francine: in 1971, wire and

plastic products the lc made shopping baskets. in 2022, wpp is the biggest advertising firm on the planet. sometime between then and now, mark read walked through the doors and played a role in that startling transformation. the man who made the giant step down. today the we talked to mark read about a new age of advertising and how to run a business fit for the 21st century. francine: what does it mean being an ads man and leader in 2022? mark: we have just been through the pandemic. we have come out ever more relevant, but we face a period

of innovation in our industry with new digital companies being launched, e-commerce taking off. it is changing now more than ever. francine: if you look at the pace of change, it has been incredible. can you go through the same pace of change the next 10 years? mark: i think so. we are a company of 100,000 around the world. i think it is that trick, how we get the scale of a big company, but how do we operate quickly and nimbly. francine: other rivals are very interested in investing in tech. mark: without ideas there would be nothing on these platforms. i think that creativity is what makes wpp distinctive and where

we ought to invest. where we bring these ideas to life is changing. it is about building up traditional schools with the real understanding of data and technology you need in the future. francine: your role is changing, i guess. is it advertising still? mark: wpp is more of an advertising business today than it was. wpp is more than an advertising company. we are as likely to be asked to buy a customer, will i succeed on amazon? as -- francine: is it amazon, is a

twitter, is there a next big, hot thing? mark: it is our job to understand all of those platforms. we help our customers understand what will be the best. it is the creative part, but -- francine: how did you end up in advertising? mark: by mistake. i wrote to a few business leaders, and i ended up working at wpp in the early days. i never thought i would end up sitting in this seat. francine: what do you like most about your job? mark: the people. ultimately we are a people business. a lot of what my job is as ceo

of the company is give people motivation to tell them where we are going, to encourage them to do their best work, and to encourage them to collaborate, but ultimately you think you are sometimes as much of a psychologist as you are a business leader. francine: what is your best piece of advice? if there is a deal you need to get or an account you need to get you are worried will go to a rival, what is your peptalk? mark: i like leading from the front. when we pitch i tried to put myself in the seed of the client. what will the client think when they -- seat of the client. what will the client think? mark: -- francine: how have clients

changed? do they ask for different services now? mark: clients have a different time. we have never lived through a moment of such crises. they're looking to wpp and our people to bring, a real sense of " if we do this, what will the impact to be?" from packaging through public relations to design. in the days of old, a lot of this was judgment. now we are more data-driven. they have become more analytically driven than they used to be. francine: what is the biggest challenge going forward? twitter, facebook, is that still where the future lies? ] mark: in the first --

mark: in the first six months of the year, wpp has grown more than twitter on average. we bigger -- we tend to have bigger, more global clients. we came in, in a good position. francine: who is your biggest rival? mark: we compete with some clients who tried to do this work in-house. it has always been competitive. 2 people in a garage can start up an agency, but for the major clients we service today, we are in a good position. we came off the back about a year ago winning the global mandate for the coca-cola company. they looked out and tested every

element of what we do as a business from china and south africa, to can we embrace the media revolution, every part of our business and selected us as their partner. francine: is it more difficult now because of the crisis, because of the economic downturn? you start feeling it already? mark: our clients are resilient. we can look at next year and worry about next year. i cannot control the economic environment. all i can do is put wpp in the best position to navigate it. what we do is super relevant. clients have to demonstrate to consumers what they are doing. clients have got to innovate.

they have to put price increases to it. the need for marketing is not going to go away. the next 12 months will be challenging, but we will come out in a stronger position. francine: up next clients and consumer. the ad man will speak to both. with people asking more and more from brents we will get the balance -- brands, we will get the balance between sales and values. ♪

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francine: how do you run a small city as a coherent business? we continue the conversation with mark read. as we look forward to 2023, what

do clients ask you the most? mark: how much will we spend next year? what will the economic outlook be? that is the point of most uncertainty. we tell clients that those who have done well need to continue to support their brand. those who cut their marketing quickly -- do continue to invest behind your brands, and that is what they are coming to and asking us. doing it in 2023 includes things like " how do i succeed on tiktok?" " how important are these influencers we are talking about?" francine: how do i deployed my

money? mark: what products are you in francine? francine: let's say an energy drink. mark: w are workinge with a number of soft drinks companies. what does it mean to consumers? you have to look across the media mix. people talk about the death of television but it is being reinvented. netflix taking tv ads, disney plus will accept advertising. they remain super relevant. you have to understand creativity today in a different way than before. we are partnering with people in hollywood. we just did a collaboration between marshmallo --

marshmello and coca-cola. these are questions wpp can help you answer. francine: do i need to have a political point of view? do i need to call out things that are morally wrong in my eyes? mark: brands don't have to have a political point of view, but they have to understand what is going on in society, what consumers care about, and how what they do is relevant to them. 82% of consumers care about how brands treat people, treat social issues, take position on those, so you have to think about energy consumption. what is your packaging policy? how do you treat your people? where are you going to sell your product? those issues are important. i would rather think about purpose. francine: are those real

changes? mark: they are real changes. francine: and ceos do mean it? mark: i mean it. at wpp people are passionate about this topic. they want to know where we are standing on social issues. francine: how will the qatar world cup change advertisers' relationship to big sporting events?\ mark: the world cup is a football celebration. the prophecies around the host nation are problematic. it is difficult. francine: how do you navigate china? mark: we have a big business in

china and taiwan. i was reassured by some of the moves in the biden meeting with president xi in bali. francine: there is something that struck me -- you would not recommend clients to stop marketing because it is hard to start a backup. are there slots? mark: i know have my advertising works. i don't know which half. we know more about what works and what doesn't work for clients. in a bunch of -- i think that a lot of the uncertainty in our industry has been taken away by the use of data to measure results. francine: and this is online?

