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Tag: WPP

  • WPP bullish on Olympics, fiscal rev up 7.4% to ?10.02 bn

    WPP bullish on Olympics, fiscal rev up 7.4% to ?10.02 bn

    MUMBAI: WPP, the world‘s biggest advertising group, has posted a net profit of ?916.5 million for the fiscal ended 31 December, up 38.7 per cent over the earlier year, and expects the Olympics to give it a further boost this year.

    WPP‘s strong performance in a slowdown year has been led by companies spending towards brand building in emerging markets. It has also managed to protect its market share in the matured markets.

    Revenue grew by 7.4 per cent to ?10.02 billion, from ?99.33 billion in the previous fiscal.

    Geographically, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe and Africa and Middle Eastern region posted maximum year-on-year growth in revenue at 12.5 per cent. The total revenue from the region was ?2.95 billion in 2011 as compared to ?2.62 billion in 2010.

    Meanwhile, UK registered a growth of 8.8 per cent recording an revenue of ? 1.18 billion as opposed to ?1.10 billion in 2010.

    The Western Europe region grew at 7.7 per cent with the revenue increasing from ?2.23 billion in 2010 to ?2.51 in 2011.

    The region to show least growth was North America with 2.7 per cent increase in revenue. The region’s revenue for 2010 was ?3.3 billion while in 2011 it registered revenues of ?3.39 billion.

    Sector wise, the group’s advertising and media investment management wing brought in revenue to the tune of ?4.12 billion in 2011, up 11.4 per cent compared to ?3.73 billion in the year ago period.

    The consumer insight business grew marginally (at 1.1 per cent) to ?2.5 billion.

    The PR and public affairs business recorded growth of 4.8 per cent earning the group ?886 million in 2011, compared to ?845 million in 2010.

    The branding and identity, healthcare and specialist communications sector brought in a revenue of ? 2.5 billion, marking a growth of 8.5 per cent from last year’s ?2.3 billion.

    In the fiscal under review, the WPP group made 24 acquisitions and investments in new markets, 32 in new media and eight in consumer insight. The remaining seven acquisitions were driven by individual client or agency needs.

    WPP said the group’s budget for the year 2012 would be made on conservative basis and will reflect on the faster growing geographical markets like the APAC, Latin America, Africa and Central and East European markets. The focus will be on increasing the revenues and gross margins faster than the industry average.

    The London Olympics, the Uefa Football Championships and November’s US Presidential Elections alone will grow advertising revenues by 1 per cent this year, helping WPP to meet its budgeted forecast of 4 per cent revenue growth, the group stated.

  • Ranjan Kapur is Bates India chairman

    Ranjan Kapur is Bates India chairman

    MUMBAI: Bates India has named Ranjan Kapur as chairman of the agency. This is in addition to his current role as WPP India country head.

    At Bates India the chairman position was vacant as Sonal Dabral had quit in January 2012.

    In his new role, Kapur will work closely with the senior management of Bates India to help develop an organisation structure that offers more relevant ways of engaging with clients and consumers, the company said.

    Kapur said, “Bates has developed an exciting new ‘changengage’ philosophy that helps provide solutions that are both media and discipline neutral, and it has through the line capability and resources, to deliver them.

    To drive this thinking forward we are in conversations with a few new age thinkers and we hope to finalise on the CEO for bates India very shortly.”

    Ranjan has been informally engaged with Bates ever since he stepped down as chairman of Ogilvy.

    Bates 141 regional head of planning Dheeraj Sinha feels that Kapur will help galvanise the people at bates India. He said, “His reputation precedes him and he hasn’t lost any of the passion and drive he displayed when he led Ogilvy to the top.”

    Bates Asia regional head Tim Isaac said, “The recent departures at Bates India, have presented us with an opportunity to put the right leadership in place. I am delighted to renew my partnership with Ranjan. I have worked with Ranjan many times since I first arrived in Singapore in 1986. With Ranjan as chairman and a new CEO in place shortly we will be looking to accelerate our growth in India”.

  • bates unveils new corporate identity

    bates unveils new corporate identity

    MUMBAI: WPP‘s marketing communications network, bates, has unveiled a new corporate identity with changengage as the philosophy for the new agency model.


