WPP, Accenture, Nike: This Week's Top Marketing News

CEO of WPP Creative and VML Jon Cook Steps Down

Jon Cook, Global CEO of VML and CEO of WPP Creative, is stepping down after more than 30 years with the company. 

He will remain with the company through March 2027 to ensure a seamless and collaborative transition. Eric Campbell, currently CEO of VML North America, will take over from Jon at that time. 

“This has been one of the hardest decisions I have ever made in my life,” says Jon. “But after three decades of pouring everything I have into this agency and all of WPP, it is time to build something new. VML and WPP Creative are operating from positions of tremendous strength and this is the right moment for other voices to lead.

“ I am immensely proud of our teams, the iconic work we produce with our clients and the one-of-a-kind culture we have built. I look forward to working closely with Cindy and the WPP and VML leadership teams over the coming months to execute a thoughtful transition.”

Nike Cuts Budget While Increasing Marketing Investment

Nike has announced US$2.5bn cost-cutting effort while simultaneously increasing its marketing investment. 

Pace, a five-year programme announced by the brand, aims to trim costs through "fewer roles across Nike" while channelling resources directly back into brand storytelling.

“These decisions are about redirecting investment toward the areas most critical to winning: product innovation, brand storytelling, consumer connection, sport and growth,” Elliott Hill, President and CEO of Nike, shared in a staff memo.

According to Elliott, this is “not a new strategy, and it is not a reaction to one quarter”. 

Discord Launches Two New Advertisement Features for Brands

29 September marked the official announcement of two new products launched to expand access to Discord’s advertising platform – ‘Discord Ads Manager’ and ‘Video Quests.’

As gaming continues to become a critical channel for marketers, ‘Discord Ads Manager’ aims to connect advertisers to the platform’s audience of 90 million daily active users.

The service will also present more accessible advertising to all businesses, regardless of size, while still delivering measurable results. This opens up opportunities for smaller marketers who previously needed a direct relationship with the sales team in order to advertise on the platform.

Nabib El-Rahman, Discord’s Vice President of Product, Business, says: “We want advertising on Discord to work for a studio launching its first game just as well as it does for the world’s biggest advertisers.”

The CXO Summit: Ecologi's CMO on Sustainability in Marketing

Day one of the CXO Summit featured a keynote speech from Adam Boita, Chief Marketing Officer of Ecologi. 

Throughout day one of the event, C-suite leaders from around the world took to the stage to discuss high-level strategy across people, capital, performance and brand.

In his keynote address ‘Climate change is costing your business. Nature and marketing can change that’, Adam explored the ways marketers are embedding nature into their brand strategy to deliver measurable returns – and what this means for how businesses think about marketing investment. 

Accenture Song Names James Scott-Lennon Ireland Lead

Accenture has announced the appointment of James Scott-Lennon as lead of Accenture Song in Ireland.  

Having been with the company for close to 20 years, James has extensive experience in customer and business transformation. 

“We are in a new dawn, where AI, data, creativity and technology are redesigning how businesses engage customers and create value,” says Sohel Aziz, Senior Managing Director of Accenture Song

 “As we adapt to new technologies, changing customer expectations as well as the opportunities and challenges created by AI, a strong hand on the tiller has never been more important. 

“James has been instrumental in the growth of our business in Ireland and brings a deep knowledge of how customer experience, creativity and technology marry to create meaningful business outcomes.

“I am thrilled to see him lead the next chapter for Accenture Song in Ireland.”

Who are WPP’s key partners?

• Google: WPP and Google's partnership is a 5-year co-innovation agreement to embed Google's frontier AI models and cloud infrastructure directly into WPP Open, WPP's marketing operating system.
• Adobe: WPP and Adobe expanded their global partnership in February 2026 to integrate Adobe's AI and content platforms with WPP’s agentic marketing platform, WPP Open.
• NVIDIA: WPP and NVIDIA are partnering to build a generative AI-enabled content engine that transforms digital advertising by combining industrial design data with photorealistic 3D and real-time rendering.
• Microsoft: The partnership between Microsoft and WPP is a long-term collaboration combining Microsoft's cloud and AI tools with WPP's global advertising and marketing network.