WPP

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WPP’s 2001 revenues were $5791m: Advertising accounted for 46%; specialist communications, 27%; info and consultancy, 15%; and public relations and affairs, 12.3%. Including associates, the Group had over 65,000 full-time people in over 1,400 offices in 103 countries at the end of 2001. In 2001 WPP worked for over 300 of the Fortune Global 500 companies and over half of the Nasdaq 100. WPP serviced 330 national or multi-national clients in three or more disciplines and over 150 clients in four disciplines. Globally, WPP worked with over 100 clients in six or more countries (WPP, 2001, p. 2).


The global WPP group encompasses the J. Walter Thompson, Ogilvy & Mather, Tempus, Grey Global and Young & Rubicam advertising agencies. The conglomerate also includes public relations, media planning and buying, marketing and research services through Hill & Knowlton, Burson-Marsteller, MindShare and The Kantar Group.

evolution of the group

WPP czar Martin Sorrell was the 'third brother' at Saatchi & Saatchi (now part of Publicis) from 1975 to 1986 before acquiring UK shopping cart manufacturer Wire & Plastic Products (WPP). He used WPP as a vehicle for acquiring 'below-the-line' advertising-related businesses.

In 1987 he made a successful US$566m hostile bid for the venerable J. Walter Thompson. Two years later he expanded the group through the US$825m purchase of the equally prestigious Ogilvy & Mather, despite opposition from ad icon David Ogilvy (1911-1999).

In 2003 WPP successfully bid for the ailing Cordiant group, acquired for a mere US$17 million (plus assumption of debts). It acquired Grey Global in 2004 with cash and shares worth just over US$1.3bn (£720m). As of 2000 Grey had sales of US$1,247 million and earnings of US$19 million.Source [1]

Management

Koichiro Naganuma was appointed a director in 2004. He is president and group chief operating officer of Asatsu-DK. Mr. Nagauma joined Asatsu-DK in 1981 and his roles have included executive director of the International Division, managing director of Asatsu Worldwide Company and President of the Overseas Network. He replaces Masao Inagaki on the Board who retired upon the appointment of Mr. Naganuma. Asatsu-DK is Japan's third largest advertising and communications company, in which WPP took a 20% interest in 1998.

As CEO of Olayan Financing Company, Lubna Olayan is responsible for the Olayan Group's business and investments in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. In December 2004, she was elected to the Board of Saudi Hollandi Bank, the first woman to be elected to the board of a Saudi listed company. From 1996 through 2004, she served on the board of Chelsfield, the UK property developer. She is a member of INSEAD's International Council and a trustee of the Arab Thought Foundation. She is also a member on the Arab Business Council and the Women's Leadership Initiative of the World Economic Forum]].

John Quelch was appointed a director in 1988. He is Senior Associate Dean and Lincoln Filene Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Between 1998 and 2001 he was Dean of the London Business School. He also serves as chairman of the Massachusetts Port Authority. Professor Quelch is an expert on global business practice in emerging as well as developed markets, international marketing and the role of the multinational corporation and the nation state. He is a non-executive director of Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc. and served previously on the boards of Blue Circle Industries plc, easyJet plc, Pentland Group plc and Reebok International Limited.

shape

An indication of WPP's shape and extent is provided here.

Y&R

The group includes Madison Avenue agency Young & Rubicam, co-founded by Raymond Rubicam (1892-1978) and John Orr Young in 1923.

O&M

David Ogilvy (famous for quips such as "The consumer is not a moron, she is your wife") founded New York-based agency Hewitt, Ogilvy, Benson & Mather in 1948 after entering the industry at age 38. The name changed to Ogilvy Benson & Mather in 1953, became Ogilvy & Mather International in 1965 through a merger with Ogilvy's original backers London agency Mather & Crowther, and was renamed Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide in the mid-80s before being put into Mr Sorrell's shopping cart.

Further reading

David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising (New York: Crown 1983), David Ogilvy, Confessions of an Advertising Man (New York: Atheneum 1963) David Ogilvy, Blood, Brains & Beer: the Autobiography of David Ogilvy (New York: Wiley 1997)

Richard Morgan, J Walter Takeover: From Divine Right to Common Stock (Homewood: Dow Jones-Irwin 1991). Lester Wunderman, Being Direct (New York: Random 1996).

Karen Miller, The Voice of Business: Hill & Knowlton and postwar public relations (Chapel Hill: Uni of North Carolina Press 1998) Sudan Trento, Power House: Robert Keith Gray & the selling of access and influence in Washington (New York: St Martins 1992).

Subsidiaries

PR and Lobbying firms


Full list of subsidiaries

A-C

D-F

G-I

J-L

M-O

P-R

S-U

V-Z

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