    The new logo features the bates typeface in contemporary Helvetica and three speech balloons (in original bates pumpkin, red and blue), replacing the former eye mnemonic.


    bates regional executive creative director and India chairman Sonal Dabral explained that the cluster of speech blurbs above the name is symbolic of vibrant conversations and debates that agency aims to provoke through their work. The overlapping blurbs are also a subliminal reminder of tag clouds, the language of now and the future.Lastly the vibrant colours represent the new bates – the younger, more nimble, exciting and sparkling bates, ready to create path breaking and engaging work for clients. 
     
    The new agency model is based on the troika of anagement, creative and planning leaders, supported by young and hungry digital natives. The agency said that its embracing technology across all disciplines to drive the strategies that will deliver new engagement ideas and provoke new conversations.


    “By understanding the larger shifts in people‘s lives, our new
    positioning and thinking readies us to engage this world in new ways, to provoke new conversations with people,” said bates regional planning director Dheeraj Sinha.


    In terms of solutions, a large part of the agency‘s revenue currently comes from engagement (e.g., OOH, online, interactive, shopper marketing, activation, etc). bates says that it will continue to strengthen these pockets of expertise by enriching its talent mix with technologists, shopper marketing planners and designers to deliver more sparkling engagement solutions.


    It will also continue to bolster its Cluster operating model (Greater China, India and Southeast Asia) which provide the means to leverage pockets of category and discipline expertise across markets and offices.

  • WPP’s billings up 5.2 per cent at ?21.4 billion

    WPP’s billings up 5.2 per cent at ?21.4 billion

    MUMBAI: WPP, the world’s largest advertising company, has reported a strong first-half financial performance.

    WPP declared revenue growth of 8.1 per cent in the first half (organic growth of 6.1 per cent), gaining from a robust advertising environment across the world. North American sales increased 5.4 per cent, and growth in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) improved 15 per cent in the first half.

    The company‘s operating margins augmented to 11 per cent from 10.3 per cent in the first half of 2010, with higher profitability in all geographic regions.

    Billings were up 5.2 per cent at ?21.4 billion, while reportable
    revenue has increased by 6.1 per cent at ?4.7 billion.

    The Board of WPP announced its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2011. “Despite recent uncertainties, these results continue the post-Lehman bounce-back seen in 2010 and the Group has now achieved levels of pro-forma revenues and profitability beyond 2008,” said an official statement.

    For the remaining 2011, the company states that slowdown in the growth rate in the United States should be compensated geographically by faster growth in the United Kingdom, Western Continental Europe, “from admittedly low levels”, and faster escalation in Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East and Central and Eastern Europe.

    “Functionally, any slowdown in traditional media spending, is similarly forecast to be covered by increasing digital spending and, in our case, by continued growth in media investment management,” an official statement stated.

  • WPP to outsource finance jobs to India

    WPP to outsource finance jobs to India

    MUMBAI: Cut and snip. That‘s what global advertising agency group WPP is resorting to in the midst of rising costs and a tough economy.

    It is proposing to outsource the jobs being done by those being chopped from its North American operations – mainly in the finance and billing area — to India, reports Ad Age. And the likely Indian beneficiary: Genpact.

    The report in Ad Age stated that all together around 100 professionals will be eased out of the agency network in the US in the coming months, and it covers Ogilvy & Mather, JWT, Grey, Y&R and Wunderman.

    Ogilvy is expected to drop 85 professionals in the next 18 months; Grey as many as 30 people beginning in mid-2012, while JWT could dunk 16 people or fewer.

  • WPP buys stake in motorsports marketing company

    WPP buys stake in motorsports marketing company

    MUMBAI: Two months after forming a joint venture with IMG Worldwide, WPP is again propelling its sports-marketing capabilities.

    WPP, the world‘s largest communications services group, has made a strategic investment in a motorsports marketing company, Just Marketing International (JMI).

    WPP also owns a London-based sports-marketing firm Prism, and may look at other deals in the sector down the road.

    JMI represents a broad portfolio of global brands with an established presence in all key international series, including Formula 1, NASCAR, IndyCar, The World Rally Championship and the major sportscar categories.

    The financial details of the agreement are unknown, but Just Marketing has been valued at $100 million.
     
    According to an official communiqué, the investment represents a strategic affiliation by both parties to leverage expertise and elevate client insights and solutions. JMI will have access to WPP‘s global network while providing a direct route for WPP clients to be introduced to motorsports.

    Spire Capital, which took a majority stake in JMI in 2008, remains the principal shareholder and Brown the second largest shareholder. WPP takes a minority equity stake and has representation on the board of JMI, with the Credit Suisse Customised Fund Investment Group completing the shareholder group.

