WPP’s Martin Sorrell on what’s changing the creative-tech world
In the many conversations that Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO, WPP engages in – on stage or with the press – there are a few things that stand out: attention to detail, information on fingertips, a sense of humour that people at the receiving end would rather avoid, and a consistency in approach towards what is making WPP stay ahead in the marketing and communication services industry.
There are a few points that will always find their way if any reference to WPP’s philosophy, focus areas or industry trends is made – growth markets, digital, data and horizontality are some of the must-mentions in that. Which is why, when Mr Sorrell speaks about WPP’s investment in content, something that the holding company has engaged in for almost over a decade now, one is reminded that there will always be more to the largest holding company than what is captured in any one conversation.
#Content matters
WPP’s interest in content, which it has seen as an area of strategic importance due to the increasing fragmentation of media saw it invest very early in the likes of The Weinstein Company and WildTangent. In 2007, WPP also invested in Media Rights Capital, followed by an investment in Vice in 2011. Last year Fullscreen, a Peter Chernin company that offers innovative technology and premium services to content creators, was one of the businesses WPP was willing to put its money on. “Our content investment has become very significant in the last few years, and it would continue to grow. In today’s market scenario, technology gives insight into what is working with consumers. Creative folks have applied some these learnings with success as well. At the end however, everything comes back to content,” remarks Mr Sorrell and reminds that this is yet another area, where WPP scores ahead of any of its direct competitors.
#Narrow definition of creative should change
Another area one has often heard Mr Sorrell view his disagreement on is the way creative is defined, especially when it is being compared to other disciplines in the business such as media, digital or even data. “One of the problems with a platform such as Cannes Lions is that creativity has been defined very narrowly. As an ex-CFO, I can tell you, CFOs can be creative. Creativity is a relative term and applies to everything. If you define creativity in the Don Draper sense, that is only 25 per cent of our business. The rest 75 per cent of the 19 billion dollars we have in revenue is in the other areas,” Mr Sorrell points out.
These other areas essentially are media investment, data investment and digital. Data investment is again a space not new to WPP. The discipline has seen evolution from terms such as market research and consumer insights, which Mr Sorrell believes had pushed it too far down in value chain, to data investment management. “When we started calling it data investment management, it suddenly started to grow. I don’t know whether the two events are related but essentially this positions it in a crucial part of our business.”
#Engaging the CIO/CTO with media, digital, data
The evolution of the business itself is not only about the advertising side but importantly also about the marketer side. The marketing function, which is the turf of the Chief Marketing Officer, has new influencers such as the Chief Procurement Officer and now, even the Chief Information Officer or the Chief Technology Officer. “We have to pay attention to these changes. P&G very recently said that 75 per cent of its media buying would be through programmatic. Our business was once about the big idea but there is a shift towards media, data and digital,” Mr Sorrell explains.
The competition set has broadened significantly and gone beyond holding companies to research companies and to a third level which include the more scientific communication companies. “Finding a way to stay relevantly connected with the CIO and CTO is more important and it is our media, digital and data business is our way of getting to these officials
#Women in creative leadership positions
For some time now, many advertising businesses have been questioned on how the management was encouraging a balanced mix on parameters such as gender and in a market such as United States, even on ethnic and cultural diversities. Referring to a recent study that suggested only 4 per cent of leadership roles in creative businesses where held by women, Mr Sorrell comments, “That is appalling and reflects lack of diversity. It is something that should be remedied quickly.” WPP itself has taken a few steps to course correct this
