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Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive officer of WPP Group during the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on July 27, 2012 in London, England.
- Former WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell made one of his first appearances on Tuesday since resigning amidst allegations of misconduct.
- The ad agency veteran declined to discuss his ouster, but weighed in on the state of ad agencies, the threat posed by consulting firms, and the recent spate of
media mergers. - Sorrell was effusive in his praise of Amazon's ad potential, and mentioned a surprise advantage the company holds over Facebook and Google.
Sir Martin Sorrell is not keeping a low profile. Or his opinions to himself.
The WPP founder and former CEO, who recently resigned from the ad agency holding company amidst a cloud of allegations of misconduct, made a surprise appearance at the Digital Marketing Summit in New York on Tuesday.
During a keynote interview with Luma Partners CEO Terry Kawaja, the 73-year-old Sorrell joked about his current employment situation (or lack thereof) and declined to comment on what led to his ouster. But otherwise, he was candid about the ad industry and did not seem like a man ready to fade into retirement.
Among his more notworthy comments:
On whether Facebook and Google are eating ad agencies' lunch - "No," he said. Undoubtedly the two tech titans are disrupting the ad business. But Sorrell insisted that ad buying giants like WPP still control (and are vital in stewarding) billions in ad spending to these two companies.
One whether consulting giants represent a threat to agencies - Sorrell said yes, but not in the way that some think. Firms like Accenture and Deloitte don't care much for small and mid-sized marketer accounts, Sorrell said. But they have access to C-suite level executives looking for "transformative" moves. This is still risky for agencies, he said, since as soon as big marketers put their accounts up for review, consultants can get CEOs and chief technology officer-type decision makers on the phone.
On media mergers - Sorrell noted that 21st Century Fox executive chairman Rupert Murdoch's decision to sell Fox rather than try and battle for media's future was revealing, and a bit sad. Traditional media companies like Fox simply can't spend the kind of money on programming that Netflix and Amazon can. Therefore, Sorrell therefore urged CBS and Viacom to merge as quickly as possible to compete in a new media landscape ruled by deep pocketed tech firms.
On Amazon making a play to challenge the Google Facebook duopoly - "They are coming, and they are coming big time," he said. And Amazon is a real threat to both Google and Facebook.
Sorrell said that 18 months ago, the industry had hoped that maybe Snap or Verizon's Oath would emerge as a viable third contender to the duopoly. But that didn't happen. "Amazon is where it's at," Sorrell said.
The e-commerce giant also has a surprise advantage in his view. "The people at Amazon are superb." In fact, Sorrell said Amazon's ad executives understand advertisers' needs, and marketing overall, better than Facebook and Google, the industry's two most dominant players.
Amazon engages with ad execs with a sophistication "I have not seen ... among the tech giants."
More than Google and Facebook? "Yes," Sorrell said. "This is a big time issue."