MAM
ISA elects Marico’s Saugata Gupta as chairman
MUMBAI: The newly elected executive council of the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) met on 11 September and elected Marico’s managing director Saugata Gupta as its new chairman.
He takes over from Hemant Bakshi as he relocates to Unilever Indonesia as the CEO.
Gupta has been lending his support to the ISA for a long time as his colleagues from senior levels in marketing and media have been active in different committees of the ISA. An MBA from IIM Bangalore, Gupta has rich FMCG experience of over two decades having worked through ascending career rung in Cadbury (India & UK), ICICI Prudential & Marico. Currently, MD of Marico, he believes in an empowering work culture that would create ownership and make a difference in to the entire business ecosystem.
Gupta said, “Our focus would be on making industry partnership stronger and in particular to extend all support that is needed to help BARC come up as soon as possible with industry wide accepted and accurate TV audience research data representing viewers across the country. I am looking forward to the exciting times ahead for Advertisers, industry partners and fraternity associations to work as a stronger team to harness overall growth of advertising which in turn will help grow businesses and the Indian economy.”
The ISA has advertiser members from across industries who contribute to over two-thirds of the country’s national non-governmental ad spends. ISA, which is member of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), continues to partner with other industry bodies that connect to the advertisers such as initiating the formation of BARC.
Other members of the Executive Council are:
Tata Services Group Corporate Communications Corporate Affairs VP Atul Agrawal
Thomas Cook (India) Marketing and Service Quality head and chief innovation officer Abraham Alapatt
Agro Tech Foods director Narendra Ambwani
Bajaj Corp Business Development director Jimmy R Anklesaria
Infogain India director JC Chopra
Raymond strategic advisor Paulomi Dhawan
Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care brand director Sonali Dhawan
Aditya Birla Management Corporation Group Corporate Services and Strategy director Rajiv Dube
Godrej Consumer Products chief operating officer – Sales, Marketing & SAARC Sunil Kataria
Bajaj Electricals vice president & head advertising and brand development Beena Leji Koshy
Tata Global Beverages managing director and CEO Ajoy K Misra
Anisha Motwani, Director & Chief Marketing Officer, Max Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
Mondelez India Foods Chocolate Category and Media director Siddhartha Mukherjee
Birla Sun Life Asset Management independent director Bharat V Patel
ITC divisional chief executive Sanjiv Puri
Nestle India Communication head Chandrasekar Radhakrishnan
Polycab Wires vice chairman, joint MD and group CEO R Ramakrishnan
Hindustan Unilever Personal Care Products executive director Samir Singh
Hawkins Cookers chairman Brahm Vasudeva
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.
