Accenture and Whalar frame creator work for CEOs. Executives from both firms tell Digiday creator marketing is a C-suite conversation, a framing that would move budgets toward consultancy-led remits. (Digiday)

NBA union presses for athlete input on brand deals. Digiday reports the NBA players' union is seeking a bigger say for players in brand deals, pushing sponsorship closer to creator-marketing norms. (Digiday)

Cannes Film Grand Prix goes to ad-free AI ad. A businessline column notes this year's Film Grand Prix went to an ad for Anthropic's Claude, an assistant that promises not to show ads. (@businessline)

Shashi Sinha exits Omnicom Media India after integration. Campaign India reports Sinha has departed following the Omnicom Media, IPG Mediabrands integration he helped steer, with succession still unsettled. (Campaign India)

Publicis Groupe ANZ finance director Karen Colin-Thome dies. Publicis Groupe ANZ has announced the death of its long-serving finance director, who spent more than 35 years with the company. (Mumbrella, adnews.com.au)

Also moving today:

Under Armour teams with ‘Heated Rivalry’ star for new campaign (Marketing Dive)

Digiday+ Research: The 2026 guide to holiday marketing strategies, including A-Frame Brands, Mastercard and Ritual (Digiday)

D+ Research: Brands expand creator marketing strategies (Digiday)

Media Briefing: ‘Surveillance pricing’ laws are coming for dynamic subscription strategies (Digiday)

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Avatar co-CCO Ngubane resigns after Cannes video. The Citizen and IOL report Veli Ngubane stepped down days after a video of him rating women circulated, putting agency conduct standards in front of clients. (The Citizen, IOL)

Leigh Terry joins Nine board after Mediabrands exit. Mumbrella and AdNews report the former IPG Mediabrands Asia Pacific CEO has joined Nine's board eight months after the Omnicom acquisition displaced him. (Mumbrella, adnews.com.au)

Gap casts 'Obsession' star in fall denim campaign. Marketing Dive and Adweek report Gap's fall ads pair actor Inde Navarrette with musician Malcolm Todd, extending the retailer's music-and-dance formula. (Marketing Dive, Adweek)

Mod Op builds its own AI infrastructure, Digiday reports. Digiday reports the independent agency is betting proprietary AI infrastructure will return more value than licensing off-the-shelf tools. (Digiday)

Also moving today:

Disney Continues Marketing Moves, Joss Hastings to Lead Consumer Products Marketing (Adweek)

Disney, TikTok strike deal to let creators use Disney characters in videos (gorgenewscenter.com, RocketNews | Top News Stories From Around the Globe, MediaPost)

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WPP targets £500m savings to fund AI shift. WPP is targeting £500 million in gross annualized cost savings by 2028 and over £200 million in asset sales during 2026, per Pulse 2.0, a cost baseline rivals and clients may read as the holding-company template. (Pulse 2.0)

Marketers pushed toward AI without training, research finds. New ADWEEK and NewtonX research reports marketers are falling behind on AI training, locating the adoption bottleneck in enablement budgets rather than tooling. (Adweek)

S4 and Monks weigh rising AI token costs. Digiday reports S4 and Monks are working to get ahead of "exploding" AI token use, raising pricing and margin questions for agencies quoting fixed fees. (Digiday)

Also moving today:

The great advertising divorce (The Media Online)

P&G’s Always Discreet fights incontinence stigma with NFL campaign (Marketing Dive, Adweek)

CeraVe tackles tanmaxxing in social series to pitch Gen Z on SPF (Marketing Dive, Adweek)

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OpenAI adds product carousels to ChatGPT ads. Digiday reports OpenAI is bringing a shopping-feed carousel format to ChatGPT ahead of Q4, giving performance buyers a new placement to test. (Digiday)

Dentsu retains WBSC commercial rights through 2036. Sportcal reports the World Baseball Softball Confederation has extended its commercial rights deal with Dentsu for another decade, locking in recurring sports revenue. (sportcal.com)

Lilly runs WNBA on Prime spot with Amazon Ads. Marketing Dive reports Eli Lilly partnered with Amazon Ads on a campaign starring Candace Parker, extending pharma spending into women's sports inventory. (Marketing Dive)

Bayer and Zoom marketers describe recent AI results. Adweek reports senior marketers at Bayer, Zoom and a health tech firm detailing what AI has delivered so far and what they plan next quarter. (Adweek)

Also moving today:

The case for and against agencies betting on tokens the way they bet on media (Digiday)

Dentsu CEO Pay: Hiroshi Igarashi Earned $1.8M Running a $9.3B Company (everything-pr.com)

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WPP reports narrower revenue declines, new-business wins. WPP says its streamlined strategy is landing new business as revenue declines ease, while CEO Cindy Rose flags AI as a possible drag on agency pricing. (Marketing Dive, More About Advertising, Seeking Alpha)

Novo Nordisk moves US media buying to Omnicom. Novo Nordisk has named Omnicom its US media agency of record, ending a six-year relationship with WPP's Wavemaker. (FiercePharma, Bizcommunity.com, MediaPost)

Survey finds AI skills gap widest among CMOs. A NewtonX and ADWEEK survey of 500 marketers reports CMOs rank as the least AI-proficient group in the marketing organization. (Adweek)

Also moving today:

Future of Marketing Briefing: Creator agencies are becoming entertainment studios, brands are footing the bill (Digiday, Digiday)

By the numbers: How marketers are building the infrastructure for AI search (Digiday)

