While some marketing teams race to test AI-powered tools, most are taking a wait-and-see approach—experimenting with isolated content workflows, automating tactical production, or piloting campaigns under close supervision. Spend is light. Strategy is unclear. And the loudest voices tend to come from vendors, not leaders.
But at WPP—the world’s largest advertising and marketing group—the conversation sounds very different. Their C-suite isn’t just exploring AI. They’re actively modeling how executive leadership should think about it. Instead of focusing on prompts, plugins, or production speed, WPP’s most senior leaders are asking:
What does this technology mean for how we lead, align, and deliver value at scale?
That question—more than any new tool—is what forward-looking marketing teams should be paying attention to.
The CTO’s View: Infrastructure Without Insight Is Just Noise
Stephan Pretorius, Chief Technology Officer at WPP, has been one of the clearest voices in the industry when it comes to responsible AI adoption.
He led the rollout of WPP Open, the company’s proprietary AI platform, which now supports tens of thousands of employees across WPP’s network. But Pretorius is quick to note that democratizing access to AI isn’t the end goal. It’s just a step toward enabling better, faster, and more consistent execution across teams.
His real emphasis? Governance, judgment, and clarity.
Pretorius has warned repeatedly that companies risk over-relying on AI for efficiency while ignoring the bigger strategic picture. In his words, “AI can accelerate output, but it’s the human context—the ability to understand nuance, brand, and intent—that gives that output value.”
This is the core of WPP’s approach: AI is a tool for scale. But strategy, oversight, and creative direction must still come from the top.
The Chief AI Officer’s View: Automation Isn’t Intelligence
If Pretorius provides the infrastructure lens, Daniel Hulme—WPP’s Chief AI Officer—offers the philosophical one.
In keynotes and interviews, Hulme has made his position clear: automation is not intelligence. AI can automate repetitive tasks, analyze huge datasets, and support ideation. But it lacks the ability to understand context, intent, or emotion—the core ingredients of good strategy.
“Automation is useful,” he said. “But by definition, it’s stupid. It does the same thing repeatedly and expects different results.”
Hulme champions a model he calls hybrid intelligence—the intentional pairing of machine scale with human strategy. He sees AI not as a replacement for decision-making, but as a partner to it. This mirrors your ICP’s reality: CMOs and marketing leaders don’t need tools to think for them—they need tools that support better thinking.
AI won’t replace jobs like his—or yours—unless we abdicate judgment entirely.
The CEO’s View: AI Can’t Fix a Broken Strategy
Mark Read, WPP’s outgoing CEO, has taken a more public stance on AI’s role in business transformation. At SXSW London and other events, he’s acknowledged that AI will significantly reshape roles across creative and operational teams—but he doesn’t position it as a silver bullet.
“AI lets us work faster and cheaper,” Read said. “But it has to make us more effective.”
That distinction matters. WPP doesn’t see AI as a shortcut. It sees AI as an amplifier—for good or bad. If your strategy is misaligned, AI just helps you fail faster. If your teams are disconnected, AI will widen the gaps. But if your structure, messaging, and funnel are sound—AI can help you execute with clarity and scale.
This is the C-suite lesson: technology won’t save you. Alignment will.
What Mid-Market Teams Can Learn From This
You don’t need WPP’s size, reach, or platform. But you do need their clarity.
What WPP’s leadership is showing us—through infrastructure, governance, and executive alignment—is that the marketing function is evolving. And the most valuable skill isn’t tactical execution. It’s the ability to lead teams, guide strategy, and connect marketing to measurable business outcomes.
This is exactly where many mid-market teams struggle.
- The tools are there.
But the strategy is misaligned. - Content is being produced.
But it’s not supporting the sales cycle. - AI is being tested.
But no one is confident it’s being used correctly—or safely.
WPP’s C-suite offers a roadmap: AI should follow strategy—not define it.
Where UCS Fits In
At Umbrella Content Solutions, we’ve built our frameworks around that exact principle. Our UCS ROI Toolkit™ isn’t another set of prompts or templates. It’s a complete strategic system that helps teams:
- Align their funnel around real buyer behavior
- Structure content and messaging around struggles, not just problems
- Map every asset to a specific stage of the buyer journey
- Use AI and automation with purpose—not just for speed
And it’s all built on our proprietary MSMS™ framework, which prioritizes clarity, context, and conversion. We help teams think—and build—like leaders. Because speed without clarity isn’t helpful. It’s dangerous.
Final Thought: The Future Belongs to Strategic Marketers
WPP’s C-suite isn’t afraid of AI. They’re not overwhelmed by it, either. They’re treating it as what it is: a force multiplier.
But a multiplier of what? That’s where leadership comes in.
If your team is aligned, your message is clear, and your funnel is structured—you’ll win. AI will simply help you do it faster. But if you’re guessing, reacting, and hoping tools will fix structural misalignment? You’re falling behind—no matter how many tools you buy.
The real takeaway from WPP’s leadership isn’t about what they’re using. It’s about how they’re thinking.
That’s the future your team needs to build for. And we can help you get there.
Ready to lead with clarity?
Download the UCS ROI Toolkit™ and build a marketing strategy that actually supports revenue—no matter how the landscape shifts.