WPP Group

Infobox Company
company_name = WPP Group
company_
company_type = Public (lse|WPP) (nasdaq|WPPGY)
foundation = 1985 (acquired by Sorrell)
location = London, England, UK
key_people = Philip Lader (Chairman)
Martin Sorrell (Founder and CEO)
industry = Communications
products = Advertising Media planning and buying Public relations Lobbying
revenue = £6.18 billion (2007)
operating_income = £805 million (2007)
net_income = £515 million (2007)
num_employees = c. 100,000 (2007)
parent =
subsid = Grey Global Group Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide Young & Rubicam JWT Hill & Knowlton Burson-Marsteller Cohn & Wolfe
homepage = [http://www.wpp.com/ www.wpp.com]
footnotes =

WPP Group plc (lse|WPP) (nasdaq|WPPGY), based in London, United Kingdom, is the world's largest communications services group (and one of the big six advertising holding companies, the others being Omnicom, Interpublic, Publicis, Dentsu and Havas) employing 100,000 people working in more than 2,000 offices in 106 countries. [ [http://www.wpp.com/WPP/About/WPPAtAGlance WPP - WPP at a glance ] ] Its self-conceived characterization is a "parent company," able to bring together the right combination of capabilities to serve a client's analytic and creative brand marketing needs.

History

Wire and Plastic Products plc was founded in 1971 making wire shopping baskets. In 1985 Martin Sorrell, searching for a listed company through which to build a worldwide marketing services company, bought a controlling stake of just under 30% at a cost of $676,000. [http://www.wpp.com/wpp/about/whoweare/history.htm WPP History] ] The holding company was renamed WPP Group and in 1987 Sorrell became its chief executive.

Sorrell had been the financial director for the advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi from 1977 to 1985, managing its takeovers of companies in the US and the UK. In 1987 the Company acquired J. Walter Thompson (including JWT, Hill & Knowlton and MRB Group) for $566m.

The Company was first listed on the NASDAQ in 1988. In 1989 it acquired Ogilvy Group for $864m and in 1998 formed an alliance with Asatsu-DK Inc. of Japan.

Operations

WPP's advertising agency company holdings include the Grey Global Group, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, Young & Rubicam, and JWT (formerly known as J. Walter Thompson Co.), Asatsu-DK (a.k.a ADK).

WPP's public relations company holdings including Hill & Knowlton, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, Burson-Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe.

WPP's media investment management company holdings are operated by GroupM and include Mediaedge:cia, Mindshare, Maxus and MediaCom.

WPP's research insight and consulting companies, forming a separate umbrella group known as Kantar Group, comprise BMRB, Added Value, Indian Market Research Bureau, Millward Brown, Management Ventures Inc. and Research International. Recently, in a drive to streamline processes and save costs, Kantar fused the operational groups within the UK, US and Canada to form Kantar Operations. [ [http://www.kantaroperations.com Kantar Operations ] ]

Industrial division

During 1986 WPP became the parent company of Picquotware, a manufacturer of teapots and jugs, based in Northampton. In November 1987 a fire destroyed the Northampton factory and production was restarted at Burntwood in Staffordshire. On 25 November 2004 WPP closed the Burntwood factory and stopped manufacturing Picquotware: all assets were sold on 14 December 2004. [ [http://www.picquot.co.uk/history.htm Piquotware History] ]

Delfinware Domestic Wireware, established in 1963 and manufacturing kitchen and bathroom wire racks, is also a subsidiary of WPP Group. [ [http://www.delfinware.co.uk/Content/default.aspx Delfinware website] ]

Governance

The company is governed by a board of directors, whose current members include Colin Day, Esther Dyson, Orit Gadiesh, David Komansky, Philip Lader, Christopher Mackenzie, Stanley Morten, Kōichirō Naganuma, Lubna Olayan, John Quelch, Mark Read, Paul Richardson, Jeffrey Rosen, Timothy Shriver, Martin Sorrell and Paul Spencer.

