WPP Rolls Out Five Trust Principles at Cannes Lions 2026

WPP used the opening day of Cannes Lions 2026 to publish five “trust principles,” a public set of commitments on data, AI and accountability that the network says will define how it operates in an AI-led marketing era. CEO Cindy Rose outlined the framework in a keynote interview at Campaign House on 22 June and elaborated in a company blogpost the same day. The principles are tied to a wider move away from time-and-materials billing toward outcome-based pay. They formalise commitments that had previously remained implicit at WPP.

The principles build on the Elevate28 strategy unveiled earlier this year, where WPP calls itself a “trusted growth partner” to global brands. They land at a festival that has seen entries drop 25% compared to last year. The launch comes on a network whose former CEO recently described its performance as “catatonic.”

The Five Public Commitments

The five principles are designed to cement WPP’s status as a trusted growth partner in an AI-led marketing era. Rose published the framework in a company blogpost on 22 June and listed them in a keynote interview at Campaign House the same day. The move formalises commitments that had previously remained implicit at WPP, and ties them to the Elevate28 strategy the network has been using to consolidate after a 5.4% revenue slump. The principle set is also a competitive claim, since WPP Open is the company’s answer to closed platforms run by some rivals.

The five principles are short enough to be quoted in full. They are: clients own and control their data; WPP Open is open by design; consumers are people, not IDs; AI augments human creativity, it does not replace it; and WPP takes accountability for driving clients’ growth. The list is short on purpose, Rose said, because the network wanted to put out a public statement. WPP’s own research has shown that brand trust and differentiation is at an all-time low. The framework will be tested by how WPP operates the network day to day.

The first two principles are about data and platform. Principle one commits the network to not using client data to benefit third parties. Principle two says WPP Open, the network’s agentic marketing platform, will not become a closed system. Both are operational commitments tied to how WPP handles client information.

Principles three and four push back on two trends at once. Principle three says consumers are people, not IDs, a line against identity-led programmatic targeting. Principle four says AI augments human creativity and does not replace it, a stake in the ground over how generative tools fit into agency work.

• Clients own and control their data. WPP will not use client data to benefit third parties.
• WPP Open is open by design. The network’s agentic marketing platform will not become a closed system.
• Consumers are people, not IDs. A line against identity-led programmatic targeting.
• AI augments human creativity, it does not replace it. Human creativity stays central.
• We take accountability for driving clients’ growth. Tied to outcome-based remuneration.

From Hourly Billing to Outcomes

The fifth principle doubles as a commercial one. Jaguar Land Rover officially appointed WPP as its global partner for creative, media, production, customer experience and marketing strategy in May after a competitive review. That deal is the first public example of WPP’s outcomes-based model. Under the new structure, what a client pays is tied to whether a set of agreed objectives are met, not to the hours worked or resources used. The mechanics matter, since the rest of the network’s revenue model sits behind them.

Rose framed the shift bluntly at Campaign House, saying the era of paying agencies for hours worked and resources used is over, and that in a “world of AI” where work can be done faster and cheaper, “that’s just not a model that’s sustainable.” The trust principles are the framework through which Rose said the network will “filter all of this stuff.” The model is meant to align WPP’s incentives with what its clients actually want, and to make remuneration a measurable thing rather than an hours-billed one.

The model comes with risk on both sides, since remuneration is changeable. Rose said WPP has built “ceilings and floors” into the JLR deal to manage the downside. She predicted the rest of the industry would move the same way soon.

I think, maybe controversially, the time-and-materials model is dead.

Cindy Rose, CEO of WPP, in a keynote interview at Campaign House on the opening day of Cannes Lions, 22 June 2026.

The Trust Deficit Behind the Announcement

The trust principles are a public answer to a private worry. WPP’s own research has shown that “brand trust and differentiation is at an all-time low,” Rose told the Campaign House audience. The industry context makes the case harder to ignore. Cannes Lions has reported that entries for this year’s awards are down 25% compared to last year, a contraction Rose said aligns with how many submissions WPP put forward. WPP Media’s view on AI in marketing, articulated by its senior leaders in India, is that the harder question is no longer whether to use AI, but how to power it with human intelligence at scale.

WPP has its own trust questions to answer. Rose acknowledged the former GroupM’s bribery scandal in China and an ongoing US lawsuit from a former executive, adding that “we’re not going to be perfect all the time. No company is, but now we have a framework to filter all of this stuff through.”

