Martin Sorrel is the head of WPP, the group that owns Ogilvy, J. Walter Thompson and many other companies whose work occupies significant chunks of your brain. The Financial Times quotes Mr Sorrel:
“In my view, China is so important in the context of what we are trying to do in Asia, that if there is any slump, we would use it as an opportunity to invest further,” Mr Sorrell said, in an interview in Shanghai…
…Mr Sorrell said WPP’s units were trying to increase the minority equity stakes in a number of companies it had bought into, but that good acquisition targets were difficult to find. WPP’s business in China was now about 70:30 in favour of foreign as opposed to local companies, and Mr Sorrell hoped that over time it would be in balance.
But foreign advertising agencies have yet to persuade Chinese companies that their services are worth the cost.
….But in advertising and public relations, the good thing about China is “you don’t have a legacy system”.
“The whole country is like a start-up,” he said.
The FT story is here. A similar story published in the Wall Street Journal is available in PDF format on WPP’s website here.