WPP Media to focus on data, AI, innovation, and people in next phase of growth, says South Asia CEO

WPP Media is charting a new course for growth in India, with a focus on data, artificial intelligence (AI), innovation, and talent development, according to Prasanth Kumar, CEO of South Asia at the company. The move comes as the media giant completes its rebranding from GroupM to WPP Media, a change Kumar says goes beyond just a new name.

“This rebranding from GroupM to WPP Media is not just a name change alone. It also comes from the context that we are playing a very central role in how we integrate all the WPP leverage for all our customers,” Kumar told CNBC-TV18. He added that the change provides opportunities for employees to progress in a more consistent and structured way.

Kumar described the media landscape in India as “fast-evolving” and said the next phase of growth will be driven by four key pillars: collaboration, data and technology, innovation, and people. AI, he said, is becoming central to how the company serves its clients and adapts to a changing market.

He also highlighted the evolving nature of business in India, pointing to shifts in consumer behaviour and the rise of digital commerce. “In the next five years, probably 10–12% of business from general trade may shift to modern trade, e-commerce, marketplace, or brand.com (D2C). This is a fundamental change in doing business,” Kumar said.

While digital media is set to see rapid growth, Kumar stressed that traditional media will continue to play an important role in the Indian market. Companies will need to balance awareness-building with conversion strategies across both traditional and digital channels, he added.

Below is the excerpt of the interview.

Q: It's been a busy year for you. It's been a busy year for the industry, but especially WPP Media—lots of changes, lots of disruptions, external and internal. Given the major rebranding and restructuring that happened from GroupM to WPP Media, let's just zoom out a little bit at the start, and tell me: How have the past few months been for WPP Media in India?

Kumar: I think it's a quite fast-evolving landscape. This is a phrase I think I've been using for the last 10 years. At the same time, I think the pace is really actually going up even further. For us, this rebranding from GroupM to WPP Media is not just a name change alone. I think it also comes from the context that we are playing a very central role in how we integrate all the WPP leverage for all our customers. It also gives the opportunity for our people to progress in a consistent manner.

I think we have looked at it from the context of how we should approach a new world coming up. Every five years, every seven years, the world keeps changing, and we all know that. But the next phase of growth, what it really means to us, especially in the Indian context, I think that's quite inspiring. It's also inspiring from the perspective of seeing how opportunities are really going up. Of course, it comes with a bag of challenges to be solved, but the opportunities are not something stagnant.

We see this from the context of how we play from a larger, slightly more long-term perspective, let’s say the next five-year strategy, or globally, from a Vision 30 strategy. This has four pillars. One is collaboration, which is very significant in how we collectively leverage assets, knowledge, and apply them to the solutions we want to give our clients. The second is the data and tech part, which we clearly understand now, the significance of both data and technology; AI plays a central role here.

Innovation is not something new, but given this context of changes, being inventive becomes very critical. The fourth pillar is people—how we continuously develop our people, train them, and look at different, expanded, diversified skills to apply. These are the four pillars we look at.

For us, this has come at the right time, at the appropriate moment, and it's an opportunity to look at the next phase of growth globally as well as in India. We are quite excited about it.

Q: You spoke about India being inspiring. WPP as a group has been facing tremendous headwinds globally. India, more or less, is a shining example. Globally as well, for the group and WPP Media, especially in India, is the largest. Before we get to the people part, let's talk about where that growth is going to come from. Give me specifics on what you are seeing as opportunities here, whether in technology or certain categories. Next five years, where will the growth come from? That is the big challenge for everyone today.

Kumar: When we look at our growth, it is not independent of our customers' growth. First, we should focus on our customers. Over the years, one consistency we have maintained is ensuring that the path, learning, and application for a customer's growth is very important.

As I mentioned earlier, we are in a new world. The source of growth for our customers—and even in terms of consumption patterns—has evolved. Post-pandemic, we have had a mixed bag. We had a couple of years post-2020 that were good, some great growth and it played across categories, not unique to one. During that time, we also saw a lot of VC investments supporting this growth. But slowly, some of those investments plateaued, which brought challenges for some categories. When consumption grew again, we started seeing plateauing of growth in some areas.

What also happened is not just the recovery of businesses, but the shape of growth itself changed. Let us look at some large businesses from a trade perspective. One of the most frequently used words is e-commerce. If you look at the source of business—from general trade to modern trade to e-commerce—and now quick commerce, we see an evolution. In the next five years, probably 10–12% of business from general trade may shift to modern trade, e-commerce, marketplace, or brand.com (D2C). This is a fundamental change in doing business.

What this means is how media itself is preparing and shaping to work with this new business model across multiple categories. Simply put, there will be a rapid shift to digital—digital media, digital focus—not just in entertainment but in commerce, influencer marketing, social media, and more. Customer business will see a large change, in which the source of business will come from different cohorts and markets.

At the same time, India will continue to have traditional media. There is no significant change, but it will play a role because multiple consumption patterns in media will keep content central. So, there is a role for traditional media and a role for digital in a different form. We see the full funnel playing out—not just awareness but also conversion.

Watch the accompanying video for the entire conversation.