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Tag: Martin Sorrell

  • Explore the corporate world with Sir Martin Sorrell

    Explore the corporate world with Sir Martin Sorrell

    MUMBAI: Network18’s business channel CNBC-TV18 has got a date with one of the most powerful man in the world of media and advertising. WPP chief executive of advertising services group Sir Martin Sorrell – under whose leadership the company has escalated to the position of the world’s largest agency network – will give viewers an insight in to the world of media, advertising and marketing with a programme, 30 Minutes with Martin Sorrell.

     

    It is a monthly half an hour show that will go on air on CNBC-TV18 from Friday, 29 November at 7:00 pm. The show will be hosted by Anant Rangaswami, editor of Storyboard and senior editor of Firstpost where he will speak to Sorrell on recent and imminent developments in the world of media, advertising and marketing.

     

    Sorrell is an astute businessman with an instinctive understanding of economics, finance and markets. He has changed the landscape of the communications industry through WPP’s consolidation drive over the last decade and more.

     

    With this show, the channel adds another topical show to its illustrious line-up to provide programming that its viewers can continue to benefit from. By leveraging its global edge, CNBC-TV18 brings Indian audiences Sorrell’s first exclusive monthly appearance on an Indian business news channel.

  • WPP’s Sorrell bearish about print media as an ad medium

    MUMBAI: When WPP group CEO Martin Sorrell speaks, the world listens. And he does not pull any punches.

    Sorrel, while speaking at the FT Digital Media Conference in London yesterday, said something that should make owners of traditional print media like newspapers and magazines sit back and do some introspection about their future. Sorrell said that advertisers should think about reducing the amount that they spend on newspapers and magazines and focus more on online and digital media.

    The WPP group and its clients are already doing that. Come next year, and Google could well overtake News Corp next year as the place where the agency spends most of its clients‘ money.

    Citing numbers, he said that 34 per cent of WPP‘s $72 billion media investments on behalf of clients went towards digital last year.

    ews Corp – a relatively more traditional print media player with oodles of magazines and newspapers – was the biggest media outlet for its clients‘ communications at $2.5 billion last year. But Google is coming on strong and WPP spent $2 billion on ads across its products, which was a 25 per cent jump over last year.

    By the end of next year Google could push News Corp away as being at the top of the list of media outlets where WPP spends its client money, he highlighted.

    Citing data from the US, where WPP spends $40 billion a year on media, Sorrell said that there is a big disparity between advertisers‘ print spend and consumers‘ print usage. “We are investing 20 per cent of WPP clients‘ media budgets on magazines and newspapers, but consumers are only spending seven to 10 per cent of time consuming print. That has to change.”

    He pointed out that the share of ad spend in other media such as TV, outdoors and radio is matching the time that consumers spend on them “TV viewing is about 43 per cent of consumers‘ time, (ad) investment is 43 per cent” he said.

    He has also accused Google, Facebook and Twitter of being media owners masquerading as tech companies. “I do regard Google as a media owner, yes. These are media owners masquerading as technology companies. Google sells Google, Facebook sells Facebook. Twitter sells Twitter.”

  • Publicis to also look at inorganic growth to double rev in India by 2015: Naouri

    MUMBAI: Publicis Groupe chief operating officer Jean-Yves Naouri has set himself a stiff target. The 53-year-old South African, tipped to take over as chief executive officer of the third largest communications group in the world after the retirement of Maurice Levy, is aiming at doubling the agency‘s growth in two of the fastest-growing ad economies of the world.

    Naouri, however, feels that he can grow faster in China than in India. “We plan to double our size in China by 2013. And we are well on our way to doing that. In India, we will be able to double our size by 2015,” he tells Indiantelevision.com.

    Faced with a slowdown in the matured ad economies of the world, Naouri needs to be aggressive in the other markets. “We are working towards two things. We are getting aggressive on digital. Our other focus is on the fast emerging markets. We have already trebled our size in Brazil,” he avers.

    Naouri feels that there is a lot of potential in India and the time is not far when the world will see what this country is capable of. “Publicis surely will be there when this happens.”

    Publicis has started shopping in India to strengthen its presence in a market that is led by WPP. The agency has made four acquisitions in India over the last one year, three of them being in the digital space. The first to be gobbled up was Indigo (April), followed three months later by Resultrix. The Paris-based media communications conglomerate has just announced two more acquisitions: digital marketing agency iStrat and marketing consultancy firm Marketgate.

