Global marketing services group WPP is "certainly not an advertising agency any more" WPP head Martin Sorrell told the ad:tech New York conference, as he recommitted the group to a digital future.
Sorrell said WPP would be more focussed on developing Eastern markets, more involved in digital media and towards helping clients quantitatively analyze media spend. "WPP's strategy can be summed up in one simple sentence: new markets, new media and consumer insight," he said.
Digital spending, which already accounts for 25% of WPP’s $14 billion revenues, would increase significantly over the next five years with brands allocating over 20% of total spend to digital by 2015, up from the current 13%.
Sorrell blamed the current lower spend on the fact that senior people in the marketing services industry did not understand the potential of digital well enough and were not giving their clients the best advise about media spend.
Repositioning WPP away from being an ad agency, Sorrell said that “technology was at the centre of its development”. Whilst Sorrell is committed to a digital future for WPP, this is not the first time and won’t be the last time that ad agencies reposition themselves. Remember when they were no longer ad agencies but idea companies.
When the descriptors have been said and done it is about brand strategy, brand positioning, brand communication, brand interaction and brand resonance.
Great post Patrick - I love the idea of agencies as "Idea companies". So true today when brand relevance and resonance is not necessarily tied to an ad!
Posted by: Charlie Quirk | November 06, 2009 at 01:20 AM