There is a particular kind of authority that comes from having built something enormous, lost it under murky circumstances, and then immediately started building something else. Sir Martin Sorrell, who did exactly that, is now dispensing advice on what everyone else in the advertising industry ought to do with their companies.

In a recent interview with Adweek, Sir Martin — who founded WPP through a reverse acquisition in 1985 and assembled it into the world's largest advertising holding company before departing in 2018 amid accusations of misusing company assets — offered his views on the strategic positioning of his former employer and its competitors. (He has never been accused of reticence on this subject.)

Accenture, he suggested, should acquire WPP. "If I was Julia, I would go for WPP," he said, referring to Accenture's chief executive, Julia Sweet. "But whether they've got the balls though… It would be messy."

Publicis Groupe, in Sir Martin's estimation, has gotten the organizational question right by putting geography first, clients second, and capabilities third. Omnicom and WPP, he said, have fallen into "the trap of the matrix being driven by capability." Whether Publicis can sustain its advantage is another matter. "The industry wisdom is these things go in cycles," he noted.

As for his own S4 Capital, which he founded weeks after leaving WPP and built through acquisitions including the production agency MediaMonks and the performance shop MightyHive, Sir Martin acknowledged challenges. Revenue has contracted, shares fell roughly 38 percent last year, and the company's heavy exposure to technology clients — who have redirected marketing budgets toward artificial intelligence infrastructure — has tested its digital-first thesis.

"We need more traction," he said. "And we're not organized enough."

It is a rare executive who can simultaneously advise rivals on their corporate destinies while conceding that his own integration has been imperfect. But then, Sir Martin has always been comfortable occupying multiple positions at once.

Original story published in adweek.com: "Sir Martin Sorrell Sees No Easy Exit for Holding Companies"