• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, August 31, 2018

Well, so much for a slow end to a slow week leading into the long Labor Day weekend.

Instead, the week went out with a bang, thanks to WPP-related news.

Multiple reports out of the UK indicate that the holding company will make its new CEO selection official next week (the firm did so on Monday) with current co-COO Mark Read getting the nod. Not a big surprise, but still making it official is, well, kind of a big deal.

Read, of course, will hit the ground running. An immediate challenge: doing whatever he can to help the firm retain its grip on the global Ford business now in review.

No small task there, which is related to the other piece of big news this week: Ford has tapped Wieden+Kennedy as creative lead for its upcoming national fall campaign for its primary brand.

No pressure, right?  It's on both WPP, whose dedicated Ford shop GTB is the incumbent on the global Ford account, and W+K, which is participating in the global review (along with Omnicom/BBDO) and is essentially auditioning its skills with the fall campaign assignment.  

The global review is expected to be complete by the end of the year. 

Of more immediate interest, WPP will release its first-half 2018 financial results on Tuesday.

Yep, with Labor Day about to come and go, school is back in session. And we’ll see what kind of grades WPP gets in the first few months of the Read era.