WPP slashes freelancer workforce by 25% as AI Agents replace external talent and sector looks to consolidate
Advertising giant WPP’s dramatic freelancer cuts signal industry shift toward automation and internal efficiency. But will its clients feel cheated on creativity?
Global advertising holding company WPP has dramatically reduced its freelancer workforce by 25% over the past two years, cutting external talent to fewer than 8,000 as the company deploys artificial intelligence agents to handle tasks previously outsourced to independent contractors.
The move represents one of the most significant workforce restructuring efforts in the advertising industry, with freelancers now comprising just 6.7% of WPP’s total workforce, down from 8.2% previously. The reduction has accelerated recently, with a 13% decrease in freelancer usage over the last 12 months alone.
Freelancer displacement by AI technology
The freelancer cuts are directly linked to WPP’s deployment of approximately 50,000 AI agents across its operations, as the company shifts toward automation for tasks traditionally handled by external contractors.
This represents a fundamental restructuring of how creative and strategic work is executed within the advertising giant, which has seen its stock price go south and rising competition from rival Publicis, who has managed to outpitch WPP on the Mars campaign.
The dramatic reduction affects freelancers across multiple disciplines, from creative execution to strategic planning, as WPP’s AI platform WPP Open takes on responsibilities previously requiring human expertise. The company has streamlined from 60,000 job titles to fewer than 600 as part of this technological transformation.
WPP’s approach reflects broader industry pressure to protect margins amid challenging economic conditions. The company describes the freelancer reduction as part of an efficiency drive designed to combat macroeconomic headwinds that are forcing global holding companies to reassess their reliance on external talent.
Industry-wide implications for freelance community
The freelancer cuts at WPP signal a potentially devastating shift for the independent contractor ecosystem that has long supported the advertising industry.
With WPP being one of the world’s largest advertising company, the 25% reduction could influence industry-wide practices and set a precedent for other holding companies facing similar economic pressures.
The move comes as the company faces significant financial headwinds, including a 5.8% revenue decline and a subsequent 60% cut to staff bonuses. However, the freelancer workforce bears the brunt of cost-cutting measures, with external contractors seeing complete elimination of roles rather than reduced compensation.
Freelancers across creative, strategic, and technical disciplines who previously relied on WPP projects now face an uncertain market as AI agents assume responsibilities ranging from content creation to campaign strategy. The speed of this transition – a 13% reduction in just 12 months – suggests the displacement could accelerate further as AI capabilities expand.
Leadership change amid workforce transformation
The freelancer reduction strategy will be inherited by incoming CEO Cindy Rose, who is set to conduct a comprehensive strategic review upon taking leadership. Rose faces the challenge of determining whether WPP’s aggressive move away from freelance talent will deliver sustainable competitive advantages or create skills gaps that could harm client service.
The strategic review comes as WPP’s share price continues to decline, with markets reacting negatively to the company’s halved dividend and falling profits. Rose must balance the cost savings achieved through freelancer cuts with potential risks to creative output and operational flexibility that independent contractors traditionally provided.
As the former Microsoft executive prepares to lead WPP, the success of the freelancer reduction strategy will serve as an early indicator of whether AI-driven workforce transformation can compensate for the loss of specialised external talent that has historically been crucial to advertising campaign development.
Industry implications
WPP’s aggressive adoption of AI technology reflects broader trends in the advertising industry, where 65% of advertising executives rated generative AI as “very” or “extremely effective” in Q1 2025, citing clear gains in performance. The company’s approach involves deploying dynamic, autonomous agents capable of learning and evolving, representing a shift toward more sophisticated AI applications in marketing and advertising.
The strategic review under Rose’s leadership is expected to provide clearer direction on the company’s future capital allocation policy and long-term strategy for surviving in the evolving advertising market.
But until then, freelancers once reliant on WPP will have to advance their own AI strategies so they can keep ahead of the curve and may even land direct work from clients rather than through an ad agency.
Only humans can come up with new and unique ideas, and in the world of advertising, that’s what brands are only willing to pay for.
Consolidation through mergers and acquisitions are likely to emerge and that could mean companies in transition may need specialised freelance support. According to SkyNews, Sir Martin Sorrell, the advertising mogul, has received a number of merger approaches for S4 Capital, the London-listed marketing services group he founded seven years ago.
The report said Sir Martin has been contacted in recent weeks by potential suitors, including One Equity Partners, a US-based private equity firm which focuses on acquiring companies in the healthcare, industrials, and technology sectors.
This weekend, analysts suggested that One Equity would seek to combine S4 Capital with MSQ, a creative and technology agency group it bought in 2023.
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