Insight at the Heart of New WPP

Global communications group WPP is planning to move away from its role as a traditional media and advertising supplier, to concentrate on becoming a more insight-led organisation, says CEO Sir Martin Sorrell.

Sorrell says this change of direction will move the company away from the business models of rivals such as Omnicom, IPG and Publicis, towards those created by Nielsen, IPSOS, GfK and even Thomson-Reuters and Bloomberg.

Following last year's buyout of TNS, WPP revenues currently stand at around £15bn, of which £4bn is generated by its consumer insight group of companies, which sit under its Kantar brand.

Sorrell supported the move by quoting recent research from IAB which highlighted that 87% of clients are looking for their agencies to provide value by offering 'strategic consumer insight'.

'Clients won't move in the future unless they get quantitative justification for what they do,' stated Sorrell. 'We may not like it - creative departments of ad agencies certainly don't - but that's the way the world's going.'

Sorrell founded WPP in 1985, and the group is now present in 106 countries with more than 150 companies.

Web sites: www.wpp.com and www.kantargroup.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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