WPP and Google 'to transform marketing as we know it'

WPP is ramping up its adoption of AI and cloud technology with a five-year expansion of its partnership with Google is a deal which it claims will “cultivate the essential skills to transform marketing as we know it”.

The expanded partnership includes a $400m spending commitment from WPP for Google technologies, and was cemented in Mountain View during a meeting between WPP CEO Cindy Rose (pictured), Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian and members of their respective senior leadership teams.

The collaboration aims to revolutionise how brands approach integrated creative, production, media, experience, and commerce, enabling real-time personalisation for millions of customers simultaneously, and moving beyond traditional efficiency initiatives to unlock growth.

The spend will go towards WPP’s efforts to infuse AI into its services alongside the group’s increased investment into AI and technology through the WPP Open AI platform.

Rose, the former Microsoft global chief operating officer who took up her role in September, said: “I’m incredibly excited about how our new and evolved partnership with Google will redefine what’s possible for our clients. By delivering bespoke AI solutions and enabling hyper-relevant campaigns with unprecedented scale and speed, we’re accelerating innovation across every facet of marketing to drive unparalleled growth and impact.”

Kurian added: “Our expanded partnership with WPP is built on a shared vision to harness the power of generative and agentic AI to transform business outcomes. By enabling WPP to innovate on our AI-optimised technology stack, we are helping create the future of marketing technology for brands today.”

The ultimate aim is to empower WPP clients with AI solutions, transforming how they connect with audiences and achieve business goals.

For instance, AKQA has already developed ‘The Generative Store,’ which it is claimed redefines personalised retail by adapting product visuals and messaging for each consumer, leveraging Google Cloud’s Vertex AI.

Meanwhile, Google Cloud’s AI products, powered by Google DeepMind models, now fuel WPP Media’s AI data solution, Open Intelligence.

The group maintains this enables WPP Media to build and deploy bespoke audience models for clients with speed and precision, delivering immediate, measurable impact.

In addition, by using InfoSum’s Bunkers on Google Marketplace, integrated into WPP Open, WPP is able to enforce secure data collaboration without moving data. This unlocks deeper insights for AI marketing while protecting privacy.

Finally, WPP will receive early access to Google’s latest AI models (including Veo, Imagen, and others), integrated within WPP Open, bringing creative agility to clients.

With these new models, WPP has been able to create new campaign-ready assets for clients in days, not weeks, achieving up to 70% efficiency gains and a 2.5x acceleration in asset utilisation.

Google SVP of global marketing Lorraine Twohill concluded: “As an important partner to Google Marketing, WPP has been working closely with us on a number of AI tools and innovations built with Gemini – all focused on driving brand love and real business growth through truly helpful experiences that resonate with our billions of users around the world. I’m excited to continue exploring what marketing and storytelling looks like in this new era, together.”