about.
As a market-shaping AI provider and global media spender, Google is under pressure internally and from the market to lead the future in terms of establishing a scalable new model for AI-augmented marketing organisations
As Google’s global marketing partner for media, WPP and Google are conducting a joint transformation to drive operational efficiency and marketing effectiveness at global scale, with a heavy focus on AI-enabled ways of working.
challenge.
I worked with two strategic designers to create a four-day workshop in San Francisco for senior marketing and media leaders in the Google x WPP partnership, covering people, process, and technology considerations necessary to fully integrate agentic AI workflows into their operations.
Following the workshop, I owned the development of the transformation framework. I was responsible for translating strategic ambitions into executable plans that would actually work at scale.
I developed a systematic transformation framework spanning People, Technology, and Commercial domains. This included designing a pilot program that would prove value quickly while building toward long-term structural change. I articulated a logical transformation roadmap with short and long-term objectives, explicitly mapping how each phase would deliver on Google's goals, particularly increasing speed to market and operational efficiency.
result.
Three pilots in the framework went on to achieve 30% cost savings for the partnership, proving the viability of AI-augmented agency operations at scale. However, internal politics prevented the remaining two pilots from proceeding, leaving significant value uncaptured.
Senior executives recognized the high levels of unrealized value in the Google partnership due to organizational barriers, not strategic flaws. The transformation framework became a key case study within WPP, demonstrating what was possible when AI-enabled ways of working were fully implemented. It was instrumental in the value case that led to WPP's $400m commitment to Google as both a client and platform partner, a landmark deal signaling WPP's bet on AI-powered marketing operations as the future of the agency model.