    JMI CEO Zak Brown commented, “I am thrilled with WPP‘s investment in JMI. It represents a significant development for the company and an endorsement of our expertise from the biggest global player in the industry. The benefits to JMI, its people and most importantly our clients, will be substantial and I am excited by the potential of this alliance.”

    WPP Director of Corporate Development Andrew Scott added: “We are strong believers in the marketing power of international motorsports for global brands. JMI is a leading company in the sector so this investment is a natural fit for WPP and will help to offer our clients exciting new opportunities in the field of motorsports.”

    Last year, WPP reported revenue of $14.8 billion. The company has 146,000 employees in 2,400 offices.

    WPP owns a number of the world‘s best known and most powerful advertising, public relations and market research networks, including Grey, Burson-Marsteller, Hill & Knowlton, JWT, Ogilvy Group, TNS and Young & Rubicam.

    According to company officials, WPP handles $70 billion in advertising annually and does business with 340 of the companies on the Fortune 500 list.  

  • WPP launches digital media buying unit

    WPP launches digital media buying unit

    MUMBAI: WPP, the world’s largest marketing group by sales, has created a unit for buying digital media to combine its data and technology resources with the trading leverage of its GroupM agencies.

    Xaxis will directly compete with products by Google and Microsoft and aims to aggregate consumer data from on- and offline sources to deliver audience profiles to clients for more targeted advertising. It comprises GroupM and WPP Digital companies B3, targ.ad, GoldNetwork, GroupM DSP, GroupM Marketplace and MEC.

    Xaxis will be led by CEO Brian Lesser, who previously served as global general manager of the Media Innovation Group (MIG), WPP’s digital marketing technology company.

    Advertising giants are endeavouring to capture a larger share in the ever growing market of Internet advertising and simplifying it. Simultaneously, some of the world’s biggest advertisers are also looking to consolidate their marketing mandate with fewer, bigger agencies.

    WPP’s rivals, Publicis and Omnicom, already have their own digital media initiatives.

    While Publicis created Vivaki in 2008, Omnicom has partnered with companies such as Google, AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo, to offer digital media tools.

    Lesser said Xaxis is different because it operates a proprietary technology platform without bias to any media company, and hence can better provide objective and comprehensive insight.

    GroupM Interaction CEO Rob Norman added, “As a proprietary platform, Xaxis is able to better protect client data, more effectively integrate real-time bidding with search and more seamlessly execute campaigns across multiple media owners and digital platforms.”

    WPP’s introduction of Xaxis indicates the rapidly growing importance of audience buying and the demand for solutions that allow advertisers to target specific audiences directly, independent of website, app or media platform.

  • IMG, WPP join forces for global licensing collaboration

    IMG, WPP join forces for global licensing collaboration

    MUMBAI: Communications services group WPP and IMG Worldwide, the global sports, fashion and media company, have announced a worldwide partnership to collaborate in offering consumer products licensing and merchandising services.

    As part of the multi-year agreement, WPP and IMG will establish a joint team and share resources to offer and provide licensing services to clients from WPP‘s portfolio of agencies. 
     
    WPP CEO Martin Sorrell commented, “More than ever, licensing is emerging as one of the new creative ways of developing brands and sales. It is a capability we see as increasingly important to our clients. We wanted to offer this important discipline in a global execution and with the market leader – that is IMG. In our view, there could be no better partner to help us achieve our goals in this area.”

    IMG‘s Sports and Entertainment Group president George Pyne said, “WPP‘s agencies have an impressive roster of clients coupled with the brand knowledge and consumer insights that come from years of experience working with them. We believe that our global execution capability and specialized expertise in the licensing business coupled with their deep-rooted knowledge and relationships with certain client companies can yield some very beneficial and successful partnerships. This is a really natural collaboration that was waiting to happen.”
     
    Executives from the WPP-IMG partnership will be meeting with advertisers who have expressed interest in developing brand licensing programmes or who have potential to do so.
     
    The new WPP venture is an additive unit to IMG Licensing‘s existing operations and the latter will continue to serve existing and new clients without change.
     

  • Hindware gets a new identity & positioning

    Hindware gets a new identity & positioning

    MUMBAI: Sanitary ware products manufacturer, HSIL, has unveiled a new identity for its ceramic brand, Hindware.

    With the new identity, the company intends to position Hindware as a young, vibrant and contemporary brand, which is representative of ‘Change, Positivity and Passion‘.

    Hindware‘s new brand identity is designed by UK’s design consultancy Fitch, a part of WPP.

