Sir Martin gave the keynote address at the Ad Tech conference yesterday morning. It was his first time attending the big Internet conference and my first time hearing him speak. Although Sorrell thought he would be presenting to a "small intimate group" the auditorium at the Javits Center in NYC was packed.
Sorrell spoke without the use of PPT slides (which was a nice change), walked among the attendees, and discussed a variety of topics relating to the agency business ("we're not an agency anymore"), the Internet ("big change is coming"), the impact of the economy ("never in all my years in business have I seen clients so focused on cost") and the road ahead. The Big 3 things on his mind (and therefore what should be on the mind of everyone of WPP's north of 100,000 employees) are:
1. New Markets - there is a "shift in power" to markets like China (China Mobile has more than 500MM subs), Brazil (just picked up the Olympics), and India (big numbers)
2. New Media - 25% of WPP spending is going to New Media which includes web, mobile (needs to be a shift in spending to mobile but so far it's been a "big disappointment"), video ("video content is going to be the most powerful force"), etc.
3. Consumer Insights - WPP spends $4B per year on data, analytics and measurement, this is one of the reasons WPP acquired TNS last year
A few other sound bites:- Very few companies are making money today and those that are have done it "ugly" (cost cutting)
- In the future there is going to be an overcapacity of product and an under-capacity of people
- Watch out for retailers like Wal-Mart, Tesco and Home Depot (they are fastest movers)
- Internal company communication is critical ("robotic control doesn't work, control is a very un PC word")
- "Doing good is good business" (in talking about corporate social responsibility)
Sorrell spoke eloquently and provided a great deal of "food for thought" which was just what was needed at the beginning of a conference like Ad Tech. I, for one, was engaged and impressed.
