WPP Hex Studio Takes on Marketing's AI Skills Gap

WPP has launched HEX, a studio designed to operate in an environment where AI leads marketing strategy. The new studio employs around 50 people who work as creative technologists.

The team members come from fields outside advertising, with WPP noting that their backgrounds include architecture, gaming, fine art and robotics.

WPP Production adds new capability

HEX operates within WPP Production, which was launched back in January. WPP Production absorbed the Hogarth brand at that time to consolidate its creative producers into one platform.

The studio specialises in Gen AI, agentic AI, gaming, immersive experience and robotics and functions as a creative production studio, R&D lab and consultancy.

WPP says that HEX is already delivering work for the company's clients. 

"Creative technology sits at the intersection of imagination and craft," says Richard Glasson, CEO of WPP Production. "WPP Production has supported this extraordinary programme from the very beginning because we believe deeply in constantly finding new ways to make the best work.

"That commitment is rooted in one of our core values: nurturing the next generation of talent and giving them unparalleled opportunities to create culture-shifting work through emerging technologies and the power of their own creativity." 

AI campaigns already in production

According to WPP, HEX experts have created AI campaigns, AI assets and TV ads for various brands. This includes work at SXSW 2025 for Unilever's Dirt is Good campaign.The studio used AI coaching and real time motion capture to translate data into personalised dirt patterns.

HEX has also run AI workshops for Fortune 500 executives and technology partners including Adobe, Google and NVIDIA. The collaboration involves testing emerging tech and exploring its real world applications.

The studio embeds teams of HEX experts directly with clients for months at a time. This approach aims to evaluate challenges, build custom solutions and train internal teams to use AI workflows independently.

Tom Payne, Senior Director of Customer Strategy and Success for EMEA and JAPAC at Adobe, says: "HEX Studio's ability to rapidly embrace emerging technologies and act as true agents of change makes them an exceptional fit for this collaboration.

"Our team at Adobe looks forward to harnessing that energy to accelerate AI adoption and deliver meaningful, scalable impact for our customers."

Addressing the AI skills shortage

Part of the aim of HEX is to help close the AI talent gap, as WPP puts it. Research from DataCamp reveals that 88% of leaders see data and AI literacy to be as important as writing, with less than half providing basic training.

WPP says HEX has been built with the belief that creative talent is needed to operationalise AI and support business growth.

Elav Horwitz, Chief Innovation Officer of WPP and Executive Sponsor of HEX, comments: "The era of AI demands a fundamental shift in our creative mindset and how we approach problem-solving.

"This isn't just about closing a skills gap; it's about building the workforce for the new economy. By training the next generation of talent and embedding these forward-deployed experts with our clients, we're reshaping how we think, create and deliver truly innovative solutions for brands."

WPP built up a talent pipeline for HEX from WPP's Creative Tech Apprenticeship, which the company launched in 2022. It focuses on recruiting from outside traditional advertising and engineering backgrounds while offering a curriculum focused on creative problem solving and new technologies.

"We believe the future of beauty is inseparable from the future of technology," adds Lex Bradshaw-Zanger, CDMO of L'Oréal SAPMENA Zone.

"Having partnered with WPP from the early stages of the programme to help train the Creative Tech Apprentices, watching these emerging talents learn to navigate real client challenges and apply generative AI with both ambition and elegance as they deploy into HEX, has been genuinely inspiring.

"It reflects the kind of deep, forward-thinking partnership L'Oréal and WPP have built together."