Sorrell to Ad:Tech: You're lucky to have me

Martin Sorrell is apparently much in demand on the conference circuit. While speaking at Ad:Tech in New York on Wednesday morning, the WPP CEO reminded organizers not once but twice that they'd asked him for three years to appear before he agreed to grace the assembled digital nerds with his presence. Sorrell used the occasion to stroll Oprah style into the crowd at the Jacob Javits Center and basically regurgitate WPP's three-pronged strategy of focusing on emerging markets, digital media and consumer insights. A couple pieces of good news: The economy is "less worse," and WPP now finds Google a "much friendlier frenemy." A downer for the agency world came when Sorrell talked about industries dealing with "overcapacity" by shrinking their cost bases. That means more procurement torture sessions. "I have never known clients more focused on cost as they are now," Sorrell said, noting he's been in the business 33 years.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Previously on AdFreak:
Sorrell not faring too badly in this recession
Sir Martin discovers new passion: blogging

Published on November 4, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Martin Sorrell, Morrissey, WPP

Sir Martin discovers new passion: blogging

Sadly, as in years past, I had to miss Davos this year. Bummer. Luckily, WPP CEO and Davos fixture Martin Sorrell is blogging from the World Economic Forum for the Financial Times. That social-media tutorial is coming in handy. So far, he's posted three entries—and one inscrutable photo of himself wearing an Obama ski hat and standing with a dog in the snow. What's clear is that Sir Martin doesn't like crowds. In fact, I get the distinct impression he doesn't think many of his fellow attendees are important enough to be there and make him wait on line. This is how he began an entry yesterday, ostensibly about a chat the Chinese premier gave: "Far too crowded. Probably 500 people over the top. Last year 2000 was heavy, 2600 is too many. Some can't attend sessions even having tried to book online from home. Participant numbers should be reduced. Security is also very tight, aggravated by the crush. There are heavy lines and queuing, especially early in the morning."

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Published on January 30, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Martin Sorrell, Morrissey, WPP

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

Published on January 7, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (5)
Filed under Digital, Facebook, Martin Sorrell, Morrissey, Wii, WPP

Google envy alive and well at WPP Group

It sometimes seems like the specter of an all-powerful Google is never far from the braintrust at WPP Group. Sir Martin Sorrell, after all, memorably labeled the Internet giant as a “frenemy.” Now the Google juggernaut is taking on a celestial role. During a panel at yesterday’s MIXX conference, WPP Digital CEO Mark Read was asked one of those impossible conference questions: Who will be the winners and losers of the mass consolidation happening in the digital space? Like most panelists, he dodged the question. (Google ad chief Tim Armstrong said, somewhat implausibly, “the end users.”) Instead, Read ended the session with a zinger. “I couldn’t sleep this morning,” he said, “so I typed in Google, ‘Is there a God?’ I got back, ‘There is now.’ ” UPDATE: Perhaps Mark Read is a Fredric Brown fan.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Published on September 26, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Martin Sorrell, Morrissey

McCann goofs again. Sorrell’s a comedian. Just another year at Cannes.

