Sorrell Positive On Global Advertising Recovery
WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell sounded an uncharacteristically optimistic note on the prospect of a global advertising recovery when he unveiled the company’s annual report yesterday.
Sorrell is usually reluctant to be overly upbeat when predicting the industry’s fortunes and has so far refused to call an end to the worst advertising downturn in living memory. However, he now believes the outlook for advertisers is ‘good’ and ‘getting even better’.
The advertising chief told shareholders that WPP, which owns J Walter Thompson, Ogilvy & Mather and Young & Rubicam, would strengthen its business this year and show signs of further improvement next year.
According to a report in today’s Times, Sorrell emphasised that the long-term prospects would get even better for global marketing services because of the combination of a number of major international trends.
He said: “Advancing Americanisation and the growth of Asia Pacific, over-capacity and the shortage of human capital, the web, the demand for internal communications, and retail concentration should together underline and assure the importance of our industry and its constituent parts, advertising and marketing services.”
The US economy grew strongly in the second half of last year. Sorrell expects the Olympics, this summer’s European 2004 football championships and the forthcoming American presidential elections to further boost spending (see Sorrell Upbeat On Prospect Of Advertising Recovery).
Recent indicators suggest the UK outlook is improving and the latest Bellwether report from the IPA reveals that current budgets were revised up in the first three months of 2003 following higher than expected sales revenues and an improvement in profits (see Recovery Slowly Gathers Pace For UK Advertisers).
This adds weight to a consensus of recent forecasts compiled by MediaTel INSIGHT, which suggests that UK advertising expenditure will increase by around 3.9% in 2004 and by a more solid 4.9% in 2005.
WPP: 020 7408 2204 www.wpp.com
Recent Related Stories from NewsLine Global Advertising Market To Pass 3% Growth In 2005 WPP Unveils Maxus Global As Third Media Network Omnicom Reports An Encouraging 17% Rise In Profits
Subscribers can access ten years of media news and analysis in the Archive