Wpp Plc - WPP STOCK NEWS

The Ad Council and Alzheimer's Association have launched new public service advertisements (PSAs) focusing on early detection of Alzheimer's disease, particularly targeting Black Americans who face twice the risk of developing the condition. The campaign, titled 'Some Things Come with Age', emphasizes identifying early warning signs that differ from normal aging.

The PSAs, created by VML, target families with members aged 55 and older, highlighting subtle symptoms and encouraging visits to 10signs.org for resources. Research shows campaign-aware individuals were three times more likely to distinguish between aging signs and Alzheimer's symptoms. The initiative receives media support from partners including LatiNation, Meta, SiriusXM Media, and The New York Times.

Statistics reveal that 19% of Black Americans aged 65+ are diagnosed with Alzheimer's compared to 10% of white Americans. The campaign builds on previous successful iterations, including award-winning Hispanic-focused content from 2023.

CMI Media Group, WPP's healthcare specialty agency (NYSE: WPP), and Compas have announced a strategic collaboration with Microsoft Advertising to enhance healthcare brand engagement across the Microsoft ecosystem. The partnership, announced on April 8, 2025, aims to accelerate growth and improve audience reach for healthcare brands.

This collaboration follows CMI Media Group's recognition as Microsoft Advertising's Performance Partner of the Year in 2024. The partnership focuses on providing innovation, transparency, and excellence for shared clients, combining Microsoft Advertising's capabilities with CMI Media Group's healthcare marketing expertise.

The initiative promises enhanced benefits for clients' search engine marketing and display investments, leveraging CMI Media Group's proprietary audience tools that ensure 100% media reach, precision, and personalization in healthcare professional, patient, and caregiver targeting.

National Vision Holdings (EYE) has appointed VML as its agency of record following a competitive review. VML will lead the optical retail company's brand evolution, focusing on creative, CRM, social strategy, brand identity and design, and experiential marketing for brands including America's Best and Eyeglass World.

The partnership aims to transform National Vision's marketing and omni-channel capabilities, with customers expected to experience refreshed, modern, and more personalized marketing starting in the second half of 2025. VML, recently named Ad Age A-List Standout Agency and Clio Awards 'Network of the Year', will work on redefining communication and brand platforms while supporting National Vision's mission of making vision care accessible to everyone.

WPP (NYSE: WPP) reported its 2024 Preliminary Results, showing mixed performance with margin improvements despite revenue challenges. The company posted a -0.7% reported revenue but achieved +2.3% like-for-like (LFL) revenue growth. Revenue less pass-through costs declined -4.2%, with LFL at -1.0%.

Key financial highlights include:

• Headline operating profit of £1,707m with margin improvement to 15.0%
• Structural cost savings of £85m from Burson, GroupM and VML initiatives
• Adjusted operating cash flow increased to £1,460m
• Adjusted net debt reduced by £0.8bn to £1.7bn

Strategic progress includes simplifying to six agency networks representing 92% of WPP, increasing AI investment in WPP Open to £300m, and achieving significant client wins including Amazon, J&J, Kimberly-Clark and Unilever. For 2025, WPP guides LFL revenue less pass-through costs of flat to -2% with performance expected to improve in second half.

WPP and Amazon Music have launched 'Louder Than Cancer,' a groundbreaking campaign featuring top artists like Melissa Etheridge, Imagine Dragons, H.E.R., and Blake Shelton to support World Cancer Day. The initiative builds on 'The Most Beautiful Sound' campaign, which recorded cancer cells being destroyed.

The campaign includes a dedicated Amazon Music playlist where $1 will be donated for every stream (up to $100,000) to Conquer Cancer®, the ASCO Foundation, through Amazon's Stream It Forward Program. The project incorporates personal stories from artists and the sound of cancer cells being destroyed, originally developed by Grey Health with Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital researchers.

The campaign features custom merchandise with dynamic soundwave designs and is being promoted through various channels, including FireTV and Times Square billboards. The initiative includes participation from over 35 artists across different genres.

TruGreen, the leading US lawncare provider, launched a new creative campaign featuring PGA TOUR players Jason Day, Ben Griffin, and Patton Kizzire, developed by VML. The campaign showcases how TruGreen-treated lawns are so exceptional they attract professional golfers.

The campaign includes two main spots: 'TeaTime', featuring a family's backyard transformed into an impromptu golf course, and 'Croquet', showing homeowners playing with Jason Day. The campaign emphasizes TruGreen's ability to deliver golf course quality lawns for as little as $1 per day, backed by local expertise.

The campaign will be distributed through traditional broadcast TV and streaming platforms, including season three of Netflix's Full Swing, launching February 3, 2025.

CMI Media Group, a WPP healthcare marketing agency, has partnered with Anoki AI to launch the first-ever AI-powered contextual advertising campaign for pharmaceutical Connected Television (CTV) advertising, targeting both direct-to-consumer (DTC) and healthcare provider (HCP) audiences.

The partnership utilizes Anoki AI's ContextIQ technology, which analyzes CTV content at the scene level to match ads with relevant content and viewer engagement patterns. This collaboration aims to enhance pharmaceutical ad targeting precision while maintaining privacy compliance, going beyond traditional genre-based contextual advertising to deliver messages at optimal viewing moments.

WPP reported Q3 2024 results with like-for-like growth of 0.5% in revenue less pass-through costs. Key highlights include Q3 revenue of £3.558bn (+1.4% reported, +4.1% LFL) and significant client wins including Amazon media (ex Americas), Unilever (media and creative), and Starbucks (US creative). GroupM showed improved performance with 4.8% growth, while integrated creative agencies declined 3.1%. Regional performance varied with North America +1.7%, Western Continental Europe +2.2%, UK flat, and Rest of World -2.2%, notably impacted by China's -21.3% decline. The company maintained its 2024 guidance of -1% to 0% LFL revenue growth and 20-40bps headline operating profit margin improvement.

WPP (NYSE: WPP) announced its 2024 Interim Results, showing sequential improvement in Q2's like-for-like (LFL) growth. Key highlights include:

Revenues at £7.227bn, a 0.1% increase, with LFL revenue rising 2.6%. Revenue less pass-through costs decreased by 3.6% to £5.599bn. Reported operating profit grew 38.2% to £423m, while diluted EPS surged 82.5% to 18.8p.

Q2 LFL revenue less pass-through costs fell 0.5%, with growth in North America (+2.0%) and Western Continental Europe (+0.3%), offset by declines in the UK (-5.3%) and China (-24.2%).

WPP's sale of its majority stake in FGS Global to KKR at a $1.7bn valuation will generate £604m in cash proceeds to reduce leverage, targeting a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 1.60x. The interim dividend remains at 15.0p per share.

Full-year guidance adjusted to -1% to 0% LFL revenue growth due to macro pressures and weakness in China.