Sir Martin Sorrell and building an advertising giant
The business news that matters
Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Off to Lunch…
“My dad’s advice was to find an industry that you enjoy. Find a company inside that industry and build a reputation.” So says Sir Martin Sorrell in an interview with Business Leader about how he built WPP and S4 Capital.
Sir Martin spoke to Business Leader’s Josh Dornbrack for a video interview about the story behind those advertising businesses. As many of you will know, Sir Martin’s career spans six decades and has had its ups and downs, so there was plenty to discuss.
The growth of WPP and S4 Capital was driven by dozens of acquisitions and Sir Martin offers an insight into how he found those deals and made them work:
“Clients are the best source of free information. Every client you see, you should say ‘Who are the best agencies you’ve come across?’ and you get your list that way.”
However, he adds:
“The easiest part is getting the deal done. The most difficult part is getting it to work. As people say, but for clients and people, this would be a great business.”
You can watch the interview by clicking on the image above. You can also read a summary by Josh here
Podcast…
The latest episode of our Business Leader podcast looks at the story behind Robinhood, one of the fastest-growing companies in America, and its launch in the UK. Jordan Sinclair, the president of Robinhood UK, explains how it is approaching the launch and the challenges that Robinhood has faced along the way…
You can listen to the podcast episode on Substack here, Apple here or Spotify here
Other stories that matter…
1. Inflation has fallen again in the UK, dropping from 4 per cent in January to 3.4 per cent in February. This is the lowest that inflation has been since 2021 and is lower than the 3.6 per cent that economists had forecast for February. You can find the data from the Office for National Statistics here
2. The future of Ted Baker is in doubt, putting nearly 1,000 jobs at risk. Teneo has been lined up as the administrators to the fashion brand. More from the BBC here
3. Debbie Wosskow, the co-founder of AllBright, Love Home Swap, and WJV, and Hannah Bernard, the head of business banking at Barclays, have been appointed by the government to lead a taskforce that looks into why female entrepreneurs struggle to raise funds to build their businesses. Story by The Times here
4. A fascinating analysis by The Economist on the story behind the success of Next. “Next is pumping £53m into upgrading its systems this year, up from £8m in 2020,” the piece says. “Rather than outsourcing software for its website, stock allocation and other core operations, most of its coding takes place in-house. It employs as many people in technology as it does in buying and merchandising.” You can read the piece here
5. Another use for AI technology? Google DeepMind has developed an AI football tactics coach based on work with Liverpool. More from the Financial Times here
The new Business Leader…
The new Business Leader website and magazine have now launched. We are building a new inspirational, aspirational and agenda-setting business publication for the UK. You can read our analysis, interviews and expert columnists on our website by clicking the image below. Our new magazine is now in shops and you can subscribe to your own print or digital version by clicking here
And finally…
I have been trying non-alcoholic beers over the last few weeks for different reasons. This is a fascinating and fast-growing market. However, it is fair to say that until recently there had been limited progress in producing drinks that match the taste of beer with alcohol. That is changing. There are two drinks that I want to recommend for anyone looking to enjoy a non-alcoholic beer. Firstly, Fresh pale ale by the craft brewery Cloudwater, which is based in Manchester (you can find that here). Secondly, Bold by Queer Brewing, which is based in east London (you can find that here). These drinks are as good as - if not better - than alcoholic pale ales.
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