AD Agencies
BMW India hands creative mandate to VML’s Contract Advertising
GURUGRAM: BMW India has handed its creative mandate to VML’s Contract Advertising India, drawing the curtain on Rediffusion’s three-year stint and debuting a new brand platform, Drive your match, as it sharpens its pitch in an increasingly crowded luxury car market. The move follows a review of BMW India’s creative business and signals a recalibration of its marketing strategy to mirror evolving brand and commercial priorities.
Rediffusion had managed BMW India’s strategy, creative, digital and dealer communication since 2022, operating out of its Delhi office. The account has now moved to Contract Advertising India, a WPP agency under the VML network, as BMW looks to refresh its voice and deepen emotional resonance with Indian consumers.
The first work out of the new partnership, Drive your match, pivots the conversation from ownership to identity. The campaign leans on choice and individuality, positioning BMW cars as personalised expressions aligned with customers’ lifestyles and aspirations rather than as mass luxury products.
BMW India director–marketing Vitesh Barar, said the campaign aims to elevate the brand’s emotional connect. He added that in an Indian market where aspirations are becoming increasingly personal, the platform reinforces BMW’s positioning as a companion in individual journeys while staying distinctly premium.
Contract Advertising India is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Delhi and Bengaluru, and offers integrated creative services across design, digital, social media and brand consulting. BMW India’s media duties continue with Lodestar, which retained the integrated media account in 2022 after a multi-agency pitch.
The creative rejig comes as competition tightens at the top end of India’s car market. BMW India clocked its highest-ever annual sales of 17,271 units in 2025, up 15.05 per cent year on year, narrowing the gap with market leader Mercedes-Benz India, which sold 19,007 units, down 2.85 per cent. Industry observers see BMW’s renewed focus on brand storytelling as a bid to sustain momentum and close the remaining distance.
AD Agencies
WPP to cut jobs in £500m restructuring drive as revenue drops 8.1 per cent
CEO outlines reset after 30.1 percent profit decline
LONDON: WPP has signalled further job cuts as it embarks on a multi-year restructuring aimed at simplifying its sprawl, hardwiring artificial intelligence into its services and hauling profitability back on course.
The UK-listed advertising group will fold itself into a single integrated company structured around four divisions: WPP Creative, WPP Media, WPP Production and WPP Enterprise Solutions, under a plan to deliver £500 million in gross annual cost savings by 2028.
On the fourth-quarter earnings call, chief financial officer Joanne Wilson said the arithmetic was unavoidable. “In a business where most of our cost savings are people, that will mean a reduction of certain heads,” she said, adding that the group would reinvest in newer capabilities such as commerce, influencer marketing and advanced analytics.
The shift reflects a deeper rewiring. As AI becomes embedded in client workflows, the skills mix across the company is changing. Some roles will go; others will be created. “We will be reallocating talent around the business,” Wilson said, noting fresh hiring in data, technology and performance marketing.
Chief executive officer Cindy Rose said WPP was expanding internal training, including AI coaching and creative-technology apprenticeships, and embedding engineers from technology partners into client teams. Continuous reskilling, she argued, is central to staying competitive.
The urgency is financial. Revenue fell 8.1 per cent to £13.55 billion in 2025, while profit after tax dropped 30.1 per cent to £738 million. Staff costs, including severance and incentives, declined by £576 million as permanent headcount shrank 8.7 per cent and freelance spending fell 14 per cent.
Wilson warned that net new business headwinds would likely persist into the first half of 2026, citing cautious client spending and volatile marketing budgets.
On Thursday, WPP formally launched ‘Elevate 28’ a strategic programme to integrate media, creative, production and enterprise services, lower the cost base and improve cash generation.
Rose said 2026 would be about stabilising net new business performance. By 2027, a revamped go-to-market model should be fully embedded, paving the way for a return to growth. From 2028 onwards, WPP hopes to operate as a leaner, AI-enabled outfit with fatter margins: smaller, sharper and more machine-driven.
