There are few seminars and conferences in this industry that I regret missing, but I wish I had been at the Cannes International Advertising Festival, to see WPP's Marting Sorrell chair a panel of representatives from Google, Yahoo and Microsoft.
Sorrell's enmity towards Google is well documented, and as you learn that the world's second largest ad group spends more than 5% of its billings with the world's favourite search engine, you begin to understand why.
However, methinks he doth protest too much.
Ad agencies are sleepwalking their way into oblivion. In a world of 'an audience of one' they remain obsessed with volume. They are lazy and stupid and serve their clients very badly. On the other hand Google is successful because it delivers, is measurable and accountable. And as such it is reasonably recession proof.
So, the most powerful adman on earth is helpless in the face of a superior business model and he knows this is not going to end well for WPP. But he should be wagging his finger at the mirror, not at Google.
Sorrell's enmity towards Google is well documented, and as you learn that the world's second largest ad group spends more than 5% of its billings with the world's favourite search engine, you begin to understand why.
However, methinks he doth protest too much.
Ad agencies are sleepwalking their way into oblivion. In a world of 'an audience of one' they remain obsessed with volume. They are lazy and stupid and serve their clients very badly. On the other hand Google is successful because it delivers, is measurable and accountable. And as such it is reasonably recession proof.
So, the most powerful adman on earth is helpless in the face of a superior business model and he knows this is not going to end well for WPP. But he should be wagging his finger at the mirror, not at Google.
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