    The change in the identity of Hindware showcases the transition of the original logo, which was symbolic of quality and reliability, to the new young logo that reflects confidence and dynamism while maintaining the core values for which the brand has stood for across the years.

    HSIL joint managing director Sandip Somany said, “Hindware is one of the most prestigious brands in India today and it gives me immense pleasure to introduce the new brand identity to all our customers and stakeholders. We at HSIL believe that change lies at the core of evolution. It is this philosophy that helps us keep up with evolving consumers and markets.”

    The new look will flow across products, packaging, signage and all communication. As a part of Hindware’s promotion strategy, it plans to roll out a pan-India campaign across the media spectrum. This will comprise both ATL (above-the-line) and BTL (below-the-line) activities.

    ATL activities will include print and electronic media with all major dailies, magazines and general interest, business and news channels.

    Providing additional support will be the outdoor and radio campaigns. While BTL activities will consist of road shows, product parades along with on-ground mall activities and interesting initiatives at dealer outlets will promote the new brand identity.

    The fresh identity is in a shade of red. The readable and simple lower case font has been chosen to portray the brand as ‘engaging and approachable’ and is immediately recognisable as Hindware.

    The logo aims to convey modernity and an innate sense of style. The brand graphic element derives from the negative and positive space found within the new brand identity. It creates an additional layer of brand recognition and recall and can be used across all brand applications.

    Somany said, “The new look reinforces the trust and equity in consumers minds and reaffirms the credibility of the brand. The new face of brand Hindware symbolises a set of values that are- ‘young, global, contemporary and dynamic’. The unique brand identity supports our desire to balance function and form to the highest degree. This fresh rendition is a manifestation of the global outlook of brand Hindware and reflects the group’s ambitions and commitment. Therefore, it is a fundamental change for us going forward.”
     

  • GroupM forecasts global ad spending to surpass $500 bn in 2011

    GroupM forecasts global ad spending to surpass $500 bn in 2011

    MUMBAI: Global ad spending in measured media is expected to exceed $500 billion for the first time ever next year following an economic recovery that also sparked significant ad spending increases in 2010, according to a revised report from GroupM.

    The report also revealed that digital media outlets are challenging newspapers as the world’s number-two preferred medium (behind television) in measured advertising investment.

    The 70-country forecast predicted that worldwide ad spending in 2011 will reach almost $502 billion, a 5.8 per cent increase over 2010 spending of $474 billion. In the U.S. 2011 spending is expected to hit $147.7 billion, a 3.7 per cent increase over the $142.5 billion invested in 2010.

    The study, This Year, Next Year also forecasted that ad spending in 2010 is expected to increase by 5.9 per cent over the $448 billion spent in 2009; in the US, 2010 spending increased 1.2 per cent over 2009, when almost $141 billion in ad expenditures was reported.

    The study is part of GroupM’s media and marketing forecasting series drawn from data supplied by parent company WPP’s worldwide resources in advertising, public relations, market research, and specialist communications. It was released by GroupM Futures Director Adam Smith and GroupM Chief Investment Officer Rino Scanzoni at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference.

    Scanzoni said, “We’ve seen a significant rebound in advertising spending in the U.S over the last six months. Television and online media have been the primary beneficiaries of the rebound in spending. In television, the growth is driven by local TV as political advertising—coupled with the resurgence in growth from the retail and auto categories—has risen from the historically depressed levels of 2009.”

    Scanzoni added that moderately accelerated growth is anticipated in 2011 as corporations with significant cash reserves deploy investment in marketing and advertising to drive top-line growth.

    Measured global advertising has recovered nearly all the dollars lost in 2009, according to the report, which also said the recovery has been broad-based with spending increases reported in categories including toiletries and cosmetics, automotive, beverages, retail, financial services, entertainment, and food among others.

    Significantly, the report said measured internet advertising is expected to contribute 37 percent of global ad growth in 2011 and is likely to reach $82 billion, a growth rate that suggests it will overtake newspaper spending (forecast at $90 billion in 2011) at some point in 2012.

    “Internet spending may indeed already have eclipsed newspapers if one allows that measured internet ad investment does not include substantial advertiser investment in content creation, search-engine optimization and analysis,” commented Smith.

    Nations expected to contribute the largest dollar amounts in 2011 ad spending growth are the U.S. and China, each with at least $5 billion, followed by Canada, Russia, Indonesia, India, Brazil and Japan, each expected to add $1 billion-plus in spending growth.