Cindy Rose, WPP CEO, has decided it’s time to appoint a chief innovation officer and her choice for the new role is an interesting one. It’s gone to Elav Horwitz, who has only been with WPP for a year – and it’s also notable that she’s a woman in the kind of role that is still so male-dominated.
Horwitz previously spent nearly 14 years at McCann, both in Israel and in New York, and is also a creative council member for Spotify and Meta. She joined WPP a year ago as EVP, global head of strategic partnerships and AI solutions, and will continue to report to CTO Stephan Pretorius.
It’s hard to gauge exactly what the new role entails, but the buzzwords are all there: collaboration, innovation, transformation, talent, AI. There’s no doubt Horwitz will be busy, perhaps bedding in new Rose initiatives like the $400m investment in Google and the launch of WPP Open Pro, a tool for marketers to plan, create and publish campaigns without an agency.
Horwitz said: “Never before has the need for innovation and agility been more critical than in our AI era. We must show our teams, clients and the entire industry what’s possible by uniting the best talents, capabilities, partners and a forward-thinking mindset, enabling us to deliver results in a matter of hours and make the future both tangible and democratised.”
Cindy Rose, CEO of WPP, said: “As we rewrite the marketing playbook for the AI era, we’re thrilled to have Elav lead our innovation agenda. This appointment underscores our investment to embed innovation into the core of everything we do, ensuring our clients benefit from the most advanced and effective solutions.”
Management consultancy firm McKinsey was appointed this week to help out on strategy for the group, which has issued three profit warnings in a row, but Rose is clearly not waiting for the findings. Seeking out the existing talent in the organisation looks like a priority, and Conrad Persons, CEO of Grey London was also among the chosen this week – he was promoted to another new role as chief of staff for the whole WPP holding company.
