They backed up Sir Martin Sorrell's trading update preview last month, in which he pointed to the Beijing Olympics, the US presidential election and the European Football Championships as three reasons why the outlook for 2008 is not as bad as many people fear.
WPP's preliminary data for January shows like-for-like revenue growth of 5%, better than last year at a similar period and seemingly backing up Sorrell's bullish claims. The accompanying statement points out that while the rest of the world used to catch influenza when America sneezed, it now simply "catches a cold", a good analogy to highlight the increasing influence that China, Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe are having on the global economy.
Western Europe is doing less well, with the UK only expanding 2% in 2007. Despite this, in 2007, MediaCom became the first UK media agency to be responsible for purchasing more than £1bn of advertising in a year, and WPP's group buying outfit GroupM generated estimated net new billings of almost £3.7bn. Sorrell is less bullish about 2009, when there are no special Olympic-style events to bolster global ad spends. But he is more hopeful for 2010, when the World Cup in South Africa, US congressional elections and the Winter Olympics will stimulate activity.
Media investment management, as WPP calls it, showed the strongest growth of all the network's communications services - over 14% for the fourth year in a row - which probably goes some way to explaining the slightly haggard and haunted look you occasionally see on a WPP agency chief executive's face when budget-setting time comes around.
All these factors underline why WPP is less affected by fears of an economic downturn than other networks. It already has a 15% market share in China, and is well represented in most marketing communications regions and sectors. But others may face a tougher task maintaining growth in an uncertain market over the next 12 months.
- Steve Barrett is editor of Media Week
steve.barrett@haymarket.com
A view from Steve Barrett
Sorrell's bullishness shines out in a bear market
WPP's full-year financial results for 2007, released last Friday, provided a robust riposte to the doom-and-gloom merchants who have been talking down the prospects of the media and marketing sectors over the past three months.