Publicis Fires Back at WPP's Rose Over 'CEO Handshake' Wins

By Tom Whitfield

Publicis has told WPP CEO Cindy Rose, in an open letter published by Adweek, that claiming it wins business on a "CEO handshake" is "an insult to clients' intelligence." The row erupted after Rose told investors last week that the industry does itself no favors when chief executives bypass formal pitches.

What started the Publicis-WPP fight?

Rose criticized the rise of "CEO handshake" account wins, deals struck CEO-to-CEO that skip the pitch and bypass the CMO. "I do not think we do ourselves any favor as an industry of professionals by encouraging clients to bypass proper due diligence," she told investors.

She did not name Publicis. The holding company's recent record fits the pattern: PepsiCo landed without a pitch, following Microsoft in April and LVMH's APAC account in September.

Publicis pushed back hard. Its letter, addressed "Dear Cindy," argued clients "would never have entrusted us with a task of this magnitude on a wink and a handshake." Whatever the label, Publicis now owns these accounts and answers for them if the work falls short. The takeaway: expect the no-pitch win to stay a flashpoint between holdcos.

How big is Magnite's CTV bet?

Magnite reported Q3 revenue of $204.2 million, up 14% year over year. Connected TV drove the growth: CTV revenue jumped 39% and now accounts for 53% of the company's total business.

The new element this quarter is agentic AI. Agentic workflows are spreading through modern media buying, including CTV, and can include formats not yet standardized for programmatic — home-screen ads, pause ads and smart TV tiles. On the earnings call, Magnite executives touted agentic workflows to sell LG TV home screen inventory.

CEO Michael Barrett also repositioned SpringServe, not merely an ad server but a programmatic and mediation platform, designed to make Magnite "the operating system for CTV monetization," he told investors. The strategy could pay off as more ad decisioning shifts to the sell side. In plain terms: Magnite is betting its future on CTV plus automation.

Why are ChatGPT ads underperforming?

Early data suggests ChatGPT ads generate less revenue per session than Google Search ads — $0.89 versus $2.45, according to a paper by Maximilian Kaiser and Christian Schulze that remains under review, as reported by Digiday.

Limited reach is one likely cause. Similarweb and Graphite data show that even in the UK, the highest-penetration market, ads reach just under 46% of eligible ChatGPT users.

Frequency is inconsistent too. OpenAI says ads appear only when considered additive and relevant to a conversation, never on sensitive topics. The guardrails have not prevented misses: paid ChatGPT traffic converts at 0.37%, against 1.17% for Google. The gap leaves OpenAI considerable ground to cover before its ad business rivals search.

What else happened this week?

• TikTok launched a standalone Shop app, per TechCrunch.
• Research from Visa suggests AI agents still struggle to complete actual purchases, Fortune reported.
• Salon, which first published online in 1995, shut down suddenly.
• Good Good Golf's former VP of marketing is suing the company for defamation after its ex-CEO blamed him for a controversial ad that cost the brand its Callaway sponsorship, The Athletic reported.
• Through an Attain partnership, Amazon advertisers can now target shoppers at Walmart, Target and other chains, per Adweek.
• Agentic commerce platform Firmly raised $15 million in Series A funding.
• Taboola is pitching a "headless" agentic offer to agency ad buyers, per tipsheet.ai.

Who moved?

LG Ad Solutions hired Abhijit Pol as SVP of product and engineering.

With Publicis defending its no-pitch wins, Magnite leaning into agentic CTV monetization and ChatGPT ads still converting at a third of Google's rate, the industry's next test is whether automation and handshake deals deliver the results both promise.