Tesco

WPP builds early-warning client success system

WPP CEO Cindy Rose announced the development of a company-wide 'client success program'—an early-warning system to identify at-risk accounts and standardize retention and growth practices—after interim results showed continued revenue declines following major account losses. Revenue less pass-through costs fell 4.7% like-for-like in H1 2026, with the 25 largest clients down 6.3% over six months. WPP has improved its new-business win rate and topped JP Morgan’s net new-business rankings for H1 2026, but continues cost cuts and workforce reductions while targeting £500m of annualized savings by 2028 and reinvesting proceeds into AI, commerce and enterprise transformation.

Diageo launches $1bn cost-cutting programme

Diageo reported net sales of $19.6bn for the year ending June 2026, a 2% decline, while operating profit rose 2%. Its initial 'Accelerate' cost programme delivered $540m in savings, including $230m from advertising, promotions and trade investment driven by reduced development costs, more efficient targeting and "smart media buying." The company has now announced a second cost-reduction plan aiming to save $1bn over the next three years and will incur $1.2bn of restructuring costs ($1.1bn to overhaul its operational framework and $100m for supply-chain changes). CEO Dave Lewis said brands are not for sale and ad spend as a percentage of net sales has fallen from 18% to 16%. Diageo's share price rose about 8% after the announcement.

Mark Ritson: 10 Reasons Never to Cut Prices

Marketing commentator Mark Ritson argues that price promotions systematically damage brands by eroding margins, training shoppers to wait for deals, encouraging stockpiling, and triggering category price wars. He cites comments from P&G CFO Andre Schulten — who said promotional volume in Europe is up about five points and that P&G uses promotions only to drive trial — and notes P&G has delivered a positive price mix in 20 of the past 21 years. Ritson lists ten specific reasons to avoid discounting, offers narrow exceptions for targeted promotions during economic pressure, and advocates investing in product, packaging and brand building instead of cutting price. He uses Tide (P&G) as an example of product-led growth without discounts.