Tokyo Agency Offers WPP CEO Internship Over Industry Experience Gap
UltraSuperNew publicly offers WPP's Cindy Rose an unpaid internship, citing her lack of advertising agency experience while leading the world's largest ad holding company.
Tokyo-based independent creative agency UltraSuperNew publicly offered WPP Chief Executive Cindy Rose a three-month unpaid internship at its Shibuya headquarters on approximately March 3, 2026, following Rose's stated intention to move WPP away from the traditional holding company model.
Agency Cites Zero Advertising Experience at WPP's Helm
The offer was framed by UltraSuperNew co-founder Marc Wesseling as "genuine generosity," targeting a specific professional gap. Rose's career spans leadership roles at Microsoft, Vodafone, and Walt Disney. However, Wesseling noted publicly that Rose "has never actually worked inside an advertising agency, large or small."
"Cindy is proposing to reshape an industry she has never worked in," Wesseling stated. The agency argued this represents a structural blind spot when leading what it called "one of the biggest collections of advertising agencies in the world."
The proposed internship would include making coffee, attending client calls, debating creative ideas, and experiencing what the agency described as "the devastation of a great thought being killed by a client." Wesseling emphasized these experiences cannot be learned "through quarterly earnings calls or corporate strategy sessions."
The offer was triggered directly by Rose's comments to Campaign magazine, in which she said: "We don't want to be a holding company anymore."
Independent vs. Network: A Competitive Argument With Asian Roots
UltraSuperNew operates across four offices: Tokyo (headquarters), Singapore, Amsterdam, and Colombo. The agency was named Independent Agency of the Year in both Japan and Korea for 2021 and 2022, giving its critique competitive grounding rather than purely satirical intent.
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The agency contrasted two approaches to winning clients. UltraSuperNew described its own model as winning through "brilliant vision," versus what it characterized as holding company reliance on procurement relationships.
The offer also carried a pointed invitation: to show Rose "what advertising actually looks like when it isn't being managed, processed, restructured, and optimized into something that resembles a platform business."
No response from Rose or WPP has been recorded in available sources as of the time of publication.
Agency Background and Industry Reaction
UltraSuperNew evolved from a Harajuku studio into an APAC-focused creative hub now anchored in Shibuya, one of Tokyo's most commercially active districts. The agency integrates Tokyo production with its Singapore and Amsterdam operations.
The internship offer has drawn coverage across regional industry publications and trade media across Asia. UltraSuperNew noted its internship program for actual candidates covers conceptualization, design, video, photoshoots, and social and digital content creation, the same curriculum offered satirically to Rose.
The agency's careers page confirms the internship program is a functioning talent development initiative open to applicants from all backgrounds, including those transitioning from technology sectors.
WPP has not publicly commented on the offer or its restructuring timeline as of publication.
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