A new map for a new world

In last year’s Power Essay, I wrote how “client satisfaction eats AI for breakfast”. I stand by that – the human connection remains everything in our business. But what’s become clear to me over these past months is that the relationship between client satisfaction and AI has evolved into something far more nuanced than I initially captured.

The question now isn’t which one wins. It’s how they work together.

The marketing landscape we all grew up in professionally – it’s gone. Those clean divisions between media, creative and data that made our organisational charts so tidy – they’ve completely dissolved. Media is embedded in everything now, which creates this strange paradox: more complexity, but also more opportunity than we’ve ever had before.

The old scale-first approach simply doesn’t address what clients are dealing with today. They’re managing fragmented customer journeys across platforms that didn’t exist five years ago, while trying to prove ROI in ways their CFOs can understand. What they need – and what they’re increasingly demanding – are capabilities that integrate media, production, data and technology in ways that truly make sense operationally.

That’s precisely why we evolved into WPP Media. It wasn’t just a rebrand; it was a strategic response to client needs. We’re building an AI-integrated approach that leverages WPP’s broader creative and technology infrastructure but does so in ways that feel natural rather than forced.

The future belongs to organisations that can seamlessly integrate AI capabilities with human insight and cultural understanding.

Here in MENA, this integration challenge has its own particular characteristics. Digital adoption patterns here have been anything but linear – we’ve seen markets leapfrog entire phases of development. Cultural sensitivity isn’t just important, it’s make-or-break. And our audiences, who are overwhelmingly mobile-first, expect brand experiences that somehow manage to feel both globally sophisticated and locally authentic. It’s a delicate balance.

The core challenge remains consistent across markets: traditional targeting and measurement frameworks have become largely obsolete, yet we still need to reach the right customers and prove business impact in ways that satisfy increasingly sceptical stakeholders.

What I’ve learned through working with dozens of clients over the past year is that the answer lies in fundamentally rethinking how our teams collaborate. When your creative team can see real-time audience response data and your media team can act on those insights immediately – not in the next planning cycle, but within hours – something powerful happens. Data stops being this abstract thing that sits in reports
and becomes actionable intelligence that drives every decision.

This is what platforms like WPP Open enable: true integration rather than just coordination.

Recently, we partnered with a major regional client on a product launch that needed to work across multiple diverse markets simultaneously. By deploying real-time AI optimisation informed by live performance data, we achieved 45 per cent better conversion rates and reduced acquisition costs by 12 per cent. But honestly? The metrics weren’t what impressed the client most. It was the strategic insights they gained about their customers that they could immediately apply to other parts of their business.

I want to be clear about something: this isn’t about replacing human judgment with algorithms. Anyone suggesting that, fundamentally misunderstands what makes great marketing work. What we’re doing is removing the operational friction that prevents our people from focusing on what they do best – strategic thinking, cultural insight, relationship building and creative problem-solving.

The transformation isn’t without its challenges. New capabilities require investment. Integrated workflows demand organisational changes that can feel uncomfortable initially. But WPP Media combines global technology infrastructure with deep regional expertise in ways that allow us to guide clients through this evolution effectively.

Here’s what I find most interesting: when we implement this technology thoughtfully, it actually strengthens human connections rather than replacing them. Client satisfaction deepens because we’re delivering business results they can see and measure. Trust builds because we’re solving real problems rather than just optimising campaigns.

WPP Media’s vision is straightforward: to be the partner that helps you navigate this new landscape with confidence while achieving measurable growth. The future belongs to organisations that can seamlessly integrate AI capabilities with human insight and cultural understanding.