Global Delivery Centre Will Drive Revenue Growth: CVL Srinivas, WPP

Excerpts:

How would you summarise the performance of 2024 for WPP India?
The year 2024 has been challenging for the industry overall, with stress across different sectors and a slowdown in consumption. These challenges follow the strong growth during the post-Covid years, which had set a high benchmark for performance. Despite these difficulties, WPP in India has managed to end the year satisfactorily. We acquired over 130 new clients in 2024, which is a testament to our performance and resilience. Significant wins include the Amazon media pitch, one of the largest spends in the market, and the successful retention of the Unilever media business, a partnership that has been in place for almost 30 years. The Hindustan Unilever relationship demonstrates the continued trust of India’s largest advertiser. In addition, we achieved several wins across the board, not just in traditional creative services but also in areas like commerce, CRM and data mandates. We leveraged our GDC (Global Delivery Center) capabilities to enhance offerings, going deeper with key clients and providing end-to-end solutions. These efforts have contributed to a year of growth, even in a challenging environment, showing the adaptability and strength of WPP’s India operations.

How do you foresee your growth in 2025?
We are optimistic about continuing our trajectory by capitalising on the foundation laid in 2024. Over the last few years, the company has worked extensively on building capabilities across different areas. These include integrating technology and creativity, exemplified by initiatives like the Creative Tech Experience Center. We plan to scale up our GDC operations, which have already proven to be a critical part of our growth strategy.

Additionally, we see opportunities to explore sectors that have not traditionally been heavy advertisers, such as manufacturing and regional markets. By combining the strengths of its agencies and leveraging its vast network, we aim to address emerging opportunities effectively. The focus will also remain on building partnerships, driving innovation through technology and expanding our presence in traditional and non-traditional markets.

As we begin a New Year, what shifts do you see occurring in the marketing landscape?
The marketing industry is undergoing significant shifts, particularly with the continued movement from traditional to digital channels, which has become an established trend. The emerging focus is commerce and creating a connected journey for the consumer. This shift impacts brands and their expectations from marketing service providers, who are now under pressure to integrate technology and offer comprehensive solutions that align with consumer demands. WPP recognises marketers drive more integrated models across disciplines, requiring advanced capabilities and the right partnerships to support their goals. Our response to these changes includes developing AI-powered marketing operating system, WPP Open, that enables integrated collaboration across our agencies and practices, fostering innovation and strategic value for clients.

Can you share more about the areas you will invest in 2025?
We strongly emphasise enhancing our capabilities in retail, commerce and integrated solutions. WPP Open allows us to leverage the network of agencies and centres, including the Creative Center, to deliver strategic input and drive client success. By focusing on areas like commerce, digital integration and connected consumer journeys, we will stay ahead of market trends and continue to provide value to our clients. These efforts are underpinned by a commitment to building partnerships and ensuring that all disciplines work cohesively to meet client needs.

Marketers’ expectations are driven by the need to keep up with consumer demands and market competition. We address these by integrating technology into our offerings, delivering more holistic solutions, and fostering collaboration between our agencies to provide unified strategies.

Let’s discuss the GDC. Planned as an India-first approach, what works for this model, and what are some likely changes expected in 2025?
The GDC, headquartered in India, is integral to WPP’s overall growth strategy, acting as a hub for innovation and operational excellence. The GDC has scaled up significantly, unlocking WPP’s best-in-class specialist capacities in cloud modernisation, hyper-personalisation, composable commerce, generative AI and product engineering. These services will complement existing WPP agency expertise across media, content, customer experience, commerce, technology, data and design.

What makes the GDC particularly impactful is its ability to consolidate various capabilities under unified leadership, improving efficiency and allowing WPP to offer its clients a more comprehensive range of services. This helped the company strengthen its relationships with key clients while expanding its service portfolio.

Moving forward, the GDC will continue to be a key driver of revenue growth, not just in India but globally, as it enables WPP to deliver innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our clients. With strong support from global leadership and ongoing investments in talent and technology, the GDC is expected to grow in 2025.

In 2025, we will see some large-scale consolidations come into play. How do you view these?
Industry consolidation is a natural outcome of economic forces, a trend visible in marketing and media and across various sectors. We will focus on what must be done to remain competitive and deliver value to our clients. This includes maintaining client-centricity, deepening relationships with key clients, and expanding into new sectors with growth potential. Additionally, we are scaling up initiatives like the Creative Technology Center and other transformative projects that position us as innovative leaders. By staying focused on these priorities and leveraging its extensive network of agencies and resources, we are well-prepared to navigate the changes in the industry and capitalise on the opportunities that arise from them.

What is the outlook for 2025 based on your current trajectory?
The outlook for 2025 is optimistic as we continue to build on the successes of 2024 and pursue new growth opportunities. We are poised to achieve incremental revenue through initiatives like expanding our GDC operations, integrating technology and creativity, and exploring new markets. By maintaining our focus on innovation, client centricity and collaboration, we are well-positioned to navigate the challenges of the market and deliver strong results in 2025. The company’s strategy is supported by a solid foundation of capabilities, a talented workforce, and the backing of its global leadership, which ensures that we remain the industry leader.

Noor Fathima Warsia

BW Reporters A veteran journalist in business and corporate journalism, Noor Fathima Warsia is the Group Editorial Director of India’s oldest business publication, BW Businessworld. In her role, Noor leads the editorial initiatives across BW Businessworld’s flagship product and communities focused on education, startups, healthcare and wellbeing, media & marketing, gaming, HR and legal among others. In a career spanning more than two decades, Noor has led the publishing of the flagship BW Businessworld magazine and its community magazines, guided the online editorial team and led communities such as BW Marketing World apart from working on editorial-led IPs such as BW Most Influential Women, BW India’s Most Sustainable Companies, BW Top 50 Marketers and more.