WPP announced the appointment of Elav Horwitz as its first Chief Innovation Officer, a new role created to solidify its leadership in applied AI and deliver groundbreaking technology-driven solutions for clients.
In this new position, Elav will be responsible for connecting WPP’s world-leading partners with the company’s unparalleled creative and strategic talent. Her remit will focus on fostering a culture of collaboration and agile innovation to drive applied AI and client transformation, and to redefine how clients engage with commerce, create compelling content and shape culture. In her new role, Elav will continue to report to WPP Chief Technology Officer Stephan Pretorius.
A leading voice for responsible technology and innovation, Elav also serves as an advisor to influential groups like the Spotify and Meta Creative Councils, and she’s a founding member of the leadership community Chief.
Elav’s appointment as Chief Innovation Officer underscores WPP’s continued investment in technology and data and follows a series of recent hires to bolster WPP’s innovation capabilities, including Daniel Barak as WPP’s first Global Creative and Innovation Lead, Sarah Salter as VP of Global Partnerships & AI Innovation and Mathieu Albrand as Director of AI Strategy and Innovation. The expanded team will continue to work closely with Elav and Stephan to drive WPP’s innovation agenda forward.
“Innovation is at the heart of everything we do at WPP, and Elav’s promotion to Chief Innovation Officer together with the world-class team she is assembling underscores our commitment to actively shape the future of our industry,” said Stephan Pretorius, Chief Technology Officer of WPP. “She will be instrumental in ensuring our company remains at the center of technology-driven innovation, translating the power of applied AI into concrete solutions that drive material business impact for our clients.”
“Never before has the need for innovation and agility been more critical than in our AI era,” Elav Horwitz, Chief Innovation Officer of WPP, said. “We must show our teams, clients and the entire industry what’s possible by uniting the best talents, capabilities, partners and a forward-thinking mindset, enabling us to deliver results in a matter of hours and make the future both tangible and democratised.”
“As we rewrite the marketing playbook for the AI era, we’re thrilled to have Elav lead our innovation agenda,” said Cindy Rose, CEO of WPP. “This appointment underscores our investment to embed innovation into the core of everything we do, ensuring our clients benefit from the most advanced and effective solutions.”
With Elav’s new remit, WPP’s innovation team will focus on three interconnected pillars to deliver transformative client outcomes:
These strategic initiatives are already translating into tangible client success, with recent case studies, such as AKQA’s ‘The Generative Store’, redefining personalised retail and enabling enhanced campaign planning for clients.
This appointment closely follows the unveiling of WPP Open Pro, the new edition of WPP’s AI marketing platform, WPP Open, designed to put WPP’s AI capabilities in the hands of clients and empower brands of all sizes to plan, create and publish campaigns independently.
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