‎‎In a five-year deal, WPP and Google have partnered to embed AI tools such as Gemini and video generator Veo into the UK advertising group’s offer to clients. The partnership includes a $400mn spending commitment from WPP for Google technologies to bring AI across its services.
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‎Google’s AI will be used to create advertising campaigns rapidly and more effectively by WPP’s agencies, including real-time personalised marketing for millions of customers.
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‎The partnership will give WPP clients access to Google’s AI alongside work done by WPP’s creative teams and offer personalised retail marketing that adapts visuals and messaging for each consumer, for example. Google Cloud’s AI products, which use DeepMind models, can quickly build bespoke audience models for clients.
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‎The deal is the first to be struck by new chief executive Cindy Rose, the former Microsoft UK boss who took over from Mark Read last month, and reflects the rapid adoption of AI tools in an industry increasingly dominated by tech-led marketing.
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‎WPP is in an arms race with rivals such as Publicis and Havas over adopting AI tools that clients are increasingly demanding to carry out their marketing, with agencies spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year on the technology. The agency is already investing heavily in AI technology, including through a prior relationship with Google.
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‎The agency mentioned that the partnership will enable it to deliver bespoke AI solutions and hyper-relevant campaigns with unprecedented scale and speed. It added that AI-led solutions will accelerate innovation across every facet of marketing.
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‎It would be recalled that, recently, Arthur Sadoun, Publicis chief executive,  mentioned that its strong performance was down to client demand for AI-led marketing, in an interview with Financial Times.
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