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In the most understated expression of enthusiasm ever heard, Martin Sorrell, the chief executive of the world’s largest advertising company WPP, believes the economy is in upturn.

 

Speaking at the Davos World Economic Forum, Sorrell was in exceptionally bullish mood as he described the global advertising outlook as "less worse" but not over.  Crazy.

“I’m not so sure that we’re seeing that much of a recovery," he told Bloomberg. "We’ve described it as being less worse…but if you look at western Europe things are still pretty tough.”  He added that the US was doing better than the UK, Italy and France.

Online activities are continuing to grow according to the chief who said that the group was seeing its consumer insight business become more important.
In November 2008, WPP acquired German research company TNS Worldwide as the group looked to establish revenues outside of advertising as a way to soften the blow of the then, impending recession.

Recovery?

When asked if a "double dip" was a threat to the advertising industry, Sorrell said: "We haven’t seen a recovery quite yet so whether or not there’ll be a double dip or not it’s difficult to say."

He added that group revenues for this year will be flat when WPP announces its third quarter results in March.

“But you can’t declare victory until you see consistent gains year to year and that’s where we will see the recession being over. And my guess is we’ll see that as we cycle through 2010,” he told Bloomberg.

Asian boost

He also referred to China and India as “faster growing markets” and said they are no longer emerging markets. Latin America will be the next region to experience growth, boosted by the Olympic games.

 

And there is ‘less worse’ news than this!

 

Source: Utalkmarketing.com

Simon Lewis | Editor | Only Marketing Jobs

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