WPP Media Elevates Eldridge, Fell to C-Suite Roles at Mindshare Australia
WPP elevates Elliott Eldridge and Laura Fell to Chief Strategy and Planning Officer roles at Mindshare Australia, recognizing their new business wins amid WPP's major restructure and Elevate28 stra...
WPP Media has promoted Elliott Eldridge to Chief Strategy Officer and Laura Fell to Chief Planning Officer at Mindshare Australia, the company announced this week. Both appointments take effect immediately.
Dual Promotions Tied to Proven New Business Performance
Eldridge and Fell will oversee strategy and planning across Mindshare Australia's full client portfolio. That portfolio includes Unilever, NAB, MG, Foxtel Group, the Australian Labor Party, IKEA, and Suncorp.
Both executives were directly credited with securing new business wins for MG, uBank, and Unilever. They also co-developed "OpenEra," a customized agency model built specifically for Suncorp within the WPP Media structure.
Eldridge will lead the national strategy agenda, focusing on audience intelligence, communications strategy, and effectiveness measurement. Fell will head the planning discipline across all markets, with a focus on precision-led media thinking and measurable brand growth.
Mindshare CEO Maria Grivas said: "Elliott and Laura are two of the most exceptional leaders and strategic minds in our industry. They elevate the work, they elevate our people and they elevate the outcomes we deliver for clients. Their partnership is powerful, and these promotions recognise the sustained impact they continue to make across our business."
Eldridge was also named on B&T's Best of the Best media strategists list prior to the appointment.
Appointments Sit Within WPP's Broader Restructure
The promotions come as WPP executes a major organizational overhaul. The group rebranded its media division from GroupM to WPP Media, consolidating operations under a single profit-and-loss structure and a unified AI platform called WPP Open. Mindshare now operates as a client service brand within that structure, alongside EssenceMediacom and Wavemaker.
This restructure is driven by WPP's "Elevate28" strategy, launched under CEO Cindy Rose, who took the top role on September 1, 2025. The strategy follows a three-phase roadmap: stabilizing new business in 2026, building an integrated go-to-market approach in 2027, and accelerating AI-enabled growth from 2028.
The changes come against a difficult financial backdrop. WPP reported a 5.4% like-for-like revenue decline in 2025, making the elevation of commercially proven strategy leaders a direct response to network-wide performance pressure.
WPP Media reported more net sales committed in early 2026 than across all of 2025, suggesting the structural changes are gaining early traction.
Mindshare's Recent Campaign Work Underpins the Appointments
Eldridge and Fell's leadership has been linked to several award-winning campaigns at Mindshare. These include Dove's "Menopause Unpause" platform, Rexona's data-driven work, OMO's "Laundry Goals," and high-impact campaigns for Foxtel Group's DAZN streaming service, MG, and NAB.
The Suncorp OpenEra model is cited as a key proof point. It represents a bespoke agency construct built for a single client, distinct from Mindshare's standard operating model, and demonstrates the kind of integrated strategy-planning work WPP Media is now formalizing at the national leadership level.
The dual C-suite structure, with a Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Planning Officer operating in tandem, reflects WPP Media's approach to managing complex, multi-brand client portfolios across its four geographic regions: North America, Latin America, EMEA, and APAC.
The Mindshare Australia appointments sit within the APAC region and directly support Elevate28's 2026 stabilization phase.
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