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Tag: Mark Reed

  • WPP hits 2023 target in 2021; FY revenue stands at £12801 million

    WPP hits 2023 target in 2021; FY revenue stands at £12801 million

    Mumbai: London-headquartered global communications company WPP on Thursday announced its 2021 preliminary results with the full year and Q4 financial highlights. The full year continuing operations reported revenue at £12801 million (+6.7 per cent), against 12,003 in 2020. The company posted £1,494 million operating profit for the full year (£1261 million in 2020). Profit before tax stood at £1365 million, against £1,041 million last year.

    “It has been an outstanding year for WPP. Our top-line growth, driven by strong demand for our services in digital marketing, media, e-commerce and technology, has resulted in our fastest organic growth for over 20 years. As a result, we are two years ahead of our plan, hitting our 2023 revenue target in 2021,” said WPP CEO Mark Reed.

    “Cash generation continues to be very strong, underpinned by efficiencies achieved in our transformation programme, allowing us to make significant investments in our offer and reward our people for their huge contribution, while returning over £1 billion in cash to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks,” he added.

    The company is looking forward to 2022 with confidence, guiding to strong top-line growth, improving profitability and continued investment in people and services.

    Reed shared that the company has made substantial strategic progress, creating the world’s leading board-level communications firm through the merger of Finsbury Glover Hering and Sard Verbinnen, and acquiring capabilities in AI, commerce and technology services to leverage across all of WPP for future growth.

    “As clients seek to accelerate their growth and transform how they reach customers, the depth, breadth and global scale of our offer – which combines creativity with technology and data, through Choreograph, and the largest global media platform in GroupM – is proving its value for existing and new clients. The talent, dynamism and commitment of our people have also shone through. Our extensive partnership with The Coca-Cola Company, the expansion of our work with Google and the continuation of our longstanding relationship with Unilever demonstrate the value that three of the world’s leading marketing organisations place in WPP,” stated Reed.

  • Geometry joins VMLY&R to create leading global commerce business

    Geometry joins VMLY&R to create leading global commerce business

    New Delhi: WPP has launched VMLY&R Commerce, a new end-to-end “Creative Commerce Company” combining the talent and scale of two thriving global offerings. VMLY&R Commerce will operate as a distinct company within the VMLY&R global network.

    WPP agencies Geometry and VMLY&R will bring together their respective commerce capabilities to provide world-leading expertise and delivery for clients at a time of unprecedented global growth in e-commerce. VMLY&R Commerce will be led by global chief executive officer Beth Ann Kaminkow, currently global CEO of Geometry.

    VMLY&R Commerce will be central to the VMLY&R network’s total brand and customer experience offering. It will help connected brands grow by unifying client strategies around commerce to drive both brand equity and conversion.

    Kaminkow said: “Consumer experiences today are centered on commerce, making it increasingly important to our clients’ marketing and media decisions. As the pandemic accelerates new consumer behaviors and expectations, commerce is fast becoming the next channel for the most creative engagements and experiences. With the launch of VMLY&R Commerce, we can now offer our clients creative commerce at scale, harnessing data and technology to build brands and sell products across channels.”

    Geometry has proven a key partner in helping clients navigate the new commerce landscape. VMLY&R has also seen substantial momentum across its customer experience practice, expanding its e-commerce business with client partners. VMLY&R Commerce will align these global powerhouses to create a best-in-class, end-to-end offer for clients. It will leverage the combined assets of the Geometry and VMLY&R networks, which between them have more than 11,000 employees across 80 countries worldwide.

    VMLY&R Commerce will harness Geometry’s proprietary Living CommerceTM platform to guide strategic commerce consultation, development and activation across retail, design, experiential and innovation disciplines. Living Commerce facilitates the understanding of how, when and why people buy to deliver creative commerce solutions based on real human insights, driving commercial impact.

    “I’m thrilled to work with Beth Ann on the evolution of our collective commerce offering through VMLY&R Commerce,” VMLY&R Global CEO Jon Cook said. “We have been partnering closely across many clients and it is clear we share a vision and belief in the role commerce plays in a consumer’s journey and creating connected brands. Importantly, we both have a deep passion for leading our businesses with a focus on culture – both internally and with our client partners which is essential in creating a new company built for the future.”