    “We are looking at both inoganic and organic growth in India. We see opportunities in acquisitions,” says Naouri.

    But doesn’t he agree with WPP CEO Martin Sorrell’s recent comment about valuations in India being economically extravagant? “Maybe he is speaking for himself. We do not have exorbitant valuations. We are known for being very conservative. Despite not being the highest bidder on several occasions, we have been able to consummate deals just because they wanted to join us. So I do not concur with Sorrell’s assessment.”

    Naouri also refuses to concur with the WPP boss’ assessment that India lacks self confidence. “I am very positive about India. And I feel that when you look at the potential and look at the talent, one should be excited with all the opportunities that India is showing.”

    India’s sluggish GDP growth rate of 5.3 per cent does not dampen Naouri’s bullish view on India. “We do not hold a dismal sentiment. We are cautiously optimistic. When you look at the rest of the world, some countries would dream to have a five per cent growth. I am not saying that things are easy for everybody in India. But I would say it’s manageable,” he says.

    Apart from investing in India, Publicis is also focussed on the growth of digital within its operations. The vision is to become a ‘Human Digital Company’. “We have said that digital and the fast growing markets like India, China and Brazil are the co-pillars of our future. And today if those two pillars are contributing 50 per cent of our revenues, our ambition is to take this up to 75 per cent,” explains Naouri.

    Publicis’ strategy is to acquire local agencies and align them with its global agencies. This allows Publicis to service the clients of that geography efficiently.

    “What is interesting is that we are starting to see the potential to work not only with local Indian clients, but also with Indian companies that have a global ambition. We are extremely excited at this opportunity to work with such clients. We look forward to a time when Leo Burnett and Indigo or Publicis Worldwide and iStrat can partner with and deliver outstanding work for such Indian companies,” says Naouri.

    Publicis is also bullish on e-commerce. The company recently entered into a partnership with IBM’s Smarter Commerce Initiative through its consulting-centered interactive agency Rosetta. The partnership combines Publicis Groupe’s deep experience in consumer insights, technology and building a broad eCommerce ecosystem around transactions with IBM’s technology, expertise and business process innovation to serve the needs of today’s Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) and Chief Information Officers (CIOs) who want to align their organisations and purchase decisions around integrated content and commerce.

  • NDTV firm on legal pursuit against TAM

    MUMBAI: The New York Supreme Court (NYSC) is expected to give out its verdict on whether the complaint filed by Indian broadcaster NDTV against TAM‘s owning companies – Nielsen, Kantar and WPP – holds jurisdiction in America by mid January.

    A source informed indiantelevision.com that NDTV plans to keep on with its efforts against the TV ratings agency TAM and its holding companies irrespective of the judgement. “If the New York Supreme Courts rules that the case has jurisdiction in America, they will continue with it there. If the Court says India is the right country for this litigation, the broadcaster will pursue the case in India anew,” the source said on condition of anonymity.

    The parties currently involved are filing their amended complaints and/or motions to dismiss NDTV‘s lawsuit according to the deadlines given by the NYSC in September this year.

    In a recent interview with liveMint, WPP CEO Martin Sorrell commented: “NDTV doesn’t have just their restaurant lawyers involved, they have others as well now. They have upgraded. There is no development. Not to my knowledge, no. NDTV seems to have gone quiet on it.”

    The source said that “there is no point in making noise over nothing till the issue of jurisdiction is settled.”

    On the matter of lawyers, the industry insider explained that there is always a team of lawyers involved in such cases. While a certain set of lawyers worked on the preliminary complaints, when it is time for discussion and arguing in front of the judge another set of lawyers are called in. In essence it is as simple as saying, “Different roles to different lawyers.”

    NDTV has expanded its legal team on the case by getting on board law firm Pepper Hamilton which has handled legal matters for the Indian news broadcaster in the past as well.

    In October, NDTV informed the NYSC that it has dropped action without prejudice against Cavendish Square Holding B.V., J. Walter Thompson, IMRB International, a division of Hindustan Thompson Associates Private Limited, and Kantar Market Research Services Pvt. Ltd. which were named in the original document.

    Earlier this week, Prasar Bharti had approached the Competition Commission of India against India‘s lone TV ratings agency TAM insinuating anti-competitive practices. The pubcaster had filed the complaint against TAM on 16 November alleging that the ratings agency has been using its dominant position in audience measurement by excluding markets where Doordarshan channels have strong presence. The complaint was filed under section 4 of the Competition Act 2002, which pertains to abuse of dominant position by a market player.

