WPP is looking more like a consultancy under newish CEO Cindy Rose with AKQA CEO Baiju Shah (below) newly installed as group CSO on top of his AKQA duties.
AKQA itself has suffered a number of senior level exits led by founder and former CEO Ajaz Ahmed. His new Studio.One has already won WPP client Coca-Cola’s Christmas ad. All this followed a botched attempt by the old regime to merge AKQA with Grey.
Shah is taking over a number of duties formerly handled by long-serving COO Andrew Scott although Scott was primarily an M&A specialist, working on many of the acquisitions the one-time industry-leading marcoms company made under founder and former CEO Martin Sorrell.
WPP says: “As WPP’s group chief strategy officer, (Shah) will play a critical role in accelerating our Elevate28 strategy, helping to shape our investment priorities, anticipate the future needs of our clients, and position WPP for the next wave of growth.”
Shah says: “The pace of change across technology, culture and business is creating entirely new opportunities for growth. As our clients look to adapt and compete in this new environment, WPP is uniquely positioned to help them create advantage. I’m excited to bring AKQA’s frontier perspective to a broader role and help WPP build what will matter most for our clients in the years ahead.”
A consultancy then? WPP needs to reinvent roles for its workforce, still numbering nearly 100,000 as the bottom falls out of the holding company-owned creative agency market. At the last count it still employed more people in creative agencies than rivals Omnicom (now incorporating IPG), Publicis and Dentsu.
AKQA used to be a sometimes overlooked gem in the WPP line-up. If the agency group is looking beyond advertising then it may be a good place to start.
