McCann Worldgroup

WPP COO Devika Bulchandani: Confidence Stronger

In an interview at Cannes Lions, WPP COO Devika Bulchandani says the holding company is more confident in its client proposition despite ongoing headwinds. Under new leadership from chair Cindy Rose and a turnaround plan called Elevate28, WPP has seen creative success at Cannes (Ogilvy, VML and Burson London highlighted) and consecutive top rankings in JP Morgan’s new business tracker. Bulchandani points to WPP’s acquisition of Infosum and a self-described “data‑connectivity” approach as a differentiator against ID‑based competitors, and says clients are asking for rapid, global implementation. She acknowledges continuing media account losses (noting Coca‑Cola as an example) but stresses a client‑centric operational overhaul, end-to-end orchestration and optimism about the firm’s creative, data and AI capabilities amid broader industry disruption.

Cannes Lions 2026: Grand Prix and Special Awards Winners

The Cannes Lions 2026 festival concluded with a highly international set of winners: 33 Grand Prix prizes were awarded to work from 17 countries, including first-time Grand Prix success for Kenya. Heineken was named Creative Brand of the Year and took two Grand Prix (including "The Pub That Refused to Die"). Adidas’ collaboration "Original Forever" (Johannes Leonardo) won two Grand Prix and Adidas additionally won Innovation for "Supernova Adaptive," a shoe designed for people with Down syndrome. The Publicis agency LePub was the most-awarded agency; Rethink (Canada) was named top independent agency and independent network; Ogilvy was named Network of the Year. The article lists all Grand Prix winners by category and the Special Award rankings across networks, agencies and in-house teams.

McCann Global Chairman Daryl Lee to Depart

Daryl Lee, who was named chairman of McCann in December after Omnicom’s acquisition of Interpublic Group (IPG), will depart McCann effective next week. Lee previously served as global CEO of McCann Worldgroup for three and a half years and has worked across IPG agencies since joining in 2006. His exit is the latest senior leadership change following Omnicom’s reorganization of IPG’s creative agencies into three networks — a reshuffle that included appointing Tyler Turnbull as CEO of McCann and led to other departures across the new Omnicom structure. Omnicom shed about 4,000 jobs when the deal closed. The article lists several other senior exits and role moves across Omnicom- and IPG-era agencies and media groups.