  • Martin Sorrell fails to win shareholders support against pay hike

    MUMBAI: Global advertising giant WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell was in for a rude shock as 59.5 per cent shareholders voted
    Wednesday against the proposed 60 per cent hike in his annual pay package at the company’s annual general meeting held in Dublin on 13 June.

    The proposed hike would have increased Sorrell’s pay to ?6.8 million.

    Sorrell’s proposed pay hike had been the topic of debate for the past week as many advisory groups and leading stockholders deemed that the new wage is not in sync with investor returns.

    In his defence, Sorrell said that his role in transforming WPP into an advertising force in 108 countries justified the proposed pay packet of ?6.8 million. According to media reports, his pay package is made up of ? 1.3 million basic salary, ?2 million annual bonus, ?3 million deferred shares and other benefits.

    WPP shares have risen more than 11 per cent this year and despite the on-going financial crisis, the company’s stocks are up over 21 per cent from 5 years ago.

    Over the past year, a lot of companies have faced dissent over CEO’s pay and the shareholders’ views on it. Earlier in the month, British insurer Aviva CEO Andrew Moss was forced to step down after shareholders voted against his remuneration plans.

    In 1985 Sorrell left Saatchi & Saatchi and bought 15 per cent stake in WPP with the intention of building a global advertising business. Over the years, he has continued to make personal investment in the company to the tune of an estimated ?40 million.

    Sorrell‘s stake in the company is worth ?140 million, accounting for less than two per cent holding in modern-day WPP.

    The disagreement by shareholders was not entirely unexpected as last year too, 41 per cent of them voted against his pay hike. Eventually, Sorrell managed to get a hike of 30 per cent and his maximum potential bonus was inflated as well.

    In a related development, nearly 20 per cent plus shareholders voted against the re-election of three directors who are part of the pay committee – Jeffrey Rosen, head of the pay committee (21.8 per cent), and non-executives Ruigang Li (28.7 per cent) and Koichiro Naganuma (29.7 per cent).

    Industry experts are of the opinion that such indicators of non-confidence in the company’s management may in the long run threaten shareholder’s distrust in the way the company is run.

  • Martin Sorrell’s 10 marketing commandments

    Martin Sorrell’s 10 marketing commandments

    MUMBAI: WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell feels that the shift toward the east and south will continue. Apart from China in the East and India in South-East Asia, Sorrell feels that the Germany-Poland-Russian cluster in Eastern Europe will be a force to reckon, along with Russia, as long the price of oil stays above $100 a barrel.

    In the southern hemisphere, Latin America and Brazil hold significant opportunity. Other significant areas would be the Middle East and Africa, particularly South Africa.

    Sorrell was sharing his perspective on the key global trends facing marketers and agencies at the Association of National Advertiser‘s annual Advertising Financial Management conference in Florida.

    Disintermediation would be an important trend as the web will continue to create new business models and an attractive destination for consumers, according to a Forbes report on Sorrell‘s talk at the Association.

    Sorrell also pointed out that there will be shrinkage in capacity in human capital. In many categories there continues to be a supply overcapacity because of the growth of South Korean, Chinese, Indian and Brazilian manufacturing. Though there is no shortage in capacity, human capital is becoming scarcer. The main reason attributed to this is aging population which will make it harder for companies to find, incentivise, and motivate talent 20 years from now.

    According to the WPP CEO, major retailers like Wal-Mart, Tesco, and Carrefour are likely to lean harder on manufacturers of consumer packaged goods as they face a tough competitive environment. The CPG manufacturers will in turn apply more pressure on their suppliers.

    Sorrell predicted that there will be an increase in the importance of internal communications as more CEOs focus on it and make sure that people understand and live ‘the brand‘ as well as the vision and strategy of the company. This will be a key challenge and an opportunity in the coming years.

    As companies are centralising power in response to the increase of local influence, he foresees regional management becoming intermediated and this development will be accelerated technology.

    Observing the fact that the collapse of Lehman Bros. in 2008 impacted corporate more than consumer behaviour. Sorrell predicts that companies are likely to maintain a cautious financial stance for the foreseeable future as finance and procurement play a more active role than marketing.

    In Sorrell‘s opinion, governments will continue to play a bigger role as has been the outcome of the financial crisis.

    Also, sustainability is the central issue for every CEO. Lastly, agency consolidations are driven primarily by compensation pressure, and the relationships and the advertising industry‘s structure are determined by that pressure.