• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer, March 2, 2006

It's no secret that Madison Avenue's been fretting about the changing media landscape, with search giant Google bearing the brunt of the anxiety.

One of the biggest concerns is that Google will start selling ads in TV, print and other traditional media, displacing agency buyers in the process. Late last year, Martin Sorrell, chairman-CEO of ad behemoth WPP Group, expressed his concerns about Google during UBS' MediaWeek conference in New York. "Google has talked directly to advertisers in the United States about media buying exchanges," Sorrell told the audience, adding, "Strange things are going on at the same time."

This morning, at a summit arranged by Outrider, the digital marketing unit of WPP's Mediaedge:cia, Sorrell expanded on his concerns about so-called new media, and the fundamental changes it has wrought. "What I worry about," he told an assemblage of agency executives and reporters, "is our ability to capitalize on them."

Traditional organizations such as WPP, he said, simply might not be agile enough to embrace change at the rapid-fire pace required. "No traditional business moves fast enough," he said.

He also had plenty to say about the newspaper industry's attempts to compete in a digital age--none of it complimentary. When free online classifieds service Craigslist began taking revenue from newspapers, the papers responded by creating their own online listings service--a move Sorrell dismissed as "cannibalization," saying it was as if newspapers were eating their babies. "People are destroying their own businesses," he lamented.

Yet, for all his outspokenness, Sorrell offered little in the way of constructive advice. If the leader of one of the largest agencies in the world has any concrete suggestions, now would be the time to make them.

Separately, in partnership with the AAAAs, MediaDailyNews At The Shows is offering an on-demand video presentation featuring all of the breaking news and information coming from the main stage at the 2006 AAAA Media Conference and Tradeshow in Orlando, Fla. MediaPost's on-demand video coverage runs through Friday. An exclusive Webcast featuring keynote speaker Daniel Rosensweig of Yahoo began running live this morning and remains available.