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Sir Martin Sorrell: “LatAm has not Fulfilled its Potential but Neither have Most of the Other Regions.”

Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, participated in a live cast out of New York City, with the Audience of the Festival of Media Latin America which took place in Miami last week. "Perhaps one of the most blunt statements of the British entrepreneur and agency maven occured when he said that "LatAm has not fulfilled the estimated potential but neither have most of the other regions."

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Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, participated in a live cast out of New York City, with the Audience of the Festival of Media Latin America which took place in Miami last week.
Martin_SorrellPerhaps one of the most blunt statements of the British entrepreneur and agency maven occured when he said that “LatAm has not fulfilled the estimated potential but neither have most of the other regions.”

To Sorrell, the top 3 growth markets for WPP are India, China and Brazil. He sees the economic turmoil as temporary in both Brazil and China. “The currency situation is putting pressure on all these countries but it should be short-term.”
In any case, “For WPP, LatAm remains front and center regardless of the present. A big A advantage is the lack of legacy industries thus it has moved quickly to wireless technology. We need to get our clients focused on top line growth and LatAm is very attractive long-term, with a growing population, modernization of cities and adoption of lasted technology.”

Regarding Mexico and Argentina, Sorrell noted that “Mexico has terrific potential, although president Pena Nieto’s policies are not working out as many had hoped.” He added that “Argentina is doing better than expected and has a well-educated and tech savvy population and work force.”

Disruption in the Media Industry and Growth of Programmatic

Sorrell also pointed out that the disruption brought on by new technologies has caused a very high amount of pitches media agencies are currently immersed in.  “We have a high amount of media investment dollars up for grabs”. The British executive also noted that the many challenges to traditional media companies include the 3-second video metric, which means that a high percentage of videos are not being watched so viewablity and validation are being challenged. In addition, the growing ad-blocking trend increases the cost of content, meaning that there are challenges to produce better creative and relevant content for the consumer.

To Sorrell, “Programmatic is a billion dollar line item today and it keeps growing. Today at WPP, Talent, Technology, Data, and Content are the big drivers.”

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