mark: online but also off-line. off-line media -- francine: i no i get pop-ups for stuff -- i know i get pop-ups for stuff. is my phone spying on me? mark: consumers expect a right to privacy, and that is a nonnegotiable, something that we try to push through all our work in everything we do with clients. at the same time, advertising needs to be relevant. if it is more relevant, it is more useful to you. we have to do it in a way that is transparent to consumers, that does not misuse their data. francine: what is the model for the future? we did a piece on this in bloomberg, when you go into a

shop and the manikin is scanning your eyes. if you look at something for more than 3 seconds, it shows up on your ipad. mark: the cookie was invented for many reasons, but it was a way of spying on consumers. there's only so much targeting you can do. most of the world buys coca-cola products. ultra targeting has become spooky. it is not helpful. francine: if coca-cola, everybody knows it. what about a smaller brand like my energy drink that nobody knows about? mark: do they follow yuan instagram? do they follow you on twitter -- you on instagram?

do they follow you on twitter? there is a value exchange. francine: how does the ad industry weather the storm? mark read on selling in the time of inflation. ♪ i know the markets have gone up and down, but you're right on track to reach your goals. my ameriprise advisor helps me feel confident about my financial future. he knows me and my goals. it's not the first uncertain environment he's helped me navigate. probably won't be the last.

but with his advice, i know i'm on track. the plan we created can withstand uncertainty. no wonder clients rate us 4.9 out of 5 in overall satisfaction. because advice worth listening to is advice worth talking about. francine: the global

pandemic, inflation -- how is the world's biggest ad firm positioning? is there an interesting client you would like to do more of? mark: i'm sure there is. we do fantastic work. i love all of our clients. francine: like your children, no favorite. mark: tesla is an interesting company. so far, have not spent money on advertising. i'm sure one day they will. jeff bezos said in 2009 that marketing is what companies do when they have nothing to differentiate themselves. they have a need to talk to consumers about what they need or what they need to sell. francine: if you look at the

lifecycle of a business, when is peak advertising welcomed? when is the right time to go for it? mark: google, amazon, apple are some of the world's biggest advertisers. they didn't start that way. in the modern world differentiation is increasingly difficult to do based on product feature alone. brands, what people think of a company, what they stand for, what they do really matters, and that is what we are trying to do for advertising. francine: what was the most difficult day in your job? do you remember that day? mark: probably the first day! [applause] -- mark: probably the first day! [laughter] i had worked for wpp for some time. our debt was too high. we are quite complicated as an

organization. if i look back on that time just over 4 years ago, i'm proud. it has been a collective effort. francine: your predisaster was s url, which was a challenge. mark: he had been at the company for a long time. i looked at where we were. one of the challenges was how do we integrate analog and digital? that is something that had become quite complex. we created vmo1, our 2 big integrated agencies. that was the first thing that was important. secondly, we wanted to expand what we do beyond advertising.

we expanded off into e-commerce, and commerce, into building experiences, for clients. we have been on that journey of reinvention of our traditional businesses and expansion into new area. francine: is it better being bigger because you service your clients and more industries and you have more data? mark: what is interesting is the definition of scale. it used to be buying power, buying muscle. if we bought 60% of media around the world, we will be strong. today's strength comes from leveraging technology and insight. scale helps,but, smart -- helps, but you have to be nimble, smart, and quick.

a bureaucratic organization is the last thing i want to run. francine: how does spending look like next year in the u.s.? is there anywhere to rival the u.s. in terms of advertising spending? mark: the u.s. and china are 50% of the global advertising. global ad spend is going to be up 5% to 6%. inflation is now 6%. we are used to looking at things in nominal terms. i think a relatively challenging year next year, but things will look more resilient than people expect. francine: do you think 2023 is

the hardest year or that 2024 will be even harder? mark: 2020 was a pretty difficult year! there are many reasons to be optimistic about the future of our industry. it comes back to the types of questions clients are asking us. the secret to success for any company to grow, and wpp and our industry can be at the heart of our clients' growth. how do they innovate? how do they reach new areas? those questions will be just as relevant next year, and this whole digital transformation is going to continue. francine: what is the secret sauce of being an executive? mark: i cannot do it all on my own. i need to get the best out of the people i work for. i lead from the front, spending

time with clients, spending time in pages. we are a competitive industry. we have to do that. we have to create a company that is collaborative. there is a tension between people who want to win and people who want to collaborate. we are trying to push boundaries with clients. no one person has a monopoly on ideas. francine: where will we be in 4 years -- in years5? -- in 5 years? mark: in five years we will look different but the same. the numbers in china and india will increase. we are a u.k. company, but we

are really a global company headquartered in the u.k.. today the u.k. is only 12% of our business. francine: thank you so much for your time today. mark: thank you. ♪

emily: hello! good! how are you?