More opportunities to reach customers today, but landscape more complex: Mark Read, WPP

At the sidelines of the Global Cannes Lions advertising, WPP CEO, Mark Read, spoke to an international media house about where he thinks the ad dollars have been moving, his outlook for the rest of the year, opportunities in AI and more.

"The Group had their forecast. They think last year we grew about 6%; there's going to be 6% growth this year, but it's differently comprised. The back of the year might be slightly tougher than the front half of the year. Growth in China will drive overall top-level growth. China is now the world's second-biggest advertising market," he said, talking about the outlook for the year.

He added that Europe has proven to be a resilient market, despite the war, inflation, energy prices and interest rates.

Read hinted towards big tech when he answered a question about where he sees the ad monies going. "The plethora of advertising opportunities are just on-site here at Cannes," he noted. "We got the Amazon village, TikTok centre, Snap, a smaller presence this year from Twitter." He also named the presence of Google, Meta and Netflix at the fest as a sign of where the ad dollars will flow into.

"All that reflects the opportunities available to our clients," he noted.

Despite people having a negative attitude towards advertising, Read pointed out that there have never been more opportunities than now to reach customers, but it's definitely a more complex landscape.

"And that's the place we can play a unique role in helping our clients cut through and make sense of all this complexity," he said.

With ad-supported formats gaining popularity in recent years, will ad dollars move away from traditional TV? Read expressed his optimism for platforms like Netflix which may benefit from an ad-supported format thanks to its quality content.

He also noted that platforms like Netflix end up making as much money on their ad-supported channels as they do in their paid channels, especially in markets of developing countries like India. "They have massively expanded their scope of market," he said.

Read also reflected on the changed Twitter leadership with Linda Yaccarino taking charge as CEO.

When it comes to challenges clients faced with embracing AI, he said the first is whether the material is copyright safe. The second is accuracy and brand representation.
Read also addressed the AI paranoia that could supposedly cost jobs, focusing on the many jobs that could be created instead. He cited two recent examples of WPP campaigns. First was the Nike commercial which showed the Serena Williams of today facing off the Serena Williams from 20 years ago.

Second was Mondelez's AI campaign with Shah Rukh Khan where thousands of Indian shopkeepers got Khan as their spokesperson. "There are so many ways to personalise our messages and bring things to life with AI," he noted.

Allaying fears of the AI takeover, Read said, "Our industry is an optimistic industry. We wouldn't be in the advertising business if we weren't optimistic."