Rebranding India: Sir Martin Sorrell

Come 2011,Sir Sorrell now runs the worlds largest marketing

communications network WPP Plc with businesses and companies in 107 countries,

including India,and a revenue of 9.3 billion pounds.

Sir Sorrell expanded rapidly through some big-ticket acquisitions and great thinking. His marketing communications network grew rapidly with leading advertising agencies,such as JWT,Ogilvy and Mather,Young & Rubicam and Grey Worldwide,coming under his fold. He is known as the man who led the process of consolidation in the advertising world globally and initiated the process of ad networks or the holding company structure under which several ad agencies even competitors worked.

His first big move was the acquisition of J Walter Thompson Group for $566 million in a hostile bid in 1987. This was followed by the dramatic takeover of the Ogilvy Group for $864 million in 1989. There was no looking back since. Besides ad agencies,he also owns media buying agencies such as Mindshare,Maxus,Mediaedge and MediaCom,and several PR agencies,digital promotions companies and branding agencies.

In India,WPP accounts for more than 40 per cent of the total revenue generated by the ad industry. O&M and JWT are the top-most creative agencies and GroupM,the umbrella company under which his media agencies work,is the market leader with close to 50 per cent market share. Sorrell was one of the first foreign investors in India and he is still bullish on the market. In the UK,we speak of 1 per cent or one-and-a-half per cent economic growth. In India,the debate is whether the economy will grow 7 per cent or 8 per cent and this explains my interest in the country, he said at

Express Adda. Besides the economic growth,he said,he is very optimistic about the potential of 1.2 billion Indians. There is no way you can dismiss the potential of these people, he said.