Why brands like Gap Inc. and Staples are inviting their employees to be creators (Digiday, Marketing Dive)

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WPP shares post biggest one-day gain since 1995. WPP's stock recorded its largest single-day rise since its 1995 IPO after first-half results, per Tech Times, Finimize and MediaPost, the sharpest investor repricing of the holding company on record. (Tech Times, Finimize, MediaPost)

WPP to cut 1,200 roles in turnaround drive. The Telegraph reports WPP is reducing headcount by 1,200 as part of its turnaround, a marker for staffing levels across the group's agency networks. (The Telegraph, Yahoo! Finance)

WPP CEO says outcome-based pay is years off. Cindy Rose told Digiday outcome-based compensation will take "a few years," leaving fee and retainer models as the near-term basis for client deals. (Digiday)

Also moving today:

Nielsen Is Acquiring DoubleVerify For $2.15 Billion (AdExchanger, Adweek)

Coke and Visa Score, Adidas and McDonald’s Fumble on Pricey World Cup Sponsorships (Adweek)

Kraft Heinz pours nearly $100M more into marketing to drive turnaround (Marketing Dive)

Papa Johns changes CMOs, ramps up mass marketing amid struggles (Marketing Dive)

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S4 Capital shares jump 26% despite revenue decline. Adweek reports S4 Capital's stock rose 26% after H1 results that still showed falling revenue, a test of how investors price Sorrell's turnaround plan. (Adweek)

Creators building diversified businesses resembling media conglomerates. Adweek reports top creators are using inflowing ad dollars and capital to build diversified companies that increasingly look like traditional media empires. (Adweek)

Ex-Omnicom and IPG staffers launch independent agencies. Digiday reports thousands of practitioners have left Omnicom since its IPG merger, with some founding their own shops, expanding the indie roster available to clients and talent. (Digiday, Digiday)

Also moving today:

Performance Marketing’s Biggest Success Created Its Biggest Blind Spot (AdExchanger)

Publicis Groupe Africa appoints Jarred Trembath head of Influential in sub-Saharan Africa (pressportal.co.za, South Africa Today, Bizcommunity.com)

Tinuiti Named Media Agency of Record for Allies of Skin (Adweek)

Momentum appointed by Optus for multi-year retail partnership (Mumbrella)

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Omnicom says IPG-related divestments near 60% complete. CFO Phil Angelastro puts the post-IPG asset sales close to 60% done, per AdNews, a signal of which units the largest holding company plans to keep. (adnews.com.au)

Coca-Cola campaign asks younger consumers to log off at meals. Marketing Dive reports Coca-Cola's "The World Will Wait" pairs an anti-screen-time message with an influencer roster, testing how brands run disconnect messaging through connected media. (Marketing Dive)

Also moving today:

AMZ Advisers Acquires Reach Social Commerce, Expanding from Amazon into TikTok Shop (wallstreet:online, WBOC TV-16, Yahoo! Finance)

Drake Cooper Acquires Gigasavvy Ad Agency - Orange County Business Journal (Orange County Business Journal, Idaho Business Review)

Brandon Cooke Joins BarkleyOKRP to Drive ‘Thoughtful’ Growth (Adweek)

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Digiday: principal media now a major holdco margin source. Digiday reports holding companies lean on principal media for profit margin while their AI offerings still lack a sales model, a pairing that shapes agency incentives inside client buys. (Digiday, Digiday)

ADWEEK: agencies must look beyond advertising for growth. In its Agencies Advantage series, ADWEEK argues future agency growth will come from services outside advertising, naming influencer and agentic work. (Adweek)

Kate Spade names L'Oréal veteran Allison Badea chief marketer. Marketing Dive reports Kate Spade has tapped L'Oréal veteran Allison Badea as chief marketer as the brand faces falling sales, a client-side change that can move agency rosters and brief timing. (Marketing Dive)

Media tops half of Omnicom Q2 revenue, report says. Indian Television Dot Com reports Omnicom's Integrated Media division contributed more than half of Q2 revenue in the first quarter after the IPG integration, an attributed read on where holdco revenue is concentrating. (Indian Television Dot Com)

Also moving today:

Omnicom Media appoints Tom Kirkham as Chief Solutions Officer (Mumbrella)

Karthik Nagarajan steps down as WPP Production India CEO (storyboard18.com, Indian Television Dot Com)

Saylor Launches Creator Studio Fleet, Led by Former Amazon Ads Exec (Adweek)

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CCI clears Publicis India entity's addition to cartel probe. India's competition regulator told the Delhi High Court it does not oppose adding TLG India to its advertising-cartel investigation, widening the holding-company operations drawn into the case. (mint)

Qantas moves APAC media account to Omnicom's OMD. Qantas Group has appointed OMD as its Asia agency of record after a pitch that began in Q4 2025, per Campaign India, shifting a reported $61-million account away from incumbent WPP Media. (Campaign India)

Stanley 1913 names Born Social as agency of record. Adweek reports the Quencher maker has appointed Born Social as AOR under a social-first strategy intended to move the brand past its viral moment. (Adweek)

Also moving today:

Stagwell Doubles New Business Team as Holdco Competition Heats Up, Says CEO Mark Penn (Adweek)

Campaign Trail: Yeti spells out consumer passions with four-letter words (Marketing Dive)

Future of Marketing Briefing: Media measurement is becoming an asset in boardroom theater (Digiday)

Havas to launch Shortcut Shobiz India in September, expands experiential marketing play (storyboard18.com)

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