Episode 26 of ‘From Logo to IMPACT’ on Bloomberg TV India featured the legendary Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, addressing a packed house at the 15th exchange4Media Conclave, where among other things; he highlighted the multiple and emerging uses of technology in marketing.
The media doyen also reiterated the need for transparency in operations and expressed his confidence and optimism on the economic landscape of India. The growth and penetration of digital media and their ramifications on traditional media were the focal point of his keynote address. Need, opportunities and challenges of developing new talent was another high point of his presentation.
Earlier, in an exclusive chat with Mini Menon, Executive Editor of Bloomberg TV India, Sir Martin spoke of his four big business announcements in India, investing in education and growth forecast for India.
Mini Menon: You are in India to make four big business announcements. How are you viewing the business opportunity? What is WPP looking at with respect to India at the moment?
Sir Martin Sorrell: India continues to represent double-digit growth. In the area of revenues, we shall be under $ 600 million this year. When I see India, I see growth, really good people, strong creativity and development of a strong digital business. About 15% to 20% of our business is in digital as against the Indian average of 8%. Worldwide, we are close to 40% against the worldwide average of 20%. India ticks all the boxes - fast growth market, digital and data- we have a very strong data business here, we have merged our TAM business with BARC to create the new and more effective measurement tool for online and offline. We are trying to ensure horizontality into our companies - by this we mean working closely with one another. One of the major announcements has been in the activation area.
You are investing in education, and just launched a mass communication programme and your CSR initiative. How big is that going to be and why the focus on education?
The government has said that companies of a certain size must make a CSR effort and take care of all coordination. So we are making a contribution in the area of disadvantaged youth and children. The second area is in education and training. We have the ISDI-WPP initiative - in India we already have a programme up and running with a leading school. It mirrors a similar initiative that we have in China.
Share your views on hiring in India. You hire in a big way in India…
Group M has its own MBA programme to develop media specialists. Through our communication school, we are trying to develop multi-functional people who have an understanding of all the aspects of communication.
Your revenue in India is just under $ 600 million. But for China it is $ 1.6 billion. What is your growth forecast for India?
It is double digit - 10% for this year.
Are clients upping ad spends or being careful?
The biggest problem that we are facing is that clients are cautious worldwide. Take the case of India- India is continuing to expand and the government has a very aggressive and visionary programme. So we are continuing to be very bullish about India. We have well over 40% of the market. This is almost half of the market. We have been here for a really long time and command revenues of $ 600 million. We have a workforce of about 15,000 people. In China, we have about 15% of the market. And revenues totalling $ 1.6 billion. What does this go to say? That India is under-branded and under-advertised. What is amazing is that despite the fact that India has such a large Television-viewing audience and newspaper and magazine reading population, we still haven’t managed to take advertising and marketing to the heights we should have.
You have a big focus on digital, but how big is that pie going to be?
Well, it is currently around 15-20% in India. Worldwide, it is 40%. Because of the growth of mobile and smartphones, India has leap-frogged the PC. The country has transcended traditional platforms and mobility. Smartphones and individual personalized communication are the flavour of the country.
About the Show
Each week, the half-hour weekly show ‘From Logo to IMPACT’, co-produced by exchange4media and Bloomberg TV India, brings together top CMOs, ad gurus and agency heads to provide in-depth analysis of the hottest trends and news in the ad-media-marketing space. Its focus is on the new age economy and new entrants in the advertising space. The show is aired on Bloomberg TV India at 10.30 pm every Wednesday, with repeat telecasts at noon on Saturday and 6.00 pm on Sunday.
