Sorrell says that majority of WPP business will come from fast-growth markets and digital in five years
Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, has today unveiled his first post as part of the influencer programme on LinkedIn, stating that he expects the majority of its revenue to be from digital and fast growth markets within the next five years.
Following a week which has seen WPP acquire a majority stake in ScanGroup in Kenya, BrandAnalytics in Brazil and Designercity in Hong Kong, Sorrell stated in the post: “Our strategy is simple: new markets, new media, data investment management and last but not least “horizontality”. That last one may sound a bit clunky, but essentially it means getting our 165,000 people in 110 countries to work together even more effectively for our clients.
“Sometimes our industry – advertising and marketing services or communications services – may seem to forget what we’re in business for. Our four objectives simply reflect the most significant recent general trends in client behaviour, and a strategic response to them.
“And we’re giving a lot of thought to raising the levels of our strategic intent even further."
He added that the company will now accelerate its growth strategy, raising its target in fast-growth markets and new media to at least 40-45 per cent each over the coming five years and added that he planned for WPP staff across 110 countries to work together "more effectively" for its clients.
He also stated that the company's data investment management was around a quarter of the business, but that WPP would develop its “horizontality” approach by adding to its 35 client leaders and over a dozen country managers.
In a guarded jibe at the merger between Omnicom and Publicis to form Publicis Omnicom, he added: "Others in our industry may take strategic leaps backwards for various odd or inconsistent or contradictory reasons. We’ll remain focussed, actually even more focussed, on our long-established and consistent strategy, on future developments and on accelerating implementation.
"That’s how we’ll really add value to our clients’ businesses – while others find themselves distracted by internal stresses and strains."
Sorrell also referenced the acquisition of the Washington Post by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, proclaiming that "a new breed of media owner has very much arrived."
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