AD Agencies
WPP board begins investigation of its CEO Sir Martin Sorrel, says WSJ
MUMBAI: Once the toast of the advertising industry, investors, and shareholders, Sir Martin Sorrell now faces the ignominy of being probed by a law firm, which has been appointed by the WPP board for a potential misuse of assets and personal misconduct, if a report in the Wall Street Journal is to be believed.
The agency group has been under pressure from clients and hungry for business rivals for a while. Its share price has fallen some 35 per cent as companies such as Alphabet (Google) and Facebook have been doing direct deals with brands, cutting agencies such as WPP out of the picture. Additionally, big spenders such as Unilever, Procter & Gamble have also been cutting back on marketing spends in a rapidly disintermediating digital content marketplace.
This has led to WPP reportedly putting up a lackluster performance which in turn has affected its share price. Sorrell was also forced to take a cut in his pay, the amount he was forced to back down from 2017’s 48 million pounds sterling, will become clearer in the next few days as it announces its financial performance.
A Saatchi & Saatchi finance executive in the seventies and eighties, Sorrell went about building what would become a global tour de force under the umbrella of a company called Wire & Plastic Products. He acquired 18 different below the line agencies over three years, before making an audacious $566 million dollar bid for J Walter Thompson and then $825 million for Ogilvy & Mather. He acquired both of them. He snared two other agencies Young & Rubicam and then Grey Worldwide on the follow through. Among the other agencies and communication services providers under WPP today include: Wunderman, Kantar Group, Hill & Knowlton, Burson-Marsteller, GroupM, Cohn & Wolfe, Brand Union, Buchanan UK among others.
WPP as a group employs close to 200,000 employees worldwide and reported a revenue of 15.265 billion pounds sterling, with an operating income of 1.908 billion pounds sterling with net income standing at 1.912 billion pounds sterling in 2017.
Investors have been baying for Sorrell’s blood for some time now with the agency not coming with a solid plan to revive growth. Speaking to indiantelevision.com in Amsterdam a couple of years ago Sorrell had said: “I only own two per cent of the company; but I am identified with the company. I will carry on as long they will let me. WPP is not a matter of life or death for me, it is more than that. They will carry me out to the glue factory.”
AD Agencies
AdTrust Summit 2026 to examine trust, AI and Gen Alpha in advertising
Two-day summit in Mumbai to explore ethics, regulation and the future of advertising trust
MUMBAI: At a time when advertising is navigating a delicate trust deficit, the Advertising Standards Council of India is preparing to bring the industry to the table. On 17 and 18 March, the body will host the inaugural AdTrust Summit 2026 in Mumbai, a two-day gathering designed to spark conversation around responsibility, regulation and credibility in modern advertising.
The summit, to be held at the Jio World Convention Centre in Bandra Kurla Complex, will bring together leaders from advertising, media, technology and policy to examine how brands can build trust in a marketplace increasingly shaped by algorithms, influencers and artificial intelligence.
In an age of deepfakes, dark patterns and blurred lines between content and commerce, the question is no longer just how brands capture attention, but whether audiences believe what they see. The AdTrust Summit aims to unpack that challenge.
Day one will turn its attention to the youngest digital natives. Titled Decoding Gen Alpha, the session will unveil ‘What the Sigma?’, a study by ASCI and Futurebrands Consulting that explores how children growing up in a hyper-digital environment encounter advertising and commercial messaging.
The report presentation will be delivered by Santosh Desai, founder and director at Think9 Consumer Technologies and a social commentator known for his insights into consumer behaviour. The discussion that follows will attempt to decode how Gen Alpha consumes media, interacts with brands and navigates the growing overlap between entertainment and marketing.
In a move that mirrors the subject itself, two Gen Alpha students will also join the conversation, offering a rare perspective from the generation advertisers are trying to understand.
The second panel of the day will shift the focus from observation to implication, asking what the report’s findings mean for brands, agencies and society. Speakers include Karthik Srinivasan, communications strategy consultant; Preeti Vyas, president at Mythik; and Abigail Dias, associate president planning at Ogilvy. The session will be moderated by Sonali Krishna, editor at ET Brand Equity.
Day two moves from insight to regulation. Under the theme From Compliance to Trust, ASCI will release its Ad Law Compendium, a comprehensive guide to India’s advertising regulations.
The day will open with a keynote by Sudhanshu Vats, chairman at ASCI and managing director at Pidilite Industries, followed by a chief guest address by Sanjay Jaju, secretary at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Legal experts from Khaitan & Co., including Haigreve Khaitan, senior partner, and Tanu Banerjee, partner, will present an overview of the current advertising law landscape in India and examine whether existing frameworks are equipped to deal with emerging technologies and formats.
Subsequent panels will explore issues increasingly shaping the industry’s ethical compass. Conversations will range from the limits of persuasive design and the rise of dark patterns, to the growing scrutiny brands face from digital creators and consumer watchdogs.
One session will also feature Revant Himatsingka, widely known online as the Food Pharmer, whose critiques of packaged food brands have sparked debate around transparency and corporate accountability.
Later discussions will turn toward media literacy among Gen Alpha, asking how children can be equipped to navigate a digital world where gaming, content and commerce are becoming indistinguishable.
The summit will conclude with a final panel on the future of advertising, bringing together voices from agencies, legal circles and technology platforms to discuss how innovation, intelligence and integrity can coexist.
For an industry built on persuasion, trust has always been its quiet currency. But as audiences grow more sceptical and digital ecosystems more complex, that currency is under pressure.
Events like the AdTrust Summit suggest the advertising world knows it cannot afford to take credibility for granted. The real challenge now is turning conversation into commitment.
