Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of the world’s largest advertising agency holding company, WPP, has called on Google to “step up and take responsibility” for the content posted to its platforms. Speaking on a panel – joined by Google’s UK managing director Ronan Harris and Channel 4 CEO David Abraham – at the IPA’s Festival of British Advertising in London on Friday, Sorrell said the search giant had not done enough to assuage advertiser concerns about the safety of their brands on its platforms. His comments followed a high-profile investigation by The Times newspaper, which found a number of big brand ads appearing next to terror-related videos on YouTube and hate sites funded by advertising, which was facilitated by Google’s technology. When the article was brought up, Harris responded by saying Google had been able to “allay [advertiser] concerns by and large” and explain the work it does to prevent these types of incidents from happening. But Sorrell interjected. “You haven’t allayed their concerns. You can spin this, Ronan, or we can speak the truth,” Sorrell said. “I have three major clients here in the UK who have contacted me recently, personally, and said brand safety is a massive issue and they don’t agree with what you just said.” Sorrell then referenced a speech given by WPP’s third biggest client – and the biggest ad spender in the world – P&G’s marketing boss Marc Pritchard, who said Google and Facebook were not doing enough to meet advertiser demands around measurement, brand… [Read full story]
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