Amid downturn, WPP brass poke each other
We all deal with economic catastrophe in our own ways. For WPP's top echelon of executives, it means enjoying a little Wii and Facebook. A new BusinessWeek story recounts a meeting in Athens, Greece, in October where WPP's board discussed—wait for it—how the company could prepare itself for digital media. The Internet is big, who knew? (Agency Spy, for one, is incensed about this.) A top priority for these execs: getting Facebook accounts. In this endeavor, WPP's titans of advertising got help from none other than Mark Zuckerberg himself. BusinessWeek reports that 63-year-old WPP CEO Martin Sorrell has already lost interest in the site, but others have been liking it. "The directors had fun, but the exercise was meant to help them fully grasp the phenomenon of social networks and how they may affect the ad business," according to BusinessWeek. Ah, but there's more. Apparently, WPP's top 3,000 managers get training courses on things like Twitter. I don't begrudge anyone for trying to make money, but training ad people on Twitter? I tried to find Sir Martin on Facebook to write on his wall. Alas, I can't seem to locate him. —Posted by Brian Morrissey |
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January 7, 2009 in Digital, Facebook, Martin Sorrell, Morrissey, Wii, WPP | Permalink |
Comments
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This blog article was a bit of a tease.
After reading in the title that executives were poking each other, TTG was expecting a juicy read.
Posted by: TunaTacoGrande | Jan 7, 2009 10:47:45 AM
I think it's an awesome headline. The whole Sorrell exercise is so idiotic, years late and pointless. While there are certainly people working at WPP that understand this new fangled internet thing, this just wreaks of trying to teach an old dog new tricks. It rarely works.
Posted by: Steve Hall | Jan 7, 2009 11:39:16 AM
I've been following this "internet fad" for so long now, I can barely remember the days of yesteryear when I was just a seventh grader setting up my first AOL account. I guess becoming accustomed to social media is like learning to ski: easy when you're young and reckless, terrifying when you're old. Even my parents still see the internet this way:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34103850@N03/3176546975/
Posted by: sleeping in my party dress | Jan 7, 2009 11:43:21 AM
we have to be doing it in the facebooks, with the twittering.
Posted by: dino | Jan 7, 2009 12:51:05 PM
I cannot believe that this is true. It's astonishing that these people are that lost. It's not because they are old, it's because they are stupid.
Posted by: Terry | Jan 7, 2009 3:08:36 PM
