WPP Co-Founds New Cross-Industry Global Program to Drive Sustained Growth for Clients

Institute for Real Growth launched at WPP event in New York bringing
together senior business leaders to discuss findings of major new growth
study

NEW YORK & LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–WPP (NYSE: WPP) today announced the formation of the cross-industry
Institute for Real Growth (IRG), the first program of its kind to help
Chief Marketing Officers and other senior business leaders to drive more
effective growth strategies.

The not-for-profit, independent Institute, co-founded by WPP with
Facebook, Google, Kantar, LinkedIn, the NYU School of Professional
Studies (NYUSPS), Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford and
Spencer Stuart, aims to help organizations focus on sustained, long-term
“real growth” by equipping leaders with best practice approaches to
their strategy, structure, capability and leadership.

Participants in the program benefit from a curriculum approved by the
IRG Founder Advisory Board and will receive an NYU School of
Professional Studies Certificate of Completion in Real Growth
Leadership. The program comprises a series of workshops that provide
close collaboration with peers, the latest in-depth research,
world-class case studies, expert speaker insight and individual
coaching, personalized to each attendee’s leadership and organizational
business growth needs.

At the first in a series of IRG events, WPP shared new findings from the
largest and most comprehensive global study differentiating growth
overperformers from underperformers. Speakers at the event in New York
included co-founders Carolyn Everson, Vice President of Global Marketing
Solutions at Facebook, Bethany Poole, Director of Ads Marketing at
Google, Mike Romoff, Head of Global Agency and Channel Sales at
LinkedIn, Michael Diamond, Academic Director of Integrated Marketing and
Communications at NYUSPS and Greg Welch and Tom Seclow, Consultants at
Spencer Stuart.

Over the last year, a team of 20 WPP strategists and consultants
interviewed around 500 senior business leaders and evaluated over 1,500
online survey contributions from 73 countries to identify seven building
blocks for real growth. The study also incorporated an AI analysis of
over 3,500 publications and a behavioural analysis of LinkedIn data from
over 800 million connections across 3 million employees.

Key findings from the global growth study revealed that:

• Growth overperformers expand the definition of the market they compete
  in and offer ever-evolving experiences to their consumers.
• Overperformers embrace a “whole-brained” approach; unlocking the power
  of data with insights and combining technology with creativity.
• Organizations that are more open and better connected both internally
  and externally outperform their competitors.
• Organizations that set “humanized-growth” objectives – in terms of
  value to their customers, their colleagues and their communities – can
  expect to drive more sustained business growth results.

At the Institute for Real Growth’s first event hosted by WPP in New
York, Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said: “Clients tell us that sustained
top-line growth is their number one priority but they face increasing
challenges in delivering it.

“The results of our comprehensive global study confirm
that sustained growth requires the disciplined execution of integrated
strategies that combine data and technology with human insights,
creativity and innovation.

“The Institute for Real Growth brings together influential partners to
help organizations focus on long-term success, and promotes winning
approaches based on unrivalled knowledge and expertise, academic rigour
and transformative ideas.”

Carolyn Everson, Vice President of Global Marketing Solutions at
Facebook, said: “I’m honored to be a part of the IRG as it gets right to
the heart of what every leader is focused on: growth. I applaud the IRG
for endorsing a humanized-growth approach – sustainable business results
always start with people.”

Michael Diamond, Academic Director of Integrated Marketing and
Communications at NYUSPS, said: “The NYU School of Professional Studies
is grounded in applied research taught by a distinguished practitioner
faculty. We are delighted to collaborate with the Institute for Real
Growth to provide senior-level marketing executives with the knowledge
and insights they need to succeed on a global scale.”

Marc de Swaan Arons, co-founder of the Institute for Real Growth, said:
“Together with my co-founder Frank van den Driest, we have expanded on
WPP’s global growth study to create an industry-wide program that is
focused on helping senior leaders make better marketing decisions and
influence better business decisions. IRG is the only platform where
growth leaders can learn from world-class overperformers and topic
experts and collaborate with peers to solve their specific business
growth challenges.”

The Institute for Real Growth is run by the same team that led WPP’s
Marketing2020 and Insights2020, two industry-wide studies conducted by
Kantar that featured in the Harvard Business Review and identify how to
organize marketing functions in a digital age, as well as how to use the
role of an insights function to help drive customer-centred services.

About WPP

WPP is a creative transformation company. We build better futures for
our clients through an integrated offer of communications, experience,
commerce and technology. For more information, visit www.wpp.com.

About the Institute for Real Growth

For more information on the Institute for Real Growth, visit www.instituteforrealgrowth.com.

Contacts

Niken Wresniwiro, WPP
+44 (0)20 7282 4600 / +44 (0)7876 005 489
niken.wresniwiro@wpp.com

Kevin McCormack, WPP
+1 212 632 2239
kevin.mccormack@wpp.com