Martin Sorrell
Martin Sorrell
Sir Martin Stuart Sorrellis a British businessman and the chief executive officer of WPP plc...
optimistic people
Monaco was my first race of the season and I spoke with a number of people and all seemed to be very optimistic.
running interesting different
Formula One does very well. It is a very interesting asset. Could it be run in a different way? Sure it could be. Could it be improved? I'm sure it could. But all I can say is, it seems to do pretty well.
unique trouble replaced
Somebody who is unique - and this will get me into trouble - by definition cannot be replaced.
running unique long
I recently interviewed Bernie Ecclestone in London. He had a go at women, said [Vladimir] Putin should be running Europe and so on. He enjoys it - he's been doing it for such a long time. He has an entrenched position. The truth be known, he is unique, right?
opinion easy criticize
It is always easy to criticize, as Bernie Ecclestone is somebody with extreme opinions.
fighting today
F1 is a fight for people's time. There are millions of options today for how to spend it. That is probably the biggest difference from 1968 to now.
If you pay 50 million for something, you probably pay another 50 to 100 million to activate it. And the more you spend, the better you do. There is no point in just buying rights.
people focus
You must not only focus on the consumer, but also on what it does to you internally - getting people aligned to the strategic mission of the company - what it does to the suppliers, governments, all your stakeholders...
reading giving competition
Formula One gives a platform to companies like Rolex - and that's just in media space, watching television or reading newspapers, digital or physical. You see the brand in the context of the competition and bring it to the attention of everybody on a regular basis.
thinking imagination people
That might be the old model: to get a fixed fee. You have to start to think about other models and how they can generate interest - what it can do for a brand in the future - and about the fact that revenue can also be generated in many other ways... Just look at the one and a half million people at the free Rolling Stones concert in Cuba. And Cuba is not Central Park! So just use your imagination as to what kind of revenue can be made...
crap
The last person in the UK who described his product as being crap in public was one Gerald Ratner - and he was gone immediately.
technology quality argument
And there are some - Bernie [Ecclestone] and others - who are embracing new technologies. When Sky UK started to broadcast there was an argument that audience would come down because it is pay TV. But the actual quality of the production and the use of technology and the engagement of the viewer is much better than it ever was. The product is simply better.
latin mean strategy
The fast growing markets - the BRICS and Next Eleven - are the key. The next billion consumers are not going to come from the US or Western Europe - they are coming from Asia, Latin America and Africa. Formula One follows our strategy: fast growing markets, data, and digital. All those three things Formula One has. And it involves a stunning array of companies. Now that doesn't mean there can't be more...
believe technology reality
[Formula One racing] will be very different - as the technology will be very different and that will make fans consume it in a completely different way. I said before that I believe that Virtual Reality will hit it big time.