WPP Media appoints Aishwarya Rao to lead Marketing & Technology Consulting arm

WPP Media has expanded its Marketing & Technology Consulting practice across Australia and New Zealand, appointing former Accenture Song executive Aishwarya Rao as Managing Partner, Consulting.

The new practice brings together WPP Media's expertise in marketing technology, data strategy, analytics, AI and operating model design, responding to growing demand from marketers for specialist advice on how to modernise their organisations, improve productivity and drive measurable commercial outcomes.

She will report to Tom Braybrook, Managing Director of WPP Media Data, Technology & Analytics.

Rao joins WPP Media from Accenture Song, where she led product, digital and AI-enabled transformation across Australia and global markets, building the firm's Digital Product Management practice. Her nearly 20-year career spans technology, product/commerce marketing and media consulting, helping major organisations translate complex transformation strategies into tangible business results.

The expansion of the team reflects a broader shift in the marketing services landscape as AI and emerging technologies reshape how marketing is delivered, bringing agencies, consultancies and technology providers into increasingly overlapping territory.

The practice will focus on helping clients connect their marketing ambitions with the data, technology, capabilities and operating models required to deliver them. Its services span data and technology maturity, marketing effectiveness and investment allocation, AI-enabled productivity, marketing operating model design, and talent and capability development.

Tom Braybrook, Managing Director of WPP Media Data, Technology & Analytics, said: "Marketing is undergoing a fundamental shift and clients are navigating increasingly complex decisions around data, technology and AI. We see a significant opportunity to help clients rethink not just what they do in marketing, but how they do it. Aish brings deep consulting and transformation experience to our business, and her appointment strengthens our ability to connect strategic advice with the specialist expertise and technology needed to deliver real outcomes."

The new group-wide practice brings together brings together four specialist disciplines: Analytics & Insights, Transformation Consulting, Technology Architecture and Agentic Design, and consulting expertise from across WPP Media's agencies, EssenceMediacom, Mindshare and Wavemaker, into a dedicated function supporting clients across the network.

The team will work closely with WPP Media's technology, data science and media specialists to support clients from strategy and solution design through to implementation.

Aishwarya Rao, Managing Partner, Consulting at WPP Media, said: "AI is creating an opportunity to fundamentally rethink how marketing works, but technology alone won't deliver that change. Organisations need to connect their data, systems, people, agents and processes, and build the capabilities to put new ways of working into practice. What excites me about WPP Media is the combination of deep marketing expertise with technical capability and a close connection to how marketing actually gets delivered. We have an opportunity to bring those strengths together to help clients make better decisions, improve effectiveness and create lasting commercial value."

The consultancy forms part of WPP Media's wider investment in Data, Technology & Analytics (DTA), which includes a Technology & AI practice led by Managing Partner Nerida Jenkins, spanning data science, business intelligence, technology consulting and technical delivery and a Data Solutions practice to accelerate client adoption of Open Intelligence, with Poorani Adewole set to lead the function from January 2027.

These capabilities will operate alongside WPP Open, WPP's AI-powered marketing platform, connecting consulting, proprietary intelligence, technology and specialist delivery to help clients modernise how marketing creates value.