    WPP CEO Mark Read said: “2020 has seen explosive growth in e-commerce as brands adapt to a new reality. This new company will offer outstanding creativity, industry-leading commerce expertise, and sophisticated data and technology skills to help brands grow in an omni-channel world. It also meets clients’ needs for simple, tightly integrated propositions from their marketing services partners.”

    VMLY&R Commerce will be fully operational from January 1, 2021, and the integration of the agencies’ teams and assets will continue through 2021.

  • WPP Q3 Results: Global revenue drops by 9.8%, India down 16.3%

    WPP Q3 Results: Global revenue drops by 9.8%, India down 16.3%

    NEW DELHI: Global advertising conglomerate WPP reported a 9.8 per cent decline in revenue from last year to £2.97 billion for the third quarter ended September 30, 2020.

    The result brought the company's total revenue for the first nine months of 2020 to £8.6 billion, down by 11.5 per cent on the same period in 2019. On a like-for-like basis, Q3 revenue was down 5.5 per cent.

    The top five markets for the advertising major also did not fare well in Q3 LFL revenue less pass-through costs: US -5.5 per cent; UK -6.5 per cent; Germany -1.8 per cent; Greater China -16.7 per cent; and India -16.3 per cent.

    WPP said in a statement that it showed a resilient performance despite the challenging environment. Its results also stated there was an improvement in the second quarter with strong new business momentum and tight cost control.

    The agency bagged business of around $1.6 billion in Q3, taking the year-to-date wins to $5.6 billion. It has strong liquidity and balance sheet, supported by tight working capital management: year-to-date average net debt £2.5 billion, down £2.0 billion year-on-year. The agency is on track to be towards the upper end of £700-800 million cost reduction target.

    WPP CEO Mark Read said, “We have maintained our new business momentum as clients seek out our creativity and our skills in media, technology, data and ecommerce. This month, Uber joined a growing list of major assignment wins that includes Alibaba, Dell, HSBC, Intel, Unilever and Whirlpool, and we continue to lead the new business rankings. We have also renewed and expanded our relationship with Walgreens Boots Alliance to encompass its data- and technology-driven marketing strategy.”

    “Our people have done a superb job in serving our clients, largely working from home, but the events of 2020 have of course created new pressures for everyone. We have increased our investment in employee support services, with a particular focus on mental health and wellbeing, and this will be an ongoing priority for our leadership,” added Read.

    The conglomerate includes several global agencies such as Ogilvy, GroupM, JWT, Essence and others.

  • Traditional media to lose takers in post-Covid2019 world: Mark Reed

    Traditional media to lose takers in post-Covid2019 world: Mark Reed

    NEW DELHI: Most of the ad spends deducted from traditional media might not come back post-pandemic, predicted WPP CEO Mark Reed at the e-FICCI Frames conclave today. He was talking to EsselPropack Ltd CEO Sudhanshu Vats in a fireside chat. The duo talked in depth about the growth of digital technologies in the media and marketing industry in the post-pandemic world. 

    Reed, however, was quite positive that the industry will be quick to move back to growths it showcased in the earlier years. He said, “Advertising spend will definitely bounce back but it will be defined by changes in consumer behaviour. If we look at the UK and the US market, the dip that the print industry witnessed during the lockdown, it might not be able to get back (revenue in pre-Covid2019 times). The demand will be generated through digital and is not going to traditional media in the same manner.”

    He supported his hypothesis by sharing the growth in the stock values of digital companies like Alphabet, Apple and Tesla in the western markets, despite an overall dip in the stock market.

    Reed insisted that even the viewing habits of consumers across the globe will be leaning towards digital platforms going forward. “If we talk about traditional broadcasters in the western market, the core programming like sports, live events, and television shows have dropped in frequency. This will make the users move to digital counterparts like Netflix.” 

    He added that digital properties like esports will definitely be able to maintain the growth it witnessed during the covid times. 

    Speaking about the Indian market, Reed showed great positivity in the growth prospects of the economy as well as consumer sentiment once the lockdown is lifted, however some categories will take a little longer to bounce back. 

    Sharing some data, he noted that most Indians are looking towards visiting a hair salon while most of them are not looking forward to going out to restaurants for at least a few months. International travel might take a few years to get the same attention. 

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