• by Larissa Faw , December 8, 2014

It could be called the advertising industry's version of trash talk. WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell is calling out his competitors to "fess up" about their financial numbers during the 42nd UBS Global Media and Communications Conference.

"I emphasize and plead with you to put pressure on our competitors to give you two numbers: revenue and net sales,” Sorrell said to analysts and investors attending the conference.

The holding company started breaking out both revenue and net sales figures earlier this year in an effort to “more accurately show underlying trends” given growing increases in the amount of online inventory the company buys on its own behalf and resells to clients as well as increasing “pass-through costs for data investment management.”  

“There are so many numbers going around and it is about time we describe the two.” Sorrell also asserted that there has been “a lot of denial” by competitors that they are purchasing inventory for resale but not disclosing the practice or the growing extent of it. “Some denied they have done it and when they explain differences in growth regionally, they say they have pass-through growth. I think it is very important everyone fesses up."

For its part, WPP is projecting 3% net sales growth next year, according to Sorrell. 

Sorrell also cited three key deals -- with Rentrak, AppNexus and Globant -- that are providing it with a strong competitive advantage. "We inject small assets -- like with Rentrak, we paid $8-$9 million in revenue and we ended up with 15%," says Sorrell. "So not enormous interest, but we work closely with management and it has given us a strong base." Rentrak is a disruptor in the TV measurement business, said Sorrell, that will force others in the sector to address “deficiencies in audience measurement systems.”

AppNexus, which the holding company invested $25 million in a few months ago, provides it with an “agnostic” stack between Google, DoubleClick, Atlas, and Facebook, said Sorrell. "It leaves Publicis and Omnicom with no place to go," Sorrell asserted. “DoubleClick sells Google. You may say these are technology platforms, but that is not true. You wouldn't give your media plan to [News Corp.’s] Rupert Murdoch, [CBS’] Les Moonves, or [Disney’s] Bob Iger, just as you wouldn't give it to [Google's] Eric Schmidt, [Facebook's] Mark Zuckerberg, and Sheryl Sandberg. They are biased to their media product. AppNexus sits in the middle. We encourage our clients to buy the best targeted audiences given their data."

WPP's deal with "Sapient look-alike" Globant helped to expand its digital business to 36%. Still, Sorrell says one of his big "regrets" over the past decade is that he didn't “go faster” into the digital space.

Meanwhile, Sorrell predicts economic growth may not be as buoyant going forward as it was prior to the recession. "There is movement back to a G2 world with two dominant countries [the U.S. and China]. The country with the biggest opportunity is China, he said, noting the meteoric rise of Alibaba, already a $300 billion company that some say will grow to $1 trillion. “But the resurgence of these G2s is net positive for world economy."