WPP companies

This is a list of WPP companies:
*141 Worldwide
*141 Sercon [ [http://www.141sercon.com Find Out more about 141sercon.com] ]
*20:20 Brand Action
*24/7 RealMedia [ [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117940510501906181.html?mod=googlenews_wsj Free Preview - WSJ.com ] ]
*A. Eicoff & Company [ [http://www.eicoff.com/about A. Eicoff & Company Corporate Website - DRTV Marketing] ]
*Added Value
*Addison Corporate Marketing
*Adient
*AGB Nielsen Media Research
*AGENDA
*Alliance
*Always Marketing
*Argonauten360
*Asatsu-DK
*Atlas Advertising
*AVHb2b
*Banner Corporation
*Bates Asia
*Bates PanGulf
*Batey
*BDG McColl
*BDGworkfutures
*BEN Marketing Group
*Beyond Interactive
*BJK&E
*BKSH
*Blanc & Otus
*Blast Radius
*Blue Interactive
*BMRB
*BPRI
*BrandBuzz
*Bridge Worldwide
*Brierley & Partners
*Brouillard
*bsb comunicacion
*Buchanan Communications
*Burson-Marsteller
*BWR
*Cannondale Associates
*Carbon
*Carl Byoir & Associates
*Catalyst online
*CAW Marketing
*CBA
*Center Partners
*Chime Communications
*Clarion Communications
*Clockwork Capital
*Cohn & Wolfe
*Coley Porter Bell
*CommonHealth
*Compas
*Conectics
*Contract Advertising
*D/R/Added Value
*David Communications Group
*Dentsu, Young & Rubicam
*Diamond Ogilvy
*Digit
*digital@JWT
*Digital PR
*Direct.com
*Dovetail
*drs Insight Group
*Dynamic Logic
*e-tecture
*Einson Freeman
*Equus
*Essence Communications
*Etcom
*Everystone Group
*EWA Bespoke Communications
*facts+fiction
*Feinstein Kean Healthcare (FKH)
*Ferguson
*Finsbury
*Fitch
*Focalyst
*Food Group
*Forward
*Fudge Group
*FullSIX
*Fusion5
*Futurecom interactive
*G WHIZ
*G2 Worldwide
*GCI Group
*Geometry
*George Patterson, Y&R
*Geppetto Group
*Glass
*Glendinning Management Consultants
*Global Sportnet
*goodtechnology
*Grass Roots
*Grey Direct
*Grey Group
*Grey Healthcare
*Grey Interactive
*Grey Global Group
*Grey3
*GroupM
*Headcount
*Heathwallace
*Henley Centre Headlight Vision
*HighCo
*Hill & Knowlton
*HLS (Health Learning Systems
*HMA Blaze
*IBI Inc
*IBOPE Media Information
*icon brand navigation group
*iconmobile group
*IdeaWorks
*IEG
* [IMRB International]
*Information Design Unit
*IPAN (India Public Affairs Network)
*J. Brown
*Joshua-G2
*JWT
*JWT Specialized Communications
*Kang & Lee Advertising
*Kantar Group
*Kantya Brand Strategies
*Kinetic Worldwide
*KMR Group
*KnowledgeBase Marketing
*KR Media
*Lambie-Nairn
*Landor Associates
*LG Ad Inc
*Lightspeed Research
*LiveWorld-WPP
*Lorien Consulting
*Malone Advertising
*Management Ventures Inc.
*Mando Brand Assurance
*Marsteller
*Maruri Publicidad
*Mattson Jack Group
*Maxus
*Maxx Marketing
*MBS/Vox
*MDS Global Consulting
*MEC Interaction
*MEC:Access
*Media Insight
*Media Puzzle
*Media+
*MediaCom Worldwide
*Mediaedge:cia
*Mediapro Group
*Medical Broadcasting Company
*Metro Broadcast
*Millward Brown
*MindShare
*MJM
*MosaicaMD
*Motivator
*Noesis
*Offspring PR
*Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide
*Ogilvy Healthworld
*Ogilvy Primary Contact
*Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
*OgilvyInteractive
*OgilvyOne Worldwide
*Outrider
*ohal
*PACE
*The PBN co.
*Penn Schoen & Berland Associates
*Performance
*Performance SportEnt Worldwide
*PiranhaKid Communications
*Plush Films
*PPR
*PQ Plakat Qualitact
*Premiere Sponsorship Marketing
*PRISM
*Pro Deo
*ProCom
*Public Strategies Inc
*Quasar
*Qi Interactive
*Quantum Corporation
*Quinn Gillespie & Associates
*La Negra
*Reddion
*Research International
*RMG Connect
*RMS Instore
*Robinson Lerer & Montgomery
*Roman Brand Group
*RPCA
*RTC Relationship Marketing
*santamaria
*Santo Buenos Aires
* [http://www.schematic.com Schematic]
*SCPF
*SMG KRC
*Soho Square
*Solara
*Spafax
*Sprint Production
*STO Response
*Strategic Horizons
*Studiocom
*Sudler & Hennessey
*Syzygy
*Team UK Media
*Teledirect
*The Brand Shop
*The Brand Union
*The Bravo Group
*the campaign palace / red cell
*The Channel
*The Farm
*The Focus Network
*The Initiatives Group
*The Leverage Group
*The MC Group
*The Partners
*These Days
*The Store
*The Voluntarily United Group of Creative Agencies
*Timmons and Company
*Uniworld Group
*VBAT
*VML, Inc.
*WalkerGroup
*Warwicks
*Westbourne Terrace Management Services
*Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates
*WINGLATINO
*Wire and Plastic Products
*Wunderman
*Xchange
*XM London
*XM Gulf
*XM Asia Pacific
*Young & Rubicam
*Ziment Group

References

External links

* [http://www.wpp.com/ WPP official website]
* [http://www.google.com/finance?q=WPPGY WPP on Google Finance]
* [http://www.research-int.fr/ Research International France]
* [http://homepage.mac.com/herinst/sbeder/wpp.html WPP: World Propaganda Power]
* [http://www.picquot.co.uk/history.htm Picquot Ware history]
* [http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/WPP-Group-plc-Company-History.html WPP: company history]