No one can accuse Michael Roth of free spending with IPG money. The holding-company CEO ordered a “special meal” at Howard Draft’s annual Hotel du Cap lunch, but it isn’t as precious as you might think. Instead of the fancy French cuisine and wine that the rest of the crew was gorging on, Roth, explaining that he’s more of a meat-and-potatoes guy, chowed on a cheeseburger and fries. • McCann recovered from one gaffe only to stumble into another. Ditching the extravagance of a yacht party on the Christina O, which they got shit for last year (following IPG’s billionth restatement), the agency hosted a more subdued party this year that raised money for Doctors without Borders to boot! Nice touch, boys. But then the chuckleheads didn’t invite one of their biggest clients who were in town (yeah, all together now) to spend time with their agencies. We know this ticked off said client, because they complained to us about it. Note to McCann: Whip out your client list, remember who was in Cannes, figure out who you dissed, and start doing a little of this. • Some clients have impressive stamina, but wield it for different purposes. The cool ones, like the Adidas client, were hanging out at the Carlton Terrace until the wee hours. The pain-in-the-ass clients, like Diamond Trading Co., chose to torture their agency by having a nine-hour meeting. Nine hours! In Cannes! And then some of the poor bastards in the meeting got dragged out to dinner afterward. That’s just mean. • Speaking of Adidas: Unlike the ingrate Richard Branson of Virgin, who practically put his account into review on stage while accepting his Advertiser of the Year award a few years back, Ulrich Becker of Adidas not only thanked his agencies (including TBWA and 180) by name but cited some key agency execs, also by name. It made the acceptance speech a bit longer, but for good reason. I may hang up my Nikes. • Martin Sorrell has a sense of humor. Who knew? During a nearly seven-minute presentation at WPP’s “Evening of Pecha Kucha” (which means “chit chat” in Japanese), Sir Martin poked fun at his own reputation by declaring his hatred for everything, from clients to creatives to Shelly Lazarus to WPP board members to “something called the work/life balance.” His ideal board? Poodles. Specifically, “two executive poodles, two independent poodles and me.” His ideal creative department? A machine into which clients would feed briefs and receive a campaign. But his ultimate dream, he anounced, was to pool all clients and all accounts into one giant global campaign with the slogan, “Buy more stuff.” Naturally, he said, “it’s a WPP account.”

—Posted by Team Cannes

Photo: Eric Tu

Published on June 27, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (3)
Filed under Martin Sorrell

Sorrell disparaged again, may feel small

David Ogilvy called him an “odious little jerk.” George Parker refers to him as the Poisoned Dwarf. Now, WPP’s Martin Sorrell is taking some more stick—from an ad exec in China who has severed relations with Grey (recently acquired, of course, by WPP) and formed an alliance with Omnicom, apparently because of unpleasant dealings with Sorrell. At a press conference in Beijing, Yan Gang, CEO of Citic Guoan Group, said Sorrell “had absolutely no manners, no upbringing and no culture,” according to Bloomberg, via The New York Times. It appears that Yan declined to make fun of Sorrell’s height. That’s where Putney Swope picks up the slack: “It was believed that Sorrell didn’t intentionally snub Yan but rather didn’t see him given his severe height advantage over the Asian business leader.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Photo: Jim Winslet

Published on June 12, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Martin Sorrell

Sorrell bashes ‘wounded animal’ IPG

True to his chosen profession, WPP CEO Martin Sorrell knows how to turn a colorful phrase. Take his comments Thursday morning at the International Advertising Association New York chapter’s Global Marketing Summit. Asked about other advertising holding companies, he described Interpublic Group as a company that has taken to making “irrational acts of a wounded animal.” The comment came a day after word surfaced that IPG was in talks to combine its Draft and Foot Cone & Belding agencies. Sir Martin did not specifically cite which IPG acts he was referring to. But others have questioned the logic of the Draft/ FCB move, with one ad exec calling it “desperate.” Sorrell also had a response to recent public criticism of him by a person he didn’t name but who was obviously Euro RSCG CEO Ron Berger. Earlier this month at the 4A’s management conference, Berger, the outgoing chairman of the organization, accused Sorrell of being more concerned with his company’s bottom line and less concerned with the value of his agency brands and their service to clients. The criticism, said Sorrell, was made with “no research” and “no insight.” So back it up next time, Ron. Meanwhile, Joe Uva, worldwide CEO of OMD, was the lunchtime speaker at the IAA event Thursday and had the crowd roaring with his heartfelt appreciation for being invited to speak. But the thank-you was simply a setup for yet another slam on Sorrell. “It’s not so often I get to be the tallest,” Uva quipped.

