India was up 30% in the quarter, an encouraging performance from a major market: Mark Read

It's been a great start for WPP with the group's H1 numbers showing robust signs of growth beyond just bounce-back. CEO Mark Read reiterates that the results demonstrate the enduring power of WPP's business model and its ability to innovate, adapt and evolve according to shifting client demands.

In an interview with exchange4media, Read opens up about the group's stellar performance, India's contributions, structural and leadership changes in the company and more.

Congratulations on the stellar results in H1. What factors do you think contributed to this growth?

In my view, our results in the first half are more than just a bounce-back; they also reflect the strong progress that we have made in refocusing and simplifying WPP and our agencies in the past three years. We had a strong performance across the board geographically, functionally and client-sector wise. There's been good growth in our integrated agencies, our public relations firms and our specialist agencies and a particularly strong performance from GroupM.

There is a continued shift in business mix to the faster-growing areas of our business within communications, for example, digital media, and also within the areas of experience, commerce and technology as clients invest in those areas of marketing that the pandemic has accelerated. Overall, our results demonstrate the enduring power of our business model and its ability to innovate, adapt and evolve as client demands shift.

India is the second-best performer for WPP. While the country continues to be in a partial lockdown, what factors played a role in getting the business rolling?

India was up 30% in the quarter, a very encouraging performance in one of our major markets. We’ve seen strong client demand across our services.

Wavemaker, which has had a really strong year of new business, retained L’Oréal’s account to be its media agency of record in India. That’s testament to the strong partnership and relationship after 12 years and being a close partner in its transformative business journey.

What was WPP's pricing strategy?

Ours is a competitive industry and always has been and that’s been no different during COVID. But the reality is that the vast majority of our clients select us on the quality of our work and this supports our pricing. So we have remained competitive but our focus is on quality and talent, not offering discounts.

There have been key structural and leadership changes in the network agency over the past one year. How has that worked out in its favour?

We continue to attract top talent to WPP. For example, Andy Main joined us as CEO of Ogilvy and Rob Reilly as our Chief Creative Officer. We brought AKQA and Grey together to form AKQA Group and Geometry joined VMLY&R to become VMLY&R Commerce.

 We backed the new companies Proto and Cartwright and we launched our new global data company Choreograph from the specialist data units of GroupM and Wunderman Thompson.

 In May WPP AUNZ officially became a full member of the WPP family and we’ve already begun the process to appoint a country leader there. All of these changes have helped us to grow our capabilities, simplify our structure and enhance our offer for the benefit of clients.

You mentioned that commerce, digital and e-commerce have been the key propellers of this growth. Has the trend been similar in India too?

Much of the growth in client spend is focused on digital media, ecommerce and marketing technology – areas of strength for WPP since our strategic repositioning began in 2018.

We’re reaping the benefits of the changes we’ve made. Digital media grew strongly, as did experience, commerce and technology, which now represent 26% of revenue less pass-through costs.

These areas were sources of growth in India, where we won a number of new mandates from global and local clients seeking these future-facing capabilities and we can see a tremendous opportunity for WPP in the commerce areas in India.

 You mentioned higher incentives for your teams as well. How important do you think is a happy and healthy workforce is to achieve results like these?

Our people are the driving force behind this strong set of results. It’s been an incredibly tough time for everyone, but particularly for our teams in India, where we’ve put in place a range of specific support initiatives.

Globally, throughout the pandemic we’ve made every effort to support our people and enable them to do their best work – whether that’s connecting the community through our regular townhalls and online events, continuing our leadership programmes virtually, helping our people and their families access vaccines, or rewarding them financially. It’s why we’re investing significantly in our incentive pool this year, reflecting the tremendous hard work of our colleagues across the business.

How do you see the festive season for the Indian market shaping up? 

The market is bouncing back strongly and we expect a good second half with the festive season, IPL and T20 World Cup to follow.

You call yours a creative transformation company. Which creative endeavours are you really proud of that happened in India during Covid?

One is a creative idea powered by technology, which helped give back to local communities during the pandemic. Last Diwali, Ogilvy and Wavemaker worked with Cadbury to lend a helping hand to the small local businesses that were struggling and didn’t have a digital presence.

We used AI to create Cadbury ads that doubled up as ads for thousands of local businesses, so depending on where the viewer was located. They would see an ad for a local business that they could support. Earlier this year, we also created "Stop the Beauty Test" for HUL’s Dove, using real-life stories to highlight the criticisms and pressure women receive when they’re at marriageable age, which was really powerful. 

From a global perspective, I couldn’t be more proud of our agencies, people and clients who all contributed to WPP winning most creative company of the year at Cannes, the first time we’ve done so since 2017. To have the outstanding talent of our people recognised as the best in the industry during the last 18 months speaks volumes about their commitment and creativity.

 What is your strategy for H2?

The half-year results show our strategy to pair outstanding creativity with tech, data and commerce skills is paying off. We’ve returned to 2019 levels a year ahead of plan, and our offer continues to resonate with clients, evidenced by the $2.9 billion in net new business. We’ve made strategic acquisitions and are making good progress on our transformation programme announced at our Capital Markets Day in December. Clients are reinvesting in marketing and it’s more than just a COVID bounce-back. We’re in great shape to exploit the growth opportunities ahead of us and are going into the back half of this year and next year with excellent momentum.

Are there any more acquisitions in the plan?

We bought 100% of the WPP AUNZ business and also acquired DTI Digital in Brazil and NN4M in the UK, two companies that bolster our offer in marketing technology and commerce. Kantar also agreed to acquire Numerator. We said at the Capital Markets Day that our M&A approach would be focused on investing in capabilities that strengthen our growth areas of experience, commerce and technology, so there are opportunities to expand here on our expertise.