WPP leverages rapid digital switch, set for recovery
Global agency, WPP is set on a path of recovery after a turbulent year. The world’s biggest advertising company expects its net sales to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels earlier than previously forecast thanks to the rapid global corporate switch to e-commerce and digital services.
The owner of the Ogilvy, Grey and GroupM agencies was hit hard this year when firms slashed spending to conserve cash but WPP said it had now achieved an industry-leading new business performance by helping clients build e-commerce operations.
WPP said it expected its key measurement of underlying net sales to drop 8.4% in 2020 before rising by a mid single digit percentage next year and reaching pre-pandemic levels in 2022. It then expects annual growth of 3% to 4%.
Chief Executive Mark Read said the business had proved more resilient than many had expected and a strategy set out two years ago to offer clients a combination of digital expertise with data and creativity had proved invaluable during 2020.
“COVID-19 has accelerated many of the trends,” he told Reuters. “The shift to digital media, the explosion of e-commerce, the importance of purpose and reputation: the fundamentals of our strategy haven’t changed but COVID forced us to accelerate it.”
Credit: Reuters
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