WPP Looks to FCB Veteran to Lead Its Creative Empire

The revolving door between holding companies, which has spun with particular velocity in recent years, appears to be making another turn.

WPP is set to hire Tyler Turnbull as global chief executive of WPP Creative, the unit that houses the advertising giant's marquee agency brands, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Turnbull currently serves as global chief executive of FCB, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, where he has spent the better part of his career.

The appointment, if confirmed, would represent a significant recruitment from a rival holding company at a moment when WPP has been reshaping its creative operations under the leadership of its chief executive, Mark Read. WPP Creative encompasses agencies including AKQA, Ogilvy and Wunderman Thompson — or rather, what remains of Wunderman Thompson after its recent merger with VMLY&R to form VML, in one of those periodic consolidations that holding companies undertake with the regularity of seasons changing.

Mr. Turnbull rose through FCB's ranks over more than a decade, eventually taking the global chief executive role in 2022. Under his tenure, FCB maintained its creative reputation and navigated the usual turbulence of account wins and losses that constitute life on Madison Avenue. (Whether IPG will view his departure as a defection or simply the cost of developing talent that other companies covet is a question best left to the diplomatic communiqués that will surely follow.)

For WPP, the hire would signal continued ambition in the creative arena even as the industry grapples with questions about the future of traditional agency models, the rise of artificial intelligence and the eternal puzzle of how to make brands interesting to people who would rather not think about brands at all.

Representatives for WPP and FCB declined to comment, which is what representatives for WPP and FCB generally do until they are ready to say something else.

Original story published in adage.com: "WPP set to hire Tyler Turnbull as WPP Creative global CEO - Ad Age"