Difference between revisions of "WPP"

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    introduction
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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. The corporate site is here.
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    evolution of the group
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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.
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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).
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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 [http://www.ketupa.net/wpp.htm]
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    shape
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An indication of WPP's shape and extent is provided here.
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    Y&R
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The group includes Madison Avenue agency Young & Rubicam, co-founded by Raymond Rubicam (1892-1978) and John Orr Young in 1923.
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    O&M
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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.
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    memoirs and studies
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There has been no major academic study of WPP or biography of Martin Sorrell.
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For O&M there are entertaining accounts in Ogilvy on Advertising (New York: Crown 1983), Confessions of an Advertising Man (New York: Atheneum 1963) and Blood, Brains & Beer: the Autobiography of David Ogilvy (New York: Wiley 1997) by David Ogilvy.
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For a somewhat jaundiced view of JWT see Richard Morgan's J Walter Takeover: From Divine Right to Common Stock (Homewood: Dow Jones-Irwin 1991). For Wunderman see Being Direct (New York: Random 1996), a richly anecdotal memoir by Lester Wunderman (1920- ).
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H&K is disussed in The Voice of Business: Hill & Knowlton and postwar public relations (Chapel Hill: Uni of North Carolina Press 1998) by Karen Miller and the more tendentious Power House: Robert Keith Gray & the selling of access and influence in Washington (New York: St Martins 1992) by Susan Trento.
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==Subsidiaries==
 
==Subsidiaries==
 
*[[141 Worldwide]]
 
*[[141 Worldwide]]

Revision as of 13:19, 3 December 2005

    introduction

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. The corporate site is here. 

    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] 

    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. 

    memoirs and studies

There has been no major academic study of WPP or biography of Martin Sorrell.

For O&M there are entertaining accounts in Ogilvy on Advertising (New York: Crown 1983), Confessions of an Advertising Man (New York: Atheneum 1963) and Blood, Brains & Beer: the Autobiography of David Ogilvy (New York: Wiley 1997) by David Ogilvy.

For a somewhat jaundiced view of JWT see Richard Morgan's J Walter Takeover: From Divine Right to Common Stock (Homewood: Dow Jones-Irwin 1991). For Wunderman see Being Direct (New York: Random 1996), a richly anecdotal memoir by Lester Wunderman (1920- ).

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


Subsidiaries

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