Claire Beale on Advertising: UK may be second rate but Sorrell is top of game

When the world's most influential adman, Sir Martin Sorrell, announced this month that profits at WPP, his marketing services company, had jumped 28.5 per cent, he also delivered some gloomier news for Britain.

He says Britain languishes in the third tier of the world economic league, well behind Premier League countries such as the BRICs and Next 11. If the coalition's austerity drive restores the country to economic health, we might get promoted to the Championship, but for now we're stuck somewhere in League One.

Anyone who follows Sir Martin's prognostications – and they are closely watched by financial markets, blue- chip boardrooms and global media – knows he enjoys an analogy or two.

To apply his latest theme to his own company, though, WPP now unquestionably holds advertising's World Cup. Post-tax profits for 2010 were $901 million, a clear $73 million ahead of its nearest rival Omnicom. New figures published this week on the size of UK agencies show WPP controls more than a third of the top ten creative agency business and more than 40 per cent of the top ten media agency business. Sorrell's companies – JWT, Young & Rubicam, Ogilvy & Mather, Grey among them – dominate the commercials we see daily.

It's a phenomenal achievement for a group which began with the purchase of the shopping basket manufacturer, Wire and Plastic Products, and owes everything to the shrewd determination and unflagging obsession of Sorrell. For all his success, Sir Martin divides opinion among those at the advertising craft-face; he's a ruthless businessman in a world some still think is more about art than commerce. The Sorrell family's stake in WPP is worth around £140 million. But in an industry that so often still revolves around Madison Avenue, WPP and its modest HQ just off London's Berkeley Square, now holds the balance of power.

Claire Beale is editor of Campaign