WPP awaits a new era on its board – Editor’s Letter December 9, 2014 By the time the last of the chocolates have been foraged from the Advent Calendar, or thereabouts, WPP, the giant advertising group run by Sir Martin Sorrell, will very likely have chosen a new chair for the company’s board. The group, which has had regular spats with shareholders over the scale of its executive pay, [...]
Ukip? SNP? WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell warns Conservatives could find any new coalition partner “more difficult” November 19, 2014 WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell has warned of “clouds on the horizon” for the Conservatives, even if they win the 2015 election, noting that a coalition with untested parties such as Ukip and the SNP is likely. Sorrell – who gave the keynote speech at the City A.M. Awards last week – tipped the [...]
WPP agency Mindshare’s UK boss Mark Creighton on wearable technology and collaboration between agencies November 9, 2014 It's no secret that the media business is changing irrevocably because of digital technologies. But while some agency execs yearn for the age of bulk media contracts negotiated over a long, boozy lunch with TV bosses, Mindshare’s Mark Creighton comes across as positively electrified by the new digital frontier. He talks to City [...]
WPP share price rises after unexpected sales slow down October 31, 2014 Growth at the world’s largest advertising group, WPP, has unexpectedly slowed in the third quarter as geopolitical tension and global economic woes take their toll. Like-for-like net sales in the three months to 30 September grew three per cent, compared with expectations of 3.3 per cent and 4.1 per cent in the first half of [...]
WPP investing $25m in adtech September 22, 2014 ADVERTISING giant WPP yesterday announced it had taken a $25m (£15.3m) stake in AppNexus, the world’s largest independent adtech provider based in New York. AppNexus’s technology lets marketers, publishers, content providers and media investment management firms to buy and sell digital advertising, which delivers 30bn impressions a day. WPP said the investment would cement its [...]
Sir Martin Sorrell: Three things you didn’t know about the WPP Group CEO September 15, 2014 1. Sir Martin’s oldest friend is the historian Simon Schama. They met at school and went up to Christ’s College, Cambridge together. They toured Eastern Europe, including a visit to what had been the Nazi concentration camp at Theresienstadt. 2. Fresh from business school, he was marketing consultant for Heinz baked beans and ketchup. 3. [...]
Darin Brown of WPP agency POSSIBLE on digital-focused advertising and the rise of gamification September 14, 2014 WPP has been rapidly building up its digital presence in recent years, partly by acquiring smaller agencies worldwide and folding them into POSSIBLE. Darin Brown, POSSIBLE’s Europe, Middle East and Africa chief executive, talks to City A.M. about creating digital-focused advertising, and why brands are increasingly looking at interactive campaigns. You’ve worked on both [...]
Advertising giant WPP buys up a slice of Brazil with Try acquisition September 4, 2014 Advertising agency WPP yesterday announced it had acquired a majority stake in Cairos Usabilidade Eireli, a Brazil-based development agency known as Try. Described by WPP as “a user experience agency that designs and develops custom web, mobile, desktop and touch-enabled applications”, Try employs 22 people and has a number of high profile clients. WPP said [...]
WPP results ‘ravaged’ by strength of the pound August 26, 2014 The world’s largest advertising company, WPP, reported a 1.5 per cent rise in profit to £532m in the first half of the year yesterday, hampered by the effects of a strong pound. WPP reported that the strength of sterling had “ravaged” its billings and at a constant currency the same profits would have risen 15.6 [...]
Ride a black swan? WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell adds Russian crisis to his list August 26, 2014 The Sochi Winter Olympics in February were a key turning point in the West’s deteriorating relationship with Russia, says WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell who now lists the Russian crisis as the most threatening of his unknown unknowns – or “black swans” – supplanting the Eurozone debt crisis. “I think we made a mistake [...]