Stuart Elliott: Sorrell's Second Act Has Madison Avenue Buzzing

I39m referring of course to Sir Martin Sorrell whose three decades as what the Brits call the quotsupremoquot of WPP long the world39s largest agency conglomerate ended abruptly in midApril when he stepped down amid an internal investigation into charges of misconductamp160 The Wall Street Journal reported that the WPP board investigated whether Sorrell had paid for a prostitute with company money he has denied those allegationsSorrell soon dispelled any notions that he might go gently into that good night by say retiring or taking some honorary industry postamp160 Rather he announced ambitious plans to build another holding group this one designed to reflect the new challenges being confronted by the industry in the 21st centuryThere was some surprise that Sorrell would seek to reenter the fray so fast especially given that he39ll be competing against WPP where as chief executive he built a massive firm with interests in just about every kind of ad and marketing disciplineamp160 For example no competitor can match WPP39s status as the owner of four global ad agency networks Grey Ogilvy J Walter Thompson and YampampR all of them acquired by Sorrell some by friendly means and others not soBut Sorrell39s comeback on fastforward makes senseamp160 For one thing he really enjoys the spotlight relishing his role as the de facto spokesman for Madison Avenue at a time when most other CEOs prefer to focus on their own bottom linesamp160 Sorrell is regularly sought out by journalists and Wall Street for assessments of the state of the industry the effects of technology on traditional advertising which inspired the title of Ken Auletta39s new book about the business Frenemies and the general business climate particularly the importance of growing economies like China39samp160 And as it turned out there was no impediment to Sorrell39s spinning the revolving door and returning so soon to play the ad game againIn a delicious twist there was no language in his contract with WPP that kept him from competing with the firm in the event he left ironic in that Sorrell was wellknown for insisting such provisions were part of the contracts signed by the top executives at his agenciesamp160 Many senior managers who sought to leave their jobs at WPP shops for positions at agencies owned by rivals such as Havas Interpublic Group Omnicom Group or Publicis were kept from working for their new employers for months on end or sometimes a year or moreamp160 That waiting period is known as quotgardening leavequot in that there39s little the person can do but putter around in his or her gardenamp160waiting impatiently to be free of Sorrell39s graspSorrell quotnever accepted highlevel defections from his empire with a shrug of the shouldersquot the British trade publication Campaign observed Take Carter Murray who resigned from a job at YampampR in March 2013 to become the global chief executive at Interpublic39s Foote Cone ampamp Beldingamp160 He wasn39t able to officially join FCB until six months laterIn 2011 Sorrell went after a firm Oystercatchers that he felt was helping former employees from a couple of WPP agencies set up their own shop Oystercatchers was required to issue a groveling public apology which still can be found on the WPP websiteamp160 Sorrell quotis quick to call in the lawyers when anybody tries to leave with a client in the back pocketquot declared an article on the website More About AdvertisingThen there were three top executives at RKCRYampampR who wanted to leave in November 2009 to start their own agency called Adam ampamp Eve they had to pay WPP 750000 to 1 million British pounds to settle a dispute over their gardening leavesWow that would buy a lot of rakes or hoesSorrell39s new company named S4 Capital referring to four generations of Sorrells plans to grow in the same way that Sorrell pursued to make WPP so big by acquisitionsamp160 And surprise surprise he quickly was embroiled in a tiff with WPP each was seeking to buy a Dutch digital production company MediaMonksamp160amp160Sorrell prevailed he announced Tuesday with a bid valued at about 350 million making MediaMonks the first deal made by S4 but not before WPP which says it began pursuing MediaMonks last year sent Sorrell the kind of nasty letter that used to be sent to WPP39s competitors when he was in charge thereThat made for delectable grist for the mill operated by me and other advertising reporters but how sound a strategy was it for Sorrell to get into a food fight so quickly with his former firmamp160 As bothered as he may be by the circumstances of his departure there39s little to be gained by taking on WPP oneononeamp160amp160Playing the part of David to WPP39s Goliath won39t do much to build up his image as a tough guy industry insiders know oh so very well how tenacious he can beAnother issue Sorrell still has significant ties to WPP He remains a major shareholder and he39s in line for stock awards as an exit payout at some future date So going after something WPP wants hurts him as well as WPPAnd as much as Sorrell made WPP what it is today it made him what he is today so a battle between them hasn39t covered either of them in gloryamp160 I39d say that even though he obtained MediaMonks he had more to lose at this juncture given how few answers there are to the questions that continue to be asked about the mysterious circumstances of his leaving WPPSure Sorrell wants as Steely Dan sang to quotgo back Jack do it againquotamp160 But perhapsamp160for his first acquisition he should have looked at the gazillion or so other agencies out there that are ripe for takeover but aren39t also being coveted by WPPEditor39s Noteamp160 Look for the next Stuart Elliott Report on Wednesday August 8Click the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160

APPLY FOR JOBS | SUBMIT YOUR RESUME | SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT

Stuart Elliott: Sorrell's Second Act Has Madison Avenue Buzzing

Author

Publish date

Channel

Stuart Elliott

APPLY FOR JOBS | SUBMIT YOUR RESUME | SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT

Stuart Elliott: Sorrell's Second Act Has Madison Avenue Buzzing

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Stuart Elliott

Cookies