AD Agencies
DDB Mudra south brightens up Peter England
MUMBAI: Peter England, the apparel brand of Madura Fashion & Lifestyle has launched a new campaign which features Siddharth in colourful denims and smart young formals and is aimed at the late university youth and early jobbers.
The campaign was mounted on the insight that today’s youth thinks formal wear stands for boring office clothing. Given this context Peter England wanted to tell them that office wear can also be exciting and expressive. So the campaign idea was simple – ‘Brighten up’ in office with the new line of young formals from Peter England.
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DDB Mudra south strategic planning VP Rajesh Sharma said “Youngsters these days do not want to conform to existing codes, even if they are early jobbers in workplaces. It’s not about ‘rebelling’ but about the belief in ‘expressing’ themselves. The young formals campaign is a celebration of this spirit. The idea on the PE jeans campaign is to tie up the product innovation to something deeper and meaningful about the youth of today. The campaign has been executed with appealing non-office colours and off-the-trodden-path ensembles. The campaign was shot with Siddharth, who’s been Peter England’s brand ambassador for the past three years.”
Peter England’s jeans business has taken different route in this segment with innovation in the product. The innovation story has been a recurring theme for the brand. The objective this season was to take the innovation story forward and to bring out the functional features of the product.
Peter England chief operating officer Kedar Apshankar said, “Formals has always been considered to be ‘boring/conformist’ by the younger generation today. The challenge was to, catch their imagination by portraying “formals” in a new light. This campaign is a significant step in that direction. Denim has a very crowded brand landscape, with multitude of brands positioned across various platforms. PE Jeans, in this context is attempting to carve out its own niche by focusing its offering on meaningful consumer benefits and a communication which provides an inescapable focus on the merchandise and the much needed cut-through in the cluttered ad-space.”
For both young formals and PE Jeans, print & OOH campaign have been created and released across all major markets in India.
On the new segment, DDB Mudra south creative director Ajesh N said, “What one wears has a great influence on one’s mood and how one performs in office. Peter England’s young formals collection reflects the youthful spirit through vibrant colours and young cuts. Clothes make the work atmosphere lively and brightens you up. That is precisely what we tried to capture in the campaign.”
Added, the agency’s creative director Saurabh Doke said, “Simplicity and fashion always goes hand in hand. In today’s cluttered ‘wallpaper fashion advertising’ especially where every other denim brand uses the grunge look to showcase denim attitude, the new PE Denim campaign stands out. Perfect balance between product innovations and core brand values.”
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.
