The view from the top: Sir Martin Sorrell's take on the global advertising industry at ad:tech New York 2009

Stephen Whiteside

The keynote speech of Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP Group chief executive, to the 2009 ad:tech New York conference is the focus of this report from Warc's news editor, Stephen Whiteside.

The view from the top: Sir Martin Sorrell's take on the global advertising industry at ad:tech New York 2009

Stephen WhitesideWarc

Few conference speakers can claim to enjoy the pulling power of Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP Group, the agency holding company. Since acquiring a large stake in Wire and Plastic Products in 1986, Sorrell has transformed the organisation from a little-known manufacturer of shopfittings and supermarket baskets to the world's largest marketing services conglomerate by revenue, overtaking its main rival, Omnicom Group, last year.

Appearing for the first time at an ad:tech event, the diminutive adman...

WARC subscribers can sign in to keep reading

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands