Annual Report & Accounts 2010

Contents
What we think
78  The US and traditional media bite back  
by Sir Martin Sorrell 
104  On the Incalculable Benefit of 
Not Going Backwards
by Jeremy Bullmore
Who runs WPP
106 Board of Directors
109 Advisors to the Board
How we behave
111 Directors’ report
 
111  Review of the Company’s governance 
and the Nomination Committee
 
116 Review of the Audit Committee 
 
117 The Board of Directors 
 
117 Election of directors 
 
117 Conflicts of interest
 
118 Committee meetings 
 
118 Share owner relations
 
118 Internal control
 
120 Principal risks and uncertainties
 
122 Sarbanes-Oxley section 404
 
122 Going concern
 
122  Responsibilities in respect of the preparation 
of financial statements 
 
123 Substantial share ownership 
 
123 Profits and dividends 
 
123 Charitable donations 
 
123 Significant agreements and change of control
 
124 Articles of Association
 
124 Group activities 
 
124 Share capital 
 
124 Authority for purchase of own shares 
 
124 Supplier payment policy
 
124 Auditors 
125 Corporate responsibility
 
125 The rise and rise of CR
 
126 The impact of our work 
 
126 Marketing ethics 
 
126 Privacy
 
126 WPP as an employer 
 
130 Environment 
 
132 Social investment 
The fast read
2 
A six-minute read
Who we are
10 Our companies & associates
Why we exist
12 Our mission
How we’re doing
15 Financial summary
18 Letter to share owners
30 Reports from our operating brands 
32 Advertising agency networks
 
32 Ogilvy Group 
 
36 JWT
 
38 Young & Rubicam Brands 
 
45 Grey Group 
 
48  United Network 
 
49 Bates 141
50 Media Investment Management
 
50 GroupM 
 
52 Maxus
 
53 MediaCom 
 
54 MEC 
 
55 Mindshare 
 
56 tenthavenue
57 Consumer Insight
 
57 Kantar
62 Public Relations & Public Affairs
 
62 Hill & Knowlton
 
63 Cohn & Wolfe
 
41 Burson-Marsteller
 
34 Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide 
65 Branding & Identity
 
65 B to D Group
 
42 Landor Associates
 
67 The Brand Union
 
68 FITCH
69 Healthcare Communications
 
69 Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide 
 
70 ghg
 
71 GCI Health
 
43 Sudler & Hennessey
72 Specialist Communications
75 WPP Digital

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
1
How we’re rewarded
135 	Compensation Committee report 
on behalf of the Board
	
135	 2010 highlights
	
135	 What changed in 2010?
	
136	 Composition of the Compensation Committee
	
136	 Advisors to the Compensation Committee
	
136	 The link between compensation and business 
objectives
	
137	 The role of the Compensation Committee in 
improving risk management
	
137	 TSR performance
	
137	 Key elements of short- and long-term 
remuneration
	
140	 Share incentive dilution for 2000 to 2010
142	 Directors’ remuneration and other statutory 
information
147	 Directors’ interests
Our 2010 financial statements
149	 Accounting policies
156	 Consolidated income statement
157	 Consolidated statement of comprehensive income
158	 Consolidated cash flow statement
159	 Consolidated balance sheet
160	 Consolidated statement of changes in equity
161	 Notes to the consolidated financial statements 
181	 Company profit and loss account
181	 Company balance sheet
182	 Notes to the Company balance sheet
183	 Independent auditors’ report
185	 Five-year summary
186	 Financial glossary
About share ownership
185 	Information for share owners
	
189	 Share owners’ register
	
189	 Analysis of shareholdings at 31 December 2010
	
190	 Dividends
	
190	 American Depositary Receipts (ADRs)
	
190	 Financial calendar
	
190	 Share price
	
191	 Access numbers/Ticker symbols
	
191	 Online information
	
191	 Registrar and transfer office
	
191	 American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) office
	
191	 WPP registered office
	
191	 Tax information
193	 Recognition for past WPP Annual Reports
194	 About the artist
Where to find us
196	 Contact points
	
196	 Parent company centres 
	
196	 Contact points 
	
196	 Group information 
	
196	 WPP news and updates 
This Annual Report, together with trading 
statements, news releases, presentations and 
previous Annual Reports, is available online at 
www.wpp.com
You can sign up to receive WPP’s public monthly 
online news bulletin by e-mail at 
www.wpp.com/ewire
For information in a mobile format please visit
m.wpp.com

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
2
The fast 
read
For a quick, pre-digested, highly-
compressed version of this Annual 
Report: read the next six pages. 
The full story starts on page 8. 
Please read that, too.
Who we are
WPP is the world leader in 
communications services. 
It comprises leading companies 
in all these disciplines:
 Advertising
 Media Investment Management
 Consumer Insight
 Public Relations & Public Affairs
 Branding & Identity
 Healthcare Communications
 Direct, Digital, Promotion & 
Relationship Marketing
 Specialist Communications
There are more than 150 companies within the Group – and 
each is a distinctive brand in its own right. Each has its own 
identity, commands its own loyalty, and is committed to its 
own, specialist expertise. That is their individual strength. 
Clients seek their talent and their experience on a brand-by-
brand basis. Between them, our companies work with 336 
of the Fortune Global 500, 29 of the Dow Jones 30, 61 of the 
NASDAQ 100 and 35 of the Fortune e-50.
It is also of increasing value to clients that WPP companies 
can work together, as increasingly they do: providing a 
tailor-made range of integrated communications services. 
More than 700 clients are now served in three distinct 
disciplines. More than 460 clients are served in four disciplines, 
and these clients account for over 57% of Group revenues. 
Group companies now work with over 340 clients across six 
or more countries. 
Collectively, over 146,000* people work for WPP 
companies; out of almost 2,400 offices in 107 countries.
* Including associates.
Our companies and their websites are listed on pages 10 and 11.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
3
The Fast Read
Why we exist
What we think
Our mission
To develop and manage talent; 
to apply that talent, 
throughout the world, 
for the benefit of clients; 
to do so in partnership; 
to do so with profit.
Within the WPP Group, our clients have access to companies 
with all the necessary marketing and communications skills; 
companies with strong and distinctive cultures of their own; 
famous names, many of them.
WPP, the parent company, complements these companies 
in three distinct ways.
 First, it relieves them of much administrative work. 
Financial matters (such as planning, budgeting, reporting, 
control, treasury, tax, mergers, acquisitions, investor 
relations, legal affairs and internal audit) are co-ordinated 
centrally. For the operating companies, every administrative 
hour saved is an extra hour to be devoted to the pursuit 
of professional excellence.
 Second, the parent company encourages and enables 
operating companies of different disciplines to work together 
for the benefit of clients. Such collaborations have the 
additional benefit of enhancing the job satisfaction of our 
people. The parent company also plays an across-the-Group 
role in the following functions: the management of talent, 
including recruitment and training; in property management; 
in procurement and information technology; in knowledge 
sharing and practice development.
 And, finally, WPP itself can function as the 21st-century 
equivalent of the full-service agency. For some clients, 
predominantly those with a vast geographical spread and a 
need for marketing services ranging from advertising through 
design and website construction to research and internal 
communications, WPP can act as a portal to provide a single 
point of contact and accountability.
Read more about our role on page 12.
The US and traditional media bite back 
by Sir Martin Sorrell
The recovery in 2010 was both remarkable and unexpected. 
Not only was its speed greater than anticipated, it also had 
unpredicted beneficiaries, notably the US and the traditional 
media of network television and print. 
2011 should grow at a similar rate and 2012 promises a 
maxi-quadrennial boost in the shape of the Summer Olympics 
in London, the European Football Championships and the US 
presidential elections. Only 2013 is expected to be tougher: 
whoever occupies the White House will need to finally tackle 
the US deficit, unless there is a bond market strike before then. 
The world economy will see three-speed growth. Slow in 
Western Europe, faster than expected in the US and much 
faster in India, China, Russia and Brazil, along with the 
expanding Next 11. 
While it would be wrong to write off traditional media, the 
addressable and measurable new media will continue to grow 
in significance, as will the traditional below-the-line disciplines 
of marketing services. 
WPP was founded to capitalise on these trends and remains 
in an excellent position to do so in future. Advertising and 
marketing services will continue to be driven by, amongst other 
things, globalisation, concentrating distribution, overcapacity, 
corporate responsibility, the need for internal communications 
and the growing requirements of government as client. 
Sir Martin Sorrell’s article begins on page 78.
On the Incalculable Benefit 
of Not Going Backwards
by Jeremy Bullmore
Every year, marketing companies set marketing objectives 
that are almost always set in terms of growth: every brand 
in every market aims for more sales or more share or both. 
Simple arithmetic suggests that some will be disappointed. 
In fact, one of marketing’s most responsible functions is to 
maintain a brand’s value. The trouble is, as dynamic 
objectives go, it doesn’t sound very manly. 
Jeremy Bullmore’s essay can be read in full on pages 104 and 105.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
4
The Fast Read
Financial summary
2010
2009
Change %
Billings1
£42,684m
£37,919m
+12.6
Revenue
£9,331m
£8,684m
+7.4
Headline EBITDA2
£1,439m
£1,243m
+15.8
Headline operating profit2
£1,173m
£959m
+22.3
Reported operating profit
£973m
£762m
+27.7
Headline PBIT2
£1,229m
£1,017m
+20.8
Headline PBIT margin2
13.2%
11.7%
+1.5
Headline PBT2
£1,034m
£812m
+27.3
Reported PBT
£851m
£663m
+28.4
Headline diluted earnings per share2,4
56.7p
44.4p
+27.7
Headline diluted earnings per ADR2,3,4
$4.38
$3.48
+25.9
Ordinary dividend per share
17.79p
15.47p
+15.0
Ordinary dividend per ADR3
$1.38
$1.21
+14.0
Net debt at year-end
£1,888m
£2,640m
-28.5
Average net debt5
£3,056m
£3,448m
-11.4
Ordinary share price at year-end
789.5p
609.5p
+29.5
ADR price at year-end
$61.97
$48.65
+27.4
Market capitalisation at year-end
£9,982m
£7,658m
+30.3
At 14 April 2011
Ordinary share price
723.0p
ADR price
$59.37
Market capitalisation
£9,159m
The financial statements have been prepared under International Financial Reporting 
Standards (IFRS).
1 Billings is defined on page 186.
2 The calculation of ‘headline’ measurements of performance (including headline EBITDA, 
headline operating profit, headline PBIT, headline PBT and headline earnings) is shown 
in note 31 of the financial statements.
3 One American Depositary Receipt (ADR) represents five ordinary shares. These figures 
have been translated for convenience purposes only using the income statement 
exchange rates shown on page 156. This conversion should not be construed as 
a representation that the pound sterling amounts actually represent, or could be 
converted into, US dollars at the rates indicated.
4 Earnings per share is calculated in note 9 of the financial statements.
5 Average net debt is defined on page 186.
2010 results
2010, our twenty-fifth year, was a year of significant 
recovery, as clients re-focused on top-line sales growth and 
expansion, particularly in faster-growth geographic markets, 
as well as continued cost containment in the slower-growth 
markets of the US and Western Europe.
Billings were up over 12% to £42.7 billion. Revenues 
were up over 7% to £9.3 billion. Including 100% of 
associates, revenue is estimated to total over £11.6 billion. 
Our revenues exceeded all our competitors for the third 
consecutive year, by an increasing amount. Headline PBIT 
was up almost 21% to £1.229 billion against £1.017 billion 
in 2009. Headline PBIT margin was 13.2% in 2010 against 
11.7% last year. In the second half of the year the business 
returned to pre-Lehman pro-forma levels of revenue and 
profitability, with higher productivity.
Headline EBITDA increased by almost 16% to £1.439 
billion, above £1 billion for the fifth consecutive year. Headline 
profit before tax was up over 27% to £1.034 billion, above 
£1 billion for the first time. Reported profit before tax was up 
over 28% to £851 million. Diluted headline earnings per share 
were up almost 28% to 56.7p (an all-time high) and diluted 
reported earnings per share up 30% to 45.9p. Dividends were 
increased by 15% to 17.79p, a record level.
 Revenue growth
Our reported revenue growth for the year of over 7% 
reflected the comparative weakness of sterling against most 
currencies, other than the euro. On a constant currency basis, 
which excludes the impact of currency movements, revenues 
were up over 5%. On a like-for-like basis, excluding the 
impact of acquisitions and currency, revenues were up 5.3%. 
Throughout 2010 we have seen continued sequential 
improvement in our like-for-like quarterly revenue growth, 
with the final two quarters of the year at 7.5% and 8.5% 
respectively. This followed zero like-for-like growth in the 
first quarter and 4.7% in quarter two. This significant 
turnaround was directionally in line with our earlier 
forecasts (we anticipated like-for-like growth in the second 
quarter of 2010 as early as the third quarter trading update 
of 2009), but was considerably more violent than anticipated.
Free cash flow and net debt
Free cash flow strengthened to £902 million in the year. 
Net debt averaged £3.1 billion in 2010, down £0.3 billion 
at 2010 exchange rates, and net debt at 31 December 2010 
was £1.9 billion, or £0.7 billion lower than 2009, reflecting 
significant improvement in profitability and improved cash 
flows, despite a continued client emphasis on improved 
liquidity, as well as effectiveness and efficiency.
Geographic performance 
Revenue growth continued to strengthen in the final quarter, 
particularly in the UK, which showed its strongest growth 
of the year, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, 
Latin America, Africa and Australia, with the US and Asia 
(excluding Australia and New Zealand) maintaining the 
strong growth seen in the third quarter. Western Continental 
Europe remained difficult, with growth in the final quarter 
of just over 3%. 
Markets outside North America now account for 65% 
of our revenues, up from 61% five years ago. The influence 
of the faster-growing markets outside North America is 
increasing rapidly.
How we’re doing

2010 revenue1 by geography  %
North America 
35
UK 
12
Western Continental Europe 
26
Asia Paciﬁc, Latin America, 
Africa & Middle East and 
Central & Eastern Europe  
27
2010 headline PBIT1,2 by geography  %
North America 
39
UK 
13
Western Continental Europe 
19
Asia Paciﬁc, Latin America, 
Africa & Middle East and 
Central & Eastern Europe 
29
2010 revenue1 by sector  %
Advertising and Media Investment 
Management 
40
Consumer Insight 
26
Public Relations & Public Affairs 
9
Branding & Identity, Healthcare 
and Specialist Communications  
25
2010 headline PBIT1,2 by sector  %
Advertising and Media Investment 
Management 
46
Consumer Insight 
19
Public Relations & Public Affairs 
11
Branding & Identity, Healthcare 
and Specialist Communications  
24
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
5
The Fast Read
Sector performance
Revenue growth was encouraging across all sectors, 
specifically in the third and fourth quarters. The fourth 
quarter of the year showed the strongest growth in 
Advertising and Media Investment Management (11.6%) and 
Public Relations & Public Affairs (5.6%). Consumer Insight’s 
fourth quarter revenues were up 5.3%, compared with 2.7% 
in the first half. Branding & Identity, Healthcare and 
Specialist Communications (including direct, digital and 
interactive) grew by 7.3% on a constant currency basis, down 
slightly on the strong growth of 8.1% in the third quarter, 
but well ahead of the first half growth of 2.1%. 
This continuing improvement was driven largely by our 
uniquely global direct, digital and interactive businesses, 
which include three out of the seven worldwide ‘digital 
leaders’ identified by Forrester Research.
Marketing services comprised 60% of our revenues in 
2010, a similar proportion to 2009.
Our key priorities
Our goal remains to be the world’s most successful provider 
of communications services to multinational and local 
companies, not just the largest. To that end, we have three 
key strategic priorities:
 Our immediate priority is to continue to emerge from 
the 2008 financial crisis a stronger company. Our 2010 
results are an encouraging sign that we will or even have. 
 Medium term, to build upon the successful base 
we have established whilst integrating our most recent 
acquisitions effectively.
 Long term, increase the combined geographic share of 
revenues from the faster-growing markets from around 27% 
to 35-40%; increase the share of revenues of new media from 
29% to 35-40%; and maintain the share of more measurable 
marketing services – such as Consumer Insight and direct, 
digital and interactive – at 50% of revenues.
Our letter to share owners starts on page 18.
Our 2010 financial statements are presented in full on pages 149 to 187 
and at www.wpp.com/investor.
1 Percentages are calculated on a constant currency basis. See definition on page 186.
2 The calculation of headline PBIT is set out in note 31 of the financial statements.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
6
The Fast Read
Non-executive chairman
Philip Lader
Chairman of the Nomination Committee
Member of the Compensation Committee
Executive directors
Sir Martin Sorrell
Chief executive
Paul Richardson
Finance director 
Chairman of the Corporate Responsibility Committee
Mark Read
Strategy director
Chief executive, WPP Digital
Non-executive directors
Colin Day
Member of the Audit Committee and 
Compensation Committee
Esther Dyson
Member of the Compensation Committee and 
Nomination Committee
Orit Gadiesh
Member of the Nomination Committee
Ruigang Li
Stanley (Bud) Morten
Koichiro Naganuma 
Lubna Olayan 
Member of the Nomination Committee
John Quelch 
Jeffrey Rosen 
Chairman of the Compensation Committee, Member of the 
Audit Committee, Senior independent director
Timothy Shriver
Member of the Compensation Committee
Paul Spencer
Chairman of the Audit Committee
Sol Trujillo
Member of the Audit Committee
Members of the Advisory Board
Jeremy Bullmore
John Jackson
Richard Rivers
Company Secretary
Marie Capes
Directors’ biographies appear on pages 106 to 108.
Corporate governance
The Board of Directors as a whole is collectively accountable 
to the Company’s share owners for good corporate governance 
and is committed to achieving compliance with the principles 
of corporate governance set out in the Combined Code and, 
following its publication, the UK Corporate Governance Code.
Our goal is to comply with relevant laws, regulations, 
and guidelines such as the UK Corporate Governance Code, 
the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002, the NASDAQ rules and, 
where practicable, with the guidelines issued by institutional 
investors and their representative bodies.
WPP operates a system of internal control, which is 
maintained and reviewed in accordance with the UK Corporate 
Governance Code and the guidance in the Turnbull Report as 
well as the relevant provisions of the Securities Exchange Act 
1934 and related SEC rules, as they currently apply to the 
Company. In the opinion of the Board, the Company has 
complied throughout the year with the Combined Code and, 
following its publication, the UK Corporate Governance Code, 
the Turnbull Report and also with the relevant provisions 
of the Securities Exchange Act 1934 and SEC rules.
Corporate responsibility
WPP’s Corporate Responsibility Committee, which is chaired 
by Paul Richardson, advises on policy, monitors emerging 
issues and co-ordinates communication among Group 
companies. WPP’s five most significant corporate 
responsibility issues are:
 The social and environmental impact of our work for clients. 
 The impact of our work, in  cluding marketing ethics, 
compliance with marketing standards, protection of personal, 
consumer and corporate data and increasing transparency 
about our marketing practices.
 Employment, including diversity and equal opportunities, 
business ethics, employee development, remuneration, 
communication and health and safety. In 2010, WPP invested 
£48.9 million (2009: £39.9 million) in training and wellbeing 
across the Group. 
 Social investment, including pro bono work, donations 
to charity and employee volunteering. In 2010, our total 
social investment was worth £14.3 million (2009: £14.9 
million), equivalent to 1.7% of reported profit before tax. 
This includes £9.3 million in pro bono work (based on 
the fees the benefiting organisations would have paid for 
our work) and an estimated £5 million in donations. In 
addition, WPP media agencies negotiated free media space 
worth £20.2 million on behalf of pro bono clients.
 Climate change, including the emissions from energy 
used in our offices and during business travel.
Full details of our governance policies and practices, and our corporate 
responsibility activities, can be found on pages 111 to 133.
Who runs WPP
How we behave

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
7
The Fast Read
Executive remuneration policy is set by WPP’s Compensation 
Committee and is governed by three guiding principles:
 Competitiveness
 Performance
 Alignment with share owner interests
The committee’s work during 2010 included: 
 approving the deferral and further deferral of significant 
share incentive awards by the Group chief executive; 
 a review of the total compensation packages of 
the executive directors relative to the marketplace 
to ensure competitiveness; 
 a review of the fees of the chairman and the 
non-executive directors; 
 the approval of all stock plan awards used to attract, 
retain, reward and motivate employees; 
 the approval of all incentive payments, payable in cash 
or in shares, for senior executives throughout the Group 
and setting appropriate performance targets for the Group 
chief executive and the other executive directors; and 
 implementation of clawback provisions in the Company’s 
senior management share incentive plans. 
Our directors’ remuneration and interests are set out on pages 142 to 147.
A full report from the Compensation Committee starts on page 135.
WPP is quoted on the London Stock Exchange and NASDAQ 
in New York.
Analysis of shareholdings
Issued share capital as at 31 December 2010: 1,264,391,221 
ordinary shares owned by 12,628 share owners.
Substantial share ownership
As at 18 April 2011, the Company is aware of the following 
interest of 3% or more in the issued ordinary share capital:
Legal & General
3.78
The disclosed interest refers to the respective combined 
holdings of this entity and to interests associated with it. 
The Company has not been notified of any other holdings 
of ordinary share capital of 3% or more.
Share owner relations
WPP has a continuous program to address the needs of share 
owners, investment institutions and analysts, supplying a 
regular flow of information about the Company, its strategy 
and performance. WPP’s website, www.wpp.com, provides 
current and historical financial information including trading 
statements, news releases and presentations.
More information relating to share ownership can be found on pages 
189 to 192.
Share owners by geography  %
UK 
38
US 
34
Asia Paciﬁc, Latin America, 
Africa & Middle East, Canada
and Continental Europe  
28
Share owners by type*  %
Institutional investors 
94
Employees 
3
Other individuals  
3
How we’re rewarded
About share ownership
* In addition, 2.3% of the Company’s share capital is under option to employees.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
8
Who we are

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
9

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
10
Who we are
Our companies & associates
Advertising
ADK1
www.adk.jp
Bates 141
www.bates141.com
BrandBuzz■
www.brandbuzz.com
CHI & Partners1
www.chiandpartners.com
Dentsu Y&R1,2,■
www.yr.com
Grey
www.grey.com
HS Ad1
www.hsad.co.kr
JWT
www.jwt.com
Ogilvy & Mather
www.ogilvy.com
Santo
www.santo.net
Scangroup1
www.scangroup.biz
Soho Square
www.sohosq.com
Tapsa
www.tapsa.es
TAXI■
www.taxi.ca
Team Detroit
www.teamdetroit.com
The Jupiter Drawing Room 
& Partners1
www.jupiter.co.za
United Network
www.theunitednetwork.net
Y&R■
www.yr.com
Media Investment Management
GroupM:
www.groupm.com
Maxus
www.maxusglobal.com
MediaCom
www.mediacom.com
MEC
www.mecglobal.com
Mindshare
www.mindshareworld.com
Outrider
www.outrider.com
Catalyst
www.catalystsearchmarketing.com
Other media agencies
KR Media1
www.krmedia-france.com
tenthavenue:
www.tenthavenue.com
Kinetic Worldwide
www.kineticww.com
Quisma
www.quisma.com
Spafax
www.spafax.com
Consumer Insight
Kantar:
www.kantar.com
Added Value
www.added-value.com
Center Partners
www.centerpartners.com
IMRB International
www.imrbint.com
Kantar Health
www.kantarhealth.com
Kantar Japan
www.jp.kantargroup.com
Kantar Media
www.kantarmedia.com
Kantar Operations
www.kantaroperations.com
Kantar Retail
www.kantarretail.com
Kantar Worldpanel
www.kantarworldpanel.com 
Lightspeed Research
www.lightspeedresearch.com
Millward Brown
www.millwardbrown.com
The Futures Company
www.thefuturescompany.com
TNS
www.tnsglobal.com
Other marketing consultancies
Everystone▲
www.everystonegroup.com
ohal
www.ohal-group.com
Public Relations & Public Affairs
Blanc & Otus♦
www.blancandotus.com
Buchanan Communications
www.buchanan.uk.com
Burson-Marsteller■
www.bm.com
Chime Communications PLC1
www.chime.plc.uk
Clarion Communications
www.clarioncomms.co.uk
Cohn & Wolfe■
www.cohnwolfe.com
Dewey Square Group
www.deweysquare.com
Finsbury
www.finsbury.com
Hill & Knowlton
www.hillandknowlton.com
Ogilvy Government Relations
www.ogilvygr.com
Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
www.ogilvypr.com
The PBN Company1
www.pbnco.com
Penn Schoen Berland■
www.psbresearch.com
Prime Policy Group
www.prime-policy.com
Public Strategies♦
www.pstrategies.com
Quinn Gillespie
www.quinngillespie.com
Robinson Lerer & Montgomery■
www.rlmnet.com
Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates♦
www.wexlergroup.com
Branding & Identity
Addison Corporate Marketing●
www.addison.co.uk
BDGMcColl
www.bdg-mccoll.com
BDGworkfutures
www.bdgworkfutures.com
Coley Porter Bell
www.cpb.co.uk
Dovetail
www.dovetailfurniture.com
FITCH●
www.fitchww.com
Lambie-Nairn●
www.lambie-nairn.com
Landor Associates■,●
www.landor.com
PeclersParis●
www.peclersparis.com
The Brand Union●
www.thebrandunion.com
The Partners●
www.thepartners.co.uk
VBAT●
www.vbat.nl
Healthcare Communications
Feinstein Kean Healthcare†
www.fkhealth.com
GCI Health
www.gcihealth.com
ghg
www.ghgroup.com
Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide
www.ogilvychww.com
Sudler & Hennessey■
www.sudler.com

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
11
Our companies & associates
Who we are
Direct, Digital, Promotion & 
Relationship Marketing
A. Eicoff & Co
www.eicoff.com
Actis Systems+
www.actis.ru
AGENDA+
www.agenda-asia.com
Aqua Online+
www.aquaonline.com
Blast Radius+
www.blastradius.com 
Brierley & Partners1
www.brierley.com
Designkitchen+
www.designkitchen.com
Dialogue 141
www.dialmkg.com
Digit
www.digitlondon.com
EWA
www.ewa.ltd.uk
FullSIX3
www.fullsix.com
Grass Roots1
www.grg.com
G2
www.g2.com
–	G2 Branding & Design
–	G2 Interactive
–	G2 Direct & Digital
–	G2 Promotional Marketing
Headcount Worldwide Field Marketing
www.headcount.co.uk
High Co1
www.highco.fr 
Kassius+
www.kassius.fr
KBM Group+
www.kbmg.com
Mando
www.mando.co.uk
Maxx Marketing
www.maxx-marketing.com
OgilvyAction
www.ogilvyaction.com
OgilvyOne Worldwide
www.ogilvy.com
OgilvyAction Sports & Entertainment 
Marketing
www.ogilvyaction.com
OOT2
www.oot.it
RTCM■
www.rtcrm.com
Smollan Group1
www.smollan.co.za
Studiocom■
www.studiocom.com
These Days+
www.thesedays.com
Vice Media3
www.viceland.com
VML■
www.vml.com
Wunderman■
www.wunderman.com
ZAAZ+
www.zaaz.com
Specialist Communications
Corporate/B2B
Ogilvy Primary Contact
www.primary.co.uk
Custom media
Forward
www.theforwardgroup.com
Demographic marketing
The Bravo Group■
www.thinkbravo.com
Kang & Lee■
www.kanglee.com
MosaicaMD
www.mosaicamd.com
UniWorld1
www.uniworldgroup.com
WING■
www.insidewing.com
Employer branding/recruitment
JWT Inside
www.jwtinside.com
Event/face-to-face marketing
MJM
www.mjmcreative.com
Metro
www.metrobroadcast.com
Foodservice marketing
The Food Group
www.thefoodgroup.com
Sports marketing
PRISM Group
www.prismteam.com
Entertainment marketing
Alliance
www.alliance-agency.com
Youth marketing
The Geppetto Group
www.geppettogroup.com
Real estate marketing
Pace
www.paceadv.com
Technology marketing
Banner Corporation■
www.b1.com
Media & production services
The Farm Group
www.farmgroup.tv 
Hogarth Worldwide2
www.hogarthww.com 
Imagina3
www.mediapro.es 
MRC3
www.mrcstudios.com
The Weinstein Company3
www.weinsteinco.com
WPP Digital
24/7 Real Media
www.247realmedia.com 
Blue State Digital
www.bluestatedigital.com 
Deliver
www.deliveroffshoring.com 
Fabric Worldwide3
www.fabricww.com
iconmobile1
www.iconmobile.com
Johannes Leonardo3
www.johannesleonardo.com
Possible Worldwide
www.possibleworldwide.com
Syzygy1
www.syzygy.net
The Media Innovation Group
www.themig.com
True Worldwide3
www.true-ww.com
WPP Digital partner companies
Ace Metrix3
www.acemetrix.com
Buddy Media3
www.buddymedia.com
eCommera3
www.ecommera.com
HDT Holdings Technology3
www.hdtmedia.com
In Game Ad Interactive3
www.ingamead.cn
Invidi3
www.invidi.com
Jumptap3
www.jumptap.com
LiveWorld3
www.liveworld.com
Moment Systems3
www.miaozhen.com
Proclivity Systems3
www.proclivitysystems.com
Say Media3
www.saymedia.com
Visible Technologies1
www.visibletechnologies.com
Visible World3
www.visibleworld.com
WildTangent3
www.wildtangent.com
Yield Software3
www.yieldsoftware.com
WPP knowledge community
The Store
droth@wpp.com
gmorrison@wpp.com
Key
1	 Associate
2	 Joint venture
3	 Investment
▲ A Brand Union company
♦ A Hill & Knowlton company
†	 An Ogilvy company
■ A Young & Rubicam Brands company
●	 A member of B to D Group 
+	 Part of the Wunderman network
As at April 2011.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
12
Our mission
To develop and manage talent; 
to apply that talent, 
throughout the world, 
for the benefit of clients; 
to do so in partnership; 
to do so with profit.
Why we exist
etween them, WPP companies have tens of 
thousands of individual clients. They range from 
Fortune 500 global giants through single-nation 
start-ups to the smallest of specialist charities. 
Diverse as they are, they have one thing in common: in 
pursuing their objectives, they face formidable competition. 
Growing affluence in many parts of the world – combined 
with overcapacity and over-supply in almost every significant 
consumer market – has put more and more power into the 
hands of consumers, accelerated by technology. 
As always, if they are to succeed – or even to survive with 
profit – every competitive company needs an intrinsically 
appealing product or service. But that, though it remains 
the most fundamental of requirements, is no longer enough. 
Just as competitive costermongers arrange their apples in 
appealing displays and polish them lovingly to catch their 
customers’ eyes, so all companies need to display their 
wares compellingly.
They need access to high-quality information, strategic 
advice and specialist communications skills. And it’s in the 
nature of specialist and creative talent that it is unlikely to 
flourish within the confines of a manufacturing or service 
company. People with specialist talents work best – and 
contribute more – when recruited, trained and inspired 
by specialist companies.
Within the WPP Group, our clients have access 
to companies with all the necessary marketing and 
communications skills; companies with strong and 
distinctive cultures of their own; famous names, many 
of them. WPP, the parent company, complements these 
companies in three distinct ways.
	 First, it relieves them of much administrative work. 
Financial matters (such as planning, budgeting, reporting, 
control, treasury, tax, mergers, acquisitions, investor 
relations, legal affairs and internal audit) are co-ordinated 
centrally. For the operating companies, every administrative 
hour saved is an extra hour to be devoted to the pursuit of 
professional excellence.
	 Second, the parent company encourages and enables 
operating companies of different disciplines to work together 
for the benefit of clients. Such collaborations have the 
additional benefit of enhancing the job satisfaction of our 
people. The parent company also plays an across-the-Group 
role in the following functions: the management of talent, 
including recruitment and training; in property management; 
in procurement and IT; in knowledge sharing and 
practice development.
	 And finally, WPP itself can function as the 21st-century 
equivalent of the full-service agency. For some clients, 
predominantly those with a vast geographical spread and a 
need for marketing services ranging from advertising through 
design and website construction to research and internal 
communications, WPP can act as a portal to provide a single 
point of contact and accountability.
No two clients are structured in precisely the same way. 
Within WPP’s operating companies, teams can be tailor-made 
to match any and all.

How we’re doing
Financial summary
2010
2009
Change %
Billings1
£42,684m
£37,919m
+12.6
Revenue
£9,331m
£8,684m
+7.4
Headline EBITDA2
£1,439m
£1,243m
+15.8
Headline operating profit2
£1,173m
£959m
+22.3
Reported operating profit
£973m
£762m
+27.7
Headline PBIT2
£1,229m
£1,017m
+20.8
Headline PBIT margin2
13.2%
11.7%
+1.5
Headline PBT2
£1,034m
£812m
+27.3
Reported PBT
£851m
£663m
+28.4
Headline diluted earnings per share2,4
56.7p
44.4p
+27.7
Headline diluted earnings per ADR2,3,4
$4.38
$3.48
+25.9
Ordinary dividend per share
17.79p
15.47p
+15.0
Ordinary dividend per ADR3
$1.38
$1.21
+14.0
Net debt at year-end
£1,888m
£2,640m
-28.5
Average net debt5
£3,056m
£3,448m
-11.4
Ordinary share price at year-end
789.5p
609.5p
+29.5
ADR price at year-end
$61.97
$48.65
+27.4
Market capitalisation at year-end
£9,982m
£7,658m
+30.3
At 14 April 2011
Ordinary share price
723.0p
ADR price
$59.37
Market capitalisation
£9,159m
The financial statements have been prepared under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
1	 Billings is defined on page 186.
2	 The calculation of ‘headline’ measurements of performance (including headline EBITDA, headline operating profit, headline PBIT, headline PBT and headline earnings) is shown in 
note 31 of the financial statements.
3	 One American Depositary Receipt (ADR) represents five ordinary shares. These figures have been translated for convenience purposes only using the income statement exchange 
rates shown on page 156. This conversion should not be construed as a representation that the pound sterling amounts actually represent, or could be converted into, US dollars at the 
rates indicated.
4	 Earnings per share is calculated in note 9 of the financial statements.
5	 Average net debt is defined on page 186.
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
15

After-tax return on average capital employed2  %
Weighted average cost
of capital (WACC)
10.1
8.9
12.3
11.8
11.5
10
09
08
07
06
14
12
10
0
2
4
6
8
10.1%
Headline PBIT1  £m
Headline PBIT1 margin %
1,229
1,017
1,118
928
859
10
09
08
07
06
20
0
4
8
12
16
1,229m
Headline diluted earnings per share1  p
Dividends per share p
56.7
44.4
55.5
45.8
41.2
10
09
08
07
06
20
0
4
8
12
16
56.7p
Revenue  £m
9,331
8,684
7,477
6,186
5,908
10
09
08
07
06
9,331m
Headline EBITDA1  £m
1,439
1,243
1,291
1,072
1,002
10
09
08
07
06
1,439m
Relative TSR Rebased to 31 December 20053
31.12.10
31.12.09
31.12.08
31.12.07
31.12.06
31.12.05
WPP
200
0
50
100
150
FTSE 100
Omnicom
Interpublic
Publicis
Financial summary
Reported revenue growth of 7.4% reflected the comparative 
weakness of the pound sterling against most currencies, other 
than the euro. On both a constant currency and like-for-like 
basis, revenues were up over 5%.
Headline EBITDA (headline earnings before interest, 
taxation, depreciation and amortisation) rose by 15.8% 
to £1.4 billion ($2.2 billion).
1	 The calculation of ‘headline’ measurements of performance (including headline EBITDA, headline PBIT and headline earnings) is shown in note 31 of the financial statements.
2	 Calculated gross of goodwill and using profit after taxation before goodwill impairment and other goodwill write-downs, revaluation of financial instruments, amortisation and 
impairment of acquired intangible assets, share of exceptional losses/gains of associates, costs incurred in 2008 in changing the corporate structure of the Group and investment 
gains/losses and write-downs, and adjusted to reflect taxes and net finance costs paid.
3	 Measured on a common currency basis.
Headline PBIT margin was 13.2% in 2010 against 11.7% 
last year. Headline PBIT was up 20.8% to £1,229 million, 
remaining above £1 billion for the third consecutive year.
Diluted headline earnings per share was up almost 28% to a 
record 56.7p. Dividends were up 15% to 17.79p per share – 
an all-time high. 
After-tax return on average capital employed rose to 10.1%, 
with the weighted average cost of capital falling to 6.4%.
WPP out-performed the FTSE 100 Index and continued to do 
well against its US-based competitors.
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
16
How we’re doing

2010 revenue1 by sector  %
Advertising and Media Investment 
Management 
40
Consumer Insight 
26
Public Relations & Public Affairs 
9
Branding & Identity, Healthcare 
and Specialist Communications  
25
2010 revenue1 by geography  %
North America 
35
UK 
12
Western Continental Europe 
26
Asia Paciﬁc, Latin America, 
Africa & Middle East and
Central & Eastern Europe 
27
Average net debt and interest cover multiples  £m
Net interest3 cover
on headline PBIT2
3,056
3,448
2,206
1,458
1,214
10
09
08
07
06
10
0
2
4
6
8
3,056m
2010 headline PBIT1,2 by geography  %
North America 
39
UK 
13
Western Continental Europe 
19
Asia Paciﬁc, Latin America, 
Africa & Middle East and
Central & Eastern Europe  
29
Debt maturity4  £m
200
–
–
400
643
429
1,268
514
100
–
19
20
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
2010 headline PBIT1,2 by sector  %
Advertising and Media Investment 
Management 
46
Consumer Insight 
19
Public Relations & Public Affairs 
11
Branding & Identity, Healthcare 
and Specialist Communications  
24
1	 Percentages are calculated on a constant currency basis. See definition on page 186.
2	 The calculation of headline PBIT is set out in note 31 of the financial statements.
3	 Interest excludes the revaluation of financial instruments.
4	 Includes corporate bonds, convertible bonds and bank loans payable at par value, excluding any redemption premium due, by due date.
Net debt averaged £3.1 billion in 2010, down £0.3 billion 
from £3.4 billion in 2009 at 2010 exchange rates. Headline 
interest cover in 2010 was 6.3 times.
The Group continues to work to achieve continuity and 
flexibility of funding. Undrawn committed borrowing 
facilities are maintained in excess of peak net-borrowing 
levels and debt maturities are monitored closely.
Markets outside North America now account for 65% of 
our revenues, up from 61% five years ago. The influence 
of the faster-growing markets outside North America is 
increasing rapidly.
The most surprising feature of 2010 was the relatively strong 
performance of North America. Western Continental 
Europe is still feeling the effects of the recession.
Marketing services comprised 60% of our revenues in 2010, 
a similar proportion to 2009. It is no longer accurate to 
call us an advertising agency, we are a communications 
services company.
PBIT contributions were broadly in line with revenues, 
with all sectors showing a strong recovery in reported 
operating margins.
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
17
How we’re doing
Financial Summary

Dear share owner
2
010, our twenty-fifth year, was a 
year of significant recovery and a 
record year in almost all respects, 
as clients re-focused on top-line 
sales growth and expansion, particularly 
in faster-growth geographic markets, as 
well as continued cost containment in the 
slower-growth markets of the US and 
Western Europe. Following a brutal 2009, 
when the post-Lehman financial world did 
not come to an end, as some had feared, 
the recovery has been remarkable. 
Our business is being transformed by 
new markets, new media and consumer 
insights which provide major opportunities 
to enhance our future growth and 
profitability. We believe these factors and, 
more importantly, how we respond to them, 
will significantly enhance the value of your 
Company in the future. 
Total share owner return increased sharply, with your share 
price rising 180p, or 30%, to 789.5p from 609.5p during the 
year. Since the year end, your share price has fallen to 723.0p 
at the time of writing, reflecting concern about the potential 
negative impact of political events in North Africa, the 
Middle East and the human catastrophe in Japan. Dividends 
were increased by 15% to 17.79p, a record level.
Billings were up over 12% to £42.7 billion. Revenues 
were up over 7% to £9.3 billion. Including 100% of 
associates, revenue is estimated to total over £11.6 billion. 
Our revenues exceeded all our competitors for the third 
consecutive year, by an increasing amount. Headline PBIT 
was up almost 21% to £1.229 billion against £1.017 billion 
in 2009. Headline PBIT margin was 13.2% in 2010 against 
11.7% last year. The Group achieved a headline PBIT margin 
of 15.8% in the second half of the year, 0.4 margin points 
above the margin achieved in the second half of both 2009 
and 2008, including TNS on a pro-forma basis. In the second 
half of the year the business returned to pre-Lehman pro-
forma levels of revenue and profitability, with higher 
productivity. On gross margin, the headline PBIT margin 
was 14.4%, up 1.7 margin points on 2009. This is probably 
a more accurate basis for competitive comparisons. Reported 
profit before interest and tax rose over 25% to £1.028 billion, 
over £1 billion for the first time, from £819 million. 
Headline EBITDA (which is a key metric that private 
equity firms, for example, use for valuing companies) 
increased by almost 16% to £1.439 billion, above £1 billion 
for the fifth consecutive year. Headline profit before tax 
was up over 27% to £1.034 billion, above £1 billion also for 
the first time. Reported profit before tax was up over 28% to 
£851 million. Diluted headline earnings per share were up 
almost 28% to 56.7p (an all-time high) and diluted reported 
earnings per share up 30% to 45.9p. 
Free cash flow strengthened to £902 million in the year. 
Net debt averaged £3.1 billion in 2010, down £0.3 billion 
at 2010 exchange rates, and net debt at 31 December 2010 
was £1.9 billion, or £0.7 billion lower than 2009, reflecting 
significant improvement in profitability and improved cash 
flows, despite a continued client emphasis on improved 
liquidity, as well as effectiveness and efficiency. Equity 
analysts appear comfortable with the level of the Group’s 
average net debt, which was around 2.1 times headline 
EBITDA in 2010. 
Headline interest cover in 2010 was 6.3 times. So far, 
in the first three months of 2011, average net debt was 
down approximately £0.6 billion at £2.2 billion against 
£2.8 billion for the same period in 2010, at 2011 exchange 
rates, again reflecting strong cash flows. 
With a current equity market capitalisation of 
approximately £9.1 billion, the total enterprise value of 
your Company is approximately £11.7 billion, 8.4 times 
headline EBITDA. 
Letter to share owners*
*	 This letter to share owners should be read in conjunction with and as part of the 
management report set out in the section headed Directors’ report on pages 111 to 124. 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
18
How we’re doing

Congressional elections, especially following the United States 
Supreme Court decision permitting freer lobbying. Third, 
there was significant excess traditional media inventory, which 
reduced prices and made traditional media relatively more 
attractive, perhaps also stimulated by a feeling that new media 
were more about price and deal, and traditional media more 
about brand building and brand equity. 
Finally, and most importantly, post-Lehman and the 
several corporate crises, we have seen a concern, or even fear, 
amongst chairmen and CEOs and in the boardroom about 
making mistakes and a consequent emphasis on cost 
containment and unwillingness to add to fixed expenses or 
capacity. Western-based multinationals are said to have over 
$2 trillion in cash on their balance sheets, but unemployment 
remains at stubbornly high levels, with only increases in 
temporary employment and limited expansion of fixed 
capacity in Western markets. Hence, a willingness to invest 
in the brand and maintain or increase market share, rather 
than increasing capacity and fixed expenses. 
In the third quarter constant currency revenues in the US 
were up 9.9%, which continued into the final quarter, with 
growth of 9.8%.
Together with this improved top-line growth, the Group 
has benefited from the cost actions taken, particularly 
towards the end of 2009, to adjust headcount and staff 
costs. As a result, headline PBIT margins have improved by 
3.0 margin points before incentives and by 1.5 margin points 
after incentives. As mentioned earlier, headline PBIT margins 
in the second half of 2010 were above both the second half 
of 2009 and the second half of 2008, adjusted for the impact 
of TNS. Bonus pools have been refilled and, as a percentage 
of headline profit before bonuses and income from associates, 
are close to maximum levels. 
On a like-for-like basis, average headcount has fallen 
by over 4%, compared with 2009, although given the 
substantial increase in like-for-like revenues of 8.0% in the 
second half of the year, our operating companies have begun 
to invest in more talent. Revenue conversion post-incentives, 
that is incremental profit as a proportion of incremental 
revenue, was very strong at 33%, as our operating companies 
benefited from the actions to reduce both staff costs and 
other operating costs in 2009 and during 2010.
Geographically, revenue growth continued to strengthen 
in the final quarter, particularly in the UK, Central and 
Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa 
and Australia, with the US and Asia (excluding Australia 
and New Zealand) maintaining the strong growth seen in 
the third quarter. Western Continental Europe remained 
difficult, with growth in the final quarter of just over 3%, 
with France, Spain, Greece, Ireland and Belgium still under 
pressure. The US continued the strong growth seen in the 
third quarter, up 9.8%. The UK showed its strongest growth 
of the year at 9.7%. Latin America was up 6.5% in the 
fourth quarter in constant currency, but on a like-for-like 
Revenue growth in the fourth quarter was the 
highest in a decade 
Our reported revenue growth for the year of over 7% 
reflected the comparative weakness of sterling against most 
currencies, other than the euro. On a constant currency 
basis, which excludes the impact of currency movements, 
revenues were up over 5%. 
On a like-for-like basis, excluding the impact of 
acquisitions and currency, revenues were up 5.3%, reflecting 
sequential quarterly improvement throughout the year. 
Revenue grew by 8.5% in the final quarter, the fastest rate 
of like-for-like quarterly growth since the fourth quarter of 
2000. The month of December saw the first monthly double-
digit growth rate since January 2001. 
Throughout 2010 we have seen continued sequential 
improvement in our like-for-like quarterly revenue growth, 
with the final two quarters of the year at 7.5% and 8.5% 
respectively. This followed zero like-for-like growth in the 
first quarter and 4.7% in quarter two. This significant 
turnaround was directionally in line with our earlier forecasts 
(we anticipated like-for-like growth in the second quarter of 
2010 as early as the third quarter trading update of 2009), but 
was considerably more violent than anticipated. In 2009, our 
budgets were optimistic, anticipating like-for-like growth of 
–2% (an oxymoron). In fact we came in at –8%. In 2010, on 
the other hand, we proved too pessimistic, budgeting like-for-
like growth of zero (another oxymoron) and coming in at over 
5%. Let’s hope we have it more correct in 2011 (third time 
lucky), where we are budgeting revenue growth of 5%. 
The US behaved like a fast-growing market
The most surprising feature of 2010 was the relatively strong 
performance of mature geographical markets, such as the 
US and Germany and traditional media, like free-to-air 
television. The headline was “The US and traditional media 
bite back.” Indeed, the US behaved more like a fast-growing 
market, or as some others insist on calling them, an emerging 
market (despite the fact that many of them, like China, the 
world’s second largest economy, have emerged), growing at 
7%, against GDP growth of around 3%.
There seem to be a number of possible reasons for this. 
First, there was an element of ‘dead-cat bounce’, as advertising 
as a proportion of US GDP probably reached a low not seen 
since the mid-1970s in 2009 and massive government and 
central bank-driven fiscal and monetary stimuli kicked in and 
stimulated activity from the heavily-depressed levels of 2009. 
Second, there was a significant increase in activity in sectors 
that had been heavily cut, such as automobiles, financial 
services and retail (and a number of new marketing ‘wars’ 
such as automobiles and telecommunications), further 
stimulated by heavy political spending around the mid-term 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
19
How we’re doing
Letter to share owners

Constant currency1 revenue growth by geography  %
Western Continental Europe 
Asia Paciﬁc, Latin America,
Africa & Middle East and 
Central & Eastern Europe
UK
10
09
10
09
10
09
10
09
7.7
-0.7
5.7
7.8
2.7
12.8
5.6
4.3
North America
Headline PBIT2 margins by geography  %
Western Continental Europe 
Asia Paciﬁc, Latin America,
Africa & Middle East and 
Central & Eastern Europe
UK
10
09
10
09
10
09
10
09
14.7
13.2
13.6
12.8
9.5
8.3
14.3
12.7
North America
Revenue by geography  £m
North America
UK
Western Continental Europe
Asia Paciﬁc, Latin America
Africa & Middle East and
Central & Eastern Europe
10,000
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
09
08
07
06
10
Revenue growth was encouraging across 
all sectors
The Group’s Advertising and Media Investment Management 
businesses continued their strong growth, with constant 
currency revenues up 11.6% in the fourth quarter, the 
strongest quarterly growth in the year, with Media Investment 
Management up over 17% and Advertising up well over 7%.
The Group’s Public Relations & Public Affairs businesses 
also had their strongest quarter, with revenues up 5.6%, 
compared with 5.1% in the third quarter and 3.2% in the 
first half. Consumer Insight also had a good quarter, with 
revenues up 5.3%, compared with 6.9% in the third quarter 
and 2.7% in the first half. The Group’s Branding & Identity, 
Healthcare and Specialist Communications businesses 
(including direct, digital and interactive) grew by 7.3% on a 
constant currency basis, down slightly on the strong growth 
of 8.1% in the third quarter, but well ahead of the first half 
growth of 2.1%. However, on a like-for-like basis, revenues 
were up 7.2% in the fourth quarter compared with 7.1% in 
the third quarter, adjusting for the disposal of the call centre 
business mentioned earlier.
This continuing improvement was driven largely by our 
uniquely global direct, digital and interactive businesses, 
amongst others comprising OgilvyOne, with global revenues 
of over $800 million, VML, with revenues over $100 million 
and Wunderman, with global revenues over $900 million. 
OgilvyInteractive, VML and Wunderman are three of the 
seven worldwide ‘digital leaders’, according to the leading 
independent digital research firm, Forrester Research. No 
other competitive group has more than one digital leader. 
The Group has also recently announced the launch of 
Possible Worldwide, a global interactive marketing agency, 
formed through the combination of award-winning WPP 
Digital agencies Schematic, Bridge Worldwide, BLUE and 
Quasar, with revenue of over $100 million, with 18 offices 
and 1,000 staff worldwide, and with operations in the US, 
Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Margins also improved across all sectors
In constant currencies, Advertising and Media Investment 
Management revenues grew by 7.0%, with like-for-like 
revenues up similarly at 7.1%. All of the Group’s four largest 
advertising networks finished the year strongly, with growth 
in our Media Investment Management business over 13% in 
the year. Advertising showed sequential quarterly like-for-
like growth in the last three quarters of 2010, following six 
quarters of decline. This strong revenue growth in 2010, 
together with the cost actions taken in 2009, resulted in the 
combined reported operating margin of this sector improving 
by approximately 1.5 margin points to 15.3%. 
In 2010, Ogilvy & Mather, JWT, Y&R, Grey and 
United Network generated estimated net new billings of over 
basis was up almost 15%, reflecting the disposal of a call 
centre business in Argentina in September. Asia, excluding 
Australia and New Zealand, grew at 13.6%, which was the 
same as the third quarter. Mainland China and India 
continued their strong growth with revenue up over 18% and 
almost 15% respectively in the final quarter. Other major 
markets in Asia also showed strong growth, including South 
Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and more surprisingly Japan, 
driven by Ogilvy, GroupM and Kantar.
Markets outside North America now account for 65% 
of our revenues, up from 61% five years ago. The influence 
of the faster-growing markets outside North America is 
increasing rapidly.
1	 See definition on page 186.
2	 The calculation of headline PBIT is set out in note 31 of the financial statements.
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
20
How we’re doing
Letter to share owners

Constant currency1 revenue growth by sector  %
Public Relations 
& Public Affairs
Branding & Identity, 
Healthcare and 
Specialist Communications
Consumer Insight
10
09
10
09
10
09
10
09
7.0
-8.6
4.4
62.9
4.3
-6.5
5.0
-4.5
Advertising and Media
Investment Management
Headline PBIT2 margins by sector  %
Public Relations 
& Public Affairs
Branding & Identity, Healthcare 
and Specialist Communications
Consumer Insight
10
09
10
09
10
09
10
09
15.3
13.8
9.7
8.6
15.8
15.3
12.4
10.4
Advertising and Media
Investment Management
Revenue by sector  £m
Advertising and Media
Investment Management
Consumer Insight
Public Relations 
& Public Affairs
Branding & Identity, 
Healthcare and 
Specialist Communications
10,000
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
09
08
07
06
10
The Group’s Public Relations & Public Affairs businesses 
had a strong end to the year, with constant currency revenue 
growth of 5.6% in quarter four, the highest quarter of the 
year. Operating margins rose by 0.5 margin points to 
15.8%. Particularly strong performances were recorded 
by Burson-Marsteller and the Group’s specialist public 
relations businesses. 
The Group’s Branding & Identity, Healthcare and 
Specialist Communications (including direct, digital and 
interactive) constant currency revenues grew by 5.0% in 
the year and 7.3% in the final quarter. The Group’s global 
direct, digital and interactive agencies grew strongly, as did 
Branding & Identity with revenue up almost 11% in the final 
quarter. This service sector showed a strong recovery in 
reported operating margins, up 2.0 margin points to 12.4%.
Marketing services comprised 60% of our revenues in 
2010, a similar proportion to 2009. It is no longer accurate to 
call us an advertising agency, we are really a communications 
services company.
As margins recovered we invested in talent
Headline PBIT margins recovered to 13.2% against 11.7% in 
2009, but were still lower than the 15.0% achieved in 2008 
(or 14.3% if TNS were included for the whole of 2008). 
However, as mentioned above, the Group achieved a margin 
of 15.8% in the second half of the year, 0.4 margin points 
higher than the corresponding period in both 2009 and 2008 
(including TNS on a pro-forma basis). 
On a like-for-like basis the average number of people in 
the Group decreased by 4.2% in 2010. On the same basis, 
the number of people in the Group at 31 December 2010 
was 4.5% higher than at the end of 2009. This increase 
partly counter-balanced the more than 12% fall in point-to-
point headcount during 2009 and represented an increased 
investment in talent, as revenue growth picked up.
Reported staff costs, excluding incentives, were up 3.2%. 
Incentive payments totalled £342 million (£178 million in 
2009), which represented over 22% (almost 16% in 2009) of 
headline operating profit before incentives and income from 
associates. Cash-based incentives totalled £272 million or 
almost 18% of headline operating profit as defined above, 
against £123 million or almost 11% in 2009. The balance 
of £70 million in 2010 represents share-based incentives 
granted in 2010 and previous years. Our objective remains 
to pay out approximately 20% of operating profit before 
bonus and taxes at maximum and 15% at target and, 
in some cases, 25% at ‘super-maximum’.
Before these incentive payments, headline PBIT margins 
rose by 3.0 margin points to 16.8%. On a reported basis, 
despite the almost doubling of incentive payments, the Group’s 
staff cost-to-revenue ratio fell to 58.3% compared with 
58.9% in 2009. Before incentive and severance costs, 
headline PBIT margins rose by 2.4 margin points to 17.6%. 
£0.8 billion ($1.2 billion) and GroupM, the Group’s Media 
Investment Management company, which includes 
Mindshare, MEC, MediaCom and Maxus, generated 
estimated net new billings of £1.5 billion ($2.4 billion). 
tenthavenue has been created as a separate ‘engagement 
network’, focused on out-of-home media, including Group 
companies Kinetic, Quisma and Spafax. 
Consumer Insight revenues grew by 4.4% in constant 
currencies, with like-for-like revenues up similarly at 3.9%. 
Reported operating margins improved by 1.1 margin points 
to 9.7% as benefits resulting from the integration of TNS 
custom research and Research International and the other 
operations of both TNS and Kantar, in media, healthcare, 
retail and their related panel activities, were realised. 
Reported gross margin margins (headline PBIT as a 
proportion of gross margin rather than revenue) improved 
1.5 margin points to 13.2%.
1	 See definition on page 186.
2	 The calculation of headline PBIT is set out in note 31 of the financial statements.
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
21
How we’re doing
Letter to share owners

Indonesia, Iran (?), Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the 
Philippines, South Korea, Turkey, Vietnam) or CIVETS 
(Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt (still included), 
Turkey, South Africa), along with new media (personal 
computer-driven, mobile, video content, social networks). 
Second, The Championship, the US, because of its size, 
immigrant, entrepreneurial culture and human and natural 
resources, along with an economically well-run and high 
value-added manufacturing export-led Germany and free-to-
air television. Third, League One, Western Europe, primarily 
the UK