Martin Sorrell, the head of WPP, the world's largest communications conglomerate, met with Forbes India to review some of his recent Big Bets.
The Man
Martin Sorrell, 64, CEO of £ 7.5 billion WPP Group, a global marketing and communications Goliath made up of dozens of companies
His Mission
Competing with or co-opting every trend, technology or competitor that could threaten his global empire
His Big Bets
Expand WPP aggressively through acquisitions, which started back in the late 80’s with the JWT Group and Ogilvy Group
Create innovative structures within WPP to support large global clients, like Enfatico, an integrated agency for Dell
Bees in his Bonnet
The fact that the press and many in the industry are always rooting for the Davids while hoping Goliaths like WPP trip over
That his industry culture is to “nick and steal” talent instead of hiring bright people from colleges and training them
His Vision for India
With a 40% market share, sit pretty, and ramp up the delivery of global production capabilities to WPP companies and clients.
What’ll it take for that to change?
People’s attitudes will need to change. There is still an anti-intellectual element in our industry. Charles Saatchi [founder of advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi] said in his book, “You don’t need academic qualifications in this industry.” Well that may be partly true, but all things being equal, I see someone who’s taken the time to go to a good design, art, business school or university or even engineering school… I’d prefer them to someone who didn’t. There is this sort of anti-academic, we haven’t had in agencies like Ogilvy, JWT and Y&R that are in a sense blue-blooded.
What are you doing within the WPP network to drive more of outcome based pricing for clients rather than the traditional systems of commission?
I watch with some amazement, even some amusement, at articles that talk of the revolutionary incentive-based compensation based on results. Outcome by results has been around for years. What differs is the extent of the payment — the proportion between fixed and variable — and also the way the variable is structured. And we experiment with that all the time.
(This story appears in the 25 September, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)