The financial backdrop adds weight. WPP unveiled the Elevate28 plan earlier this year after a 5.4% revenue slump, a multi-year strategy built around consolidating into a single integrated company with £500 million of cost savings. Former CEO Sir Martin Sorrell described WPP’s performance as “catatonic” in an interview for City AM earlier this month, a remark Rose declined to engage with on stage. “I am not going to dignify those remarks with a response,” she said, drawing applause from part of the Campaign House audience.

Rose took the WPP CEO role at the start of September 2025, and one of her stated goals has been to give the parent company a culture she has said was lacking. As part of that effort, she hired psychologist Dr Michael Gervais to work with her leadership team on positive self-talk and stress management. “How do you think elite sports teams become champions?” Rose said. “You train their minds.” The five principles are the public artefact of that operating rebuild.

Day One Winners That Backed the Pitch

The principles were not the only thing WPP had to show. Day One of Cannes Lions 2026 delivered a strong showing for WPP agencies across the categories awarded, with multiple Gold Lions in the network’s portfolio. The U.S. opened the festival with 20 awards: four golds, three silvers, 11 bronzes and two Grand Prix. WPP’s share of that pile was the proof of concept the trust principles needed.

In Outdoor, WPP Open X’s The Last Coke in the Desert won Gold for Coca-Cola. The campaign was developed by VML with support from Ogilvy and WPP Media, and marked the brand’s 100th anniversary in Mexico by tracing a popular expression to the small shopkeepers who keep a Coke cold in the desert’s harshest, most remote stretches. VML New York led U.S. entrants with four awards across two campaigns, including the Outdoor Gold. The full list of VML’s Cannes Lions 2026 winners spans offices from Mumbai to Mexico City.

VML’s work went beyond Coca-Cola. VML New York and VML Health New York won Gold in Health & Wellness for Beat Cancer Off, made for nonprofit F**k Cancer and built around research linking ejaculation frequency to lower prostate cancer risk. The campaign included an original song, an animated film and a tracking app, and earned two additional bronzes.

Three other WPP Golds came from across Asia. Ogilvy Singapore and DAVID London won for Art’s Missing Period for Kotex, a campaign that highlighted the absence of menstrual representation in art history. Ogilvy Shanghai’s Blue Brands for Viatris’ Viagra picked up a Pharma Gold, and the Ogilvy network’s Cannes Lions 2026 schedule included panels on trust and authenticity. VML Thailand’s Soil Stay for Tra Mongkut Fertilizer won in Creative B2B.

The Cannes footprint itself is unusually concentrated. Rose said she and her team have 100 events at Cannes this week, and WPP as a whole has 1500 client engagements. The network opted against renting a dedicated beach on the Croisette, hosting partners instead from the WPP Rooftop at the Martinez, with WPP’s full Cannes Lions 2026 programme running across the week.

• The Last Coke in the Desert (WPP Open X, VML, Ogilvy, WPP Media): Outdoor Gold for Coca-Cola, marking the brand’s 100th anniversary in Mexico.
• Beat Cancer Off (VML New York, VML Health New York): Health & Wellness Gold for nonprofit F**k Cancer, on prostate cancer screening.
• Art’s Missing Period (DAVID London, Ogilvy Singapore): Gold for Kotex, on menstrual representation in art history.
• Blue Brands (Ogilvy Shanghai): Pharma Gold for Viatris’ Viagra.
• Soil Stay (VML Thailand): Creative B2B Gold for Tra Mongkut Fertilizer.

The LiveRamp Break and Where WPP Is Drawn

The trust principles came with one concrete competitive move. Rose told the Campaign House audience that WPP has stopped working with LiveRamp, the data collaboration platform Publicis Groupe is in the process of buying. The decision was framed as flowing from principle one, around data ownership.

The LiveRamp break came as Publicis itself takes a more “closed-door” approach to Cannes, favouring private meetings with clients over a dedicated presence on the beach. WPP has taken a similar path on the festival’s footprint. The network opted against renting a dedicated beach on the Croisette and is hosting partners from the WPP Rooftop at the Martinez instead. Rose said she and her team have 100 events scheduled this week, and WPP as a whole has 1500 client engagements planned. The “Reimagining growth, together” programme sits across from the Ogilvy Terrace on the Croisette and Chez Nous by VML.

