WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell relishes his bully pulpit, the platform he has to opine on business affairs and much else besides. And this morning he addressed the UK’s radio listeners with the observation that the amount of money companies ...
Read More »Will 2013 be the year WPP leaves its holding company competitors behind?
Well it’s already the biggest of a bunch also numbering Omnicom, Publicis Groupe, Interpublic, Aegis/Dentsu and Havas so what’s new about 2013? According to an interesting piece in MediaPost, which has chosen to award WPP a new gong as holding ...
Read More »Virgin Atlantic puts on its best scarlet-hued challenger brand kit in new TV spectacular
Maybe Richard Branson’s new Virgin Atlantic partner Delta Airlines has brought some advertising money as part of its £224m dowry to buy Singapore Airlines’ 49 per cent stake in the bearded one’s airline business. Because we haven’t seen anything quite ...
Read More »The Guardian, The Times and Trinity Mirror all face a fight for survival in 2013
At this time of year – in the UK at least – we hear a lot about the impending doom for a number of high street retailers (so far unspecified) who are struggling to pay their next quarterly rent bill ...
Read More »WPP’s GroupM will still advertise on the UK’s Channel 4 – whether they agree a new deal or not
Various commentators are still getting exciting about the supposedly imminent pulling of about £200m of WPP-owned GroupM business from UK terrestrial broadcaster Channel 4 as the two parties have failed to reach agreement on a 2013 deal. The argument, as ...
Read More »Where are we as we go into the (pre-Christmas) weekend? PG/IPG, Sorrell, Wieden and Murdoch
It’s been an interesting year but one that, as Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle put it, more noted for “the dog that didn’t bark.” The dog that didn’t bark, even though lots of people thought they heard its ...
Read More »WPP’s GroupM will do a deal with Channel 4 – but what they’re arguing about is position not price
Despite reports to the contrary WPP’s media negotiating behemoth Group M will do a deal with UK terrestrial broadcaster Channel 4, thereby guaranteeing about 27 per cent of its revenue. Which is obviously good news for C4, which would be ...
Read More »Out of home China screens business Focus Media is worth $3.7bn
There aren’t too many Western media companies that would fetch $3.7bn at the moment, unlike China’s Focus Media which operates advertising screens in offices and retailers in China and the region. Focus, a listed company, has agreed a bid at ...
Read More »BBH starts to spend Publicis Groupe dividend with purchase of Swedish mobile outfit Monterosa
One of the intriguing issues of the next couple of years will be BBH’s fortunes under full Publicis Groupe ownership and one advantage should be the ability to expand its offer internationally. So new rich godfather Maurice Levy has provided ...
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