WPP plugs Google Earth AI into Open platform to track real-world consumer signals

WPP has integrated Google Earth AI into its Open marketing platform, marking a shift toward combining digital data with real-world environmental signals.

Announced at Google Cloud Next 2026 in Las Vegas, the move builds on WPP’s expanded partnership with Google and aims to give brands deeper insight into how physical factors influence consumer behaviour.

Bridging digital and physical worlds

With more than 80% of retail sales still happening offline, the integration allows WPP clients to factor in real-world variables such as weather, traffic and movement patterns when planning campaigns.

Stephan Pretorius, Chief Technology Officer at WPP, said the shift changes how marketers understand audiences.

“Google Earth AI brings together a whole universe of datasets representing the physical world into a single foundation model that for the first time, allows us to make decisions in an entirely new way,” he said.

"As an industry, we have had access to enormous amounts of digital data to understand human dynamics, trends and what content people consume. But people don't just live in the digital world—they live in the physical world."

From insights to outcomes

The platform enables hyper-local demand prediction and automated marketing, allowing brands to move from reactive campaigns to more proactive strategies.

Yael Maguire, VP and GM of Google Maps Platform and Google Earth, said the technology unlocks deeper insights.

“WPP is using Earth AI datasets in novel ways that can transform industries,” she said.

Three key capabilities

The integration focuses on three core areas:

Advanced audience intelligence, linking consumer behaviour with physical-world dynamics such as weather and movement patterns

Predictive media planning, enabling brands to pre-validate campaigns using real-world population data and improve performance outcomes

Next-generation production, allowing brands to generate localised creative based on real-world cultural and geographic insights

WPP has already applied the technology with a global automotive client, developing an “Electric Vehicle Readiness Index” to guide media buying decisions, delivering 77% higher performance at a lower cost to conversion.

Main image: WPP

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