Interview: Sir Martin Sorrell, ceo WPP (page 4 of 4)

I think the key issue, and it may sound a bit trite, is communication - and that probably includes political communication, too. But let's talk about it from a commercial perspective.

The thing that bugs people is a lack of willingness to engage. In other words, if somebody is going to write a bad article about WPP, or do a program about WPP (which they frequently do), it will be a minus-10 if you fail to communicate with them or you fail to open up a channel; it will always be a minus-10. By communicating, even if the journalist has a different point of view, you can make it a minus-9, minus-8 or a minus-7.

I think in relation to what we are seeing going on at the moment, in relation to the American, and to some extent the British, approach in Iraq, it has to do with communication or lack of it; the effectiveness of communication or the lack or effectiveness of communication; and explaining the case, demonstrating what the evidence is in a coherent and balanced way - not in an isolationist way.

What tends to happen is that people get frightened. They tend not to communicate. CEOs tend to surround themselves with large staffs of people, which build barriers to communication. I think the thing that most frustrates the press, and you know this better than I do, is an inability to get hold of somebody or an ill-ability of somebody who is involved in what you want to talk to them about.

You speak to an agency, or you speak to a communications director, and there is a barrier. I think the biggest lesson is that direct communication - one to one, interactive communication - works very much more effectively than trying to work through layers of bureaucracy. I think that is the key issue.

Definitely. It's very difficult for me to say, because my knowledge is very limited. What is the best way for Charlotte De Beers to deal with this? How could she approach this kind of thing? You've got to study it. You've got to spend a lot of time on it. But it is very easy to criticize from the sidelines.