Sorrell Again Discusses Succession at WPP

Recommended Sources

About Advertising Industry

BNET Advertising provides daily industry trends and news coverage with insights for managers and executives about the major agencies in advertising, marketing, and public relations. In addition to detailed company and agency profiles, we bring you detailed industry analysis on new partnerships and acquisitions, ad buying and cost, new investments, inventory issues, and other issues critical to the marketing sector.

The FT did a Q&A with WPP (WPPGY) chief Martin Sorrell that revealed a couple of things he’s apparently sensitive about: His age and his successor.

Don’t read too much into it — the conversation is obviously light-hearted — which is, arguably, what makes it all the more interesting. It starts with Sorrell being asked whether he got anything wrong in terms of the recession. Sorrell, of course, never gets anything wrong:

We heard some mea culpas from you a little bit earlier.

Me? Mea culpa? No, no, no.

A feeling that you underrated the depth of this recession?

Well I think that’s a bit heartless …

Then there’s this exchange about a post-Sorrell WPP:

What about yourself? You’re going to turn 65 on Valentine’s day -

Oh, this is very wounding - I think I’m going to go now. Very rude. Yes, what about it?

Any plans?

Any plans to what?

Any succession plans? Have you picked a successor?

… No, I’ll carry on doing this as long as they will have me. I mean at some point in time somebody will tap me on the shoulder and say, “Martin, you’ve screwed up enough now so you should just - ”

… And the other thing is the Bill Shankly quote: “Football’s not a matter of life and death - it’s more important than that.”*

So WPP is not a matter of life and death - it’s far more important than that. I think [founders'] emotional connection to their business - it is like giving birth, certainly to an idea. Their emotional connection is so strong that certainly in my case I want to be connected to it as long as I possibly can.

The notion that Sorrell’s “emotional connection” to WPP “is like giving birth” might come as a bit of a surprise to his actual children (he has three sons). Or perhaps not.

*Note: Shankly didn’t quite say that. He actually said, “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”

Tags: Death, Jim Edwards, WPP, Sorrell, successor

Jim Edwards, a former managing editor of Adweek, has covered drug marketing at Brandweek for four years, and is a former Knight-Bagehot fellow at Columbia University's business and journalism schools. Follow him on Twitter or send him an email.

BNET User Analysis

Voice your 2cents

Web Buzz:

Publicis’s Levy Calls WPP’s Sorrell a “Little Englishman Trying to Stir Things Up”

BNET Advertising - 312 days 9 hours 35 minutes ago

Publicis boss Maurice Levy is not backing down in his ongoing spat with WPP chief Martin Sorrell. This is what he said in an interview with the FT regarding Sorrell’s suggestion that Publicis should take over Interpublic: Such a deal was the “fantasy of a little Englishman trying to stir things up”, Mr Lévy said. “This man is more...
WPP: Sorrell Sees No New Client Dollars; Layoffs Possible in Europe; Zimbabwe Eyes an Opportunity

BNET Advertising - 153 days 9 hours ago

Is WPP chief Martin Sorrell softening up the market for more dismal news in his Q2 2009 results? He told an Italian media outlet that he saw no new investments by clients to mark an economic turnaround; a meeting of his finance execs with Bank of Montreal left the latter feeling negative about WPP’s Eurpoean business; and Sorrell himself met...
WPP Q2: 7,800 Jobs Gone; More Layoffs Promised; "Apocalypse Averted"

BNET Advertising - 86 days 12 hours 30 minutes ago

WPP chief Martin Sorrell painted a gloomy picture -- as predicted -- in his Q2 2009 earnings report today, and gave details on the number of people
Citi Cuts WPP to "Sell"; Sorrell Defends "Suicide Pact" on Pay; Attacks Obama on Taxes

BNET Advertising - 139 days 7 hours 52 minutes ago

WPP stock fell 7 percent Friday as Citigroup rated it a “sell,” on the basis that 2009 may not be the bottom of the recession in advertising. The news dovetails with BNET’s theory of June 20 that WPP’s Q2 results won’t be pretty. WPP chief Martin Sorrell reiterated as much in an interview wih the FT in which he repeated that Q2 so far...
Sorrell's Comments on Procurement Reveal Opacity of Agency Billing Practices

BNET Advertising - 143 days 2 hours 16 minutes ago

WPP chief Martin Sorrell said he may not be able to meet his margin guidance this year due in part to aggressive client procurement tactics in contract negotiation. The remarks, made to the FT at the Cannes Advertising Festival, touched a nerve at ProcurementBlog, whose commentary reveals much about the opaque, intangible nature of advertising...