—Posted by Steve McClellan

Photo: Jim Winslet

Published on April 28, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Martin Sorrell

Sorrell finds Murdoch in a panic

WPP Group chief Sir Martin Sorrell may have Internet-related investments of his own, but when it comes to Rupert Murdoch’s investments in cyberspace, he finds the News Corp. chief  “panicking,” according to a speech he gave to Europe’s Internet Advertising Bureau conference “Engage 2005.” According to a story in The Guardian (you have to register, but it’s free), Sorrell said, “[Murdoch] must have been panicking because he even said he might hire McKinsey to help him out with his strategy.” Since July, Murdoch’s News Corp. has bought Intermix, owner of myspace.com and IGN Entertainment, among others. This does not mean, however, that Sorrell is blissfully unconcerned of how changes in media are affecting traditional media companies. "Saying, well, the next generation, my kids, and my grandkids, are going to have very different media consumption patterns is a little bit of a cop-out. It's actually happening now," he said.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Credit: Graham Trott

Published on October 28, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Martin Sorrell

Sorrell paying the big bucks in divorce

It hasn’t been a good week for WPP CEO Martin Sorrell when it comes to women. First was the fallout sparked by WPP creative guru Neil French’s derogatory remarks about females in advertising. Now come the details about Sorrell’s divorce settlement. The very competitive Sorrell has always been keenly interested in WPP becoming the industry’s largest player, which it briefly was after the acquisition of Young & Rubicam in 2000. (WPP is currently No. 2, behind Omnicom.) But this is one situation in which being the biggest is a boast Sorrell probably would have preferred not to make: In what is said to be the most costly marital payout in U.K. history, Sorrell’s wife, Sandra, stands to receive $54 million in cash, property and other assets as they dissolve their 33-year union. Among some of the juicier details are the former Lady Sorrell’s receipt of two underground parking spaces at Harrod’s. The 24-page British High Court divorce document contains embarrassing revelations about a man who enjoys the perks and power of running an $11.6 billion global company: In his own Knightsbridge mansion, Sorrell was banished to living in the basement as his marriage broke down.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Photo: Graham Trott

Published on October 25, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (4)
Filed under Martin Sorrell

Everybody loves Martin? Maybe not

At the first Dynamic Duos presentation on Monday for Advertising Week, BBDO CEO Andrew Robertson couldn’t pass up the opportunity to poke a little fun at his old boss, WPP Group CEO Martin Sorrell. (Robertson worked for Ogilvy & Mather in London in the 1990s before joining Omnicom’s AMV BBDO London.) Robertson was showing the audience at the Time Warner Center the Web site that BBDO’s @tmosphere designed for the new Motorola Rokr phone, which features iTunes service for subscribers of Cingular Wireless, a BBDO client. The site, makemedance.com, enables users to click on a figure and make it dance to a genre of music. Robertson had a headshot of Sorrell grafted atop one of the dancing figures, saying he had always wanted to see the man dance. Activating the command, Robertson barked “Dance, bitch!” as Sorrell gyrated across the screen. Hilarity ensued.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Photo: Graham Trott

Published on September 27, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Martin Sorrell

TV overload for Sir Martin?

Now that Samsung has entered the WPP fold, we wonder which brand of television Sir Martin Sorrell will choose to watch in his home.

As holding-company pitches become more frequent, so does talk of client conflicts and brand loyalty. Back in the good ole days, when actual advertising agencies, not their holding-company parents, pitched accounts, brand loyalty was clear-cut.

Phil Dusenberry drank Pepsi and only Pepsi. Martin Puris drove the Ultimate Driving Machine. Keith Reinhard ate at McDonald’s. OK, so maybe he didn’t eat there often, but you wouldn’t catch him in a Burger King, that’s for sure.

With so many competing brands under one roof, holding-company honchos have always had the luxury of choosing among a whole host of brands in a single category. Omnicom, for instance, houses something like a gazillion car accounts. I’m sure it’s no surprise that John Wren is more partial to Mercedes (at Merkley) than, say, Nissan (at TBWA).

But considering Sir Martin personally had a hand (and a heavy one at that) in winning Samsung for WPP and its agencies, doesn’t that make it a tad more personal? Wouldn’t that client expect him to be partial to its brands?

Besides Samsung, WPP has Sony (at Y&R) and LG (at Ogilvy and BrandBuzz). So what’s Sir Martin’s preference? May we suggest a multimedia wall consisting of all of the above? And while he’s at it, he might as well leave room for more.

--Posted by Alison Fahey

Published on November 22, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Martin Sorrell