Publicis last week launched a spoof-film calling out the ad industry for overpromising on AI in pitches. Rose said she had not seen the film or read about it. The trust principles, she said, are the framework through which WPP will “filter all of this stuff.” “I think it’s about finding the right balance,” she said, between AI efficiencies and human creativity.

WPP Open as the Operational Backbone

WPP Open sits behind principle two. WPP Open’s agentic marketing platform connects strategy, creative, media and production with AI agents working together. The “open by design” pledge is meant to distinguish WPP Open from closed systems. The platform’s data architecture is built on Infosum’s distributed data collaboration technology, which the company says lets live signals inform work without the underlying data ever being shared.

Google DeepMind chief executive Demis Hassabis has publicly endorsed the platform. “WPP Open is one of the best applications of Gemini that I have seen so far,” Hassabis said, quoted on WPP’s own product page. The broader commercial bet behind WPP Open is laid out in WPP’s $100 billion AI search advertising forecast, where the network’s midyear forecast projects $100 billion in global ad revenue by 2030, up from 1.9% of search ad revenue this year.

Open Intelligence is the underlying layer, described by WPP as “the intelligence engine powering every agent and workflow in WPP Open.” The pitch to clients is signal-led marketing built on real-time behaviour and context, not on tracking individuals. WPP Media’s broader forecasting work treats AI search as the engine financing the transition rather than a beneficiary of it. The trust principles sit on top of that platform as a public commitment. Cannes is where both are on display to the same clients.

The platform has its own numbers. WPP’s product page lists 12% more new customers acquired, 28% higher revenue, and 60% lower cost per acquisition from customers using WPP Open. Whether those figures hold up under outside scrutiny is the next test, since the “open by design” principle will be measured against them.

• Cannes Lions 2026 ran 22-26 June, per the festival site.
• WPP Media’s midyear forecast projects generative search ad revenue at $5.1 billion globally in 2026.
• 12 named partners sponsored WPP’s Cannes programming, including Amazon Ads, Meta, Microsoft, and TikTok.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are WPP’s five trust principles?

WPP CEO Cindy Rose published five commitments on the opening day of Cannes Lions 2026: clients own and control their data; WPP Open is open by design; consumers are people, not IDs; AI augments human creativity and does not replace it; and WPP takes accountability for driving clients’ growth. The framework builds on the Elevate28 strategy unveiled earlier this year and ties to a wider move toward outcome-based pay.

When did WPP announce its trust principles?

WPP announced the trust principles on 22 June 2026, the opening day of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Rose outlined the framework in a keynote interview at Campaign House and elaborated in a company blogpost published the same day.

Why is WPP moving from time-and-materials to outcome-based pay?

Rose told the Campaign House audience that the time-and-materials model is dead in a world of AI where work can be done faster and cheaper. The first public example of the new model is the Jaguar Land Rover global partnership, which WPP officially won in May after a competitive review. WPP has built ceilings and floors into the deal to manage the risk on both sides.

Which WPP agencies won Gold Lions on Day One of Cannes Lions 2026?

WPP agencies won multiple Golds on the festival’s first day. The Last Coke in the Desert, by WPP Open X led by VML with support from Ogilvy and WPP Media, won Outdoor Gold for Coca-Cola. VML New York and VML Health New York won Health & Wellness Gold for Beat Cancer Off, made for nonprofit F**k Cancer. Ogilvy Singapore and DAVID London won for Art’s Missing Period for Kotex. Ogilvy Shanghai’s Blue Brands for Viatris’ Viagra picked up a Pharma Gold, and VML Thailand’s Soil Stay for Tra Mongkut Fertilizer won in Creative B2B.

What is WPP Open?

WPP Open is WPP’s pioneering agentic marketing platform, a workspace that connects strategy, creative, media and production with AI agents working together. It is built on Infosum’s distributed data collaboration technology, which WPP says lets live signals inform work without the underlying data ever being shared. Google DeepMind chief executive Demis Hassabis has called it one of the best applications of Gemini he has seen.

How did WPP’s Cannes Lions 2026 presence differ from past years?

WPP opted against renting a dedicated beach on the Croisette and is hosting partners from the WPP Rooftop at the Martinez instead. Rose said the network has 100 events scheduled this week and 1500 client engagements planned, despite the leaner footprint. The festival overall saw entries down 25% compared to 2025.