business to power growth. Industry insiders share the magic words clients want to hear before they consider its pitch.
Media agency network GroupM was once the market’s apex predator — and the engine room of industry giant WPP.
The London-headquartered holding company still looks to its media business to power a long-term return to commercial growth following years of drift. But in the words of WPP boss Mark Read, the media network is going through “a tough time” and sits “at the mercy of the markets”.
Turning that around will become an even more critical task in a year when new business opportunities might be harder to find, and when the holding company world is consolidating. “The big six are really the big three when it comes to media at this stage,” said Jay Pattisall, vp, principal analyst, Forrester. GroupM is clearly in that top trio, but WPP’s first-quarter 2025 results — including a 0.9% GroupM revenue decline — lagged Omnicom and Publicis Groupe’s in the same period. (GroupM did not respond to a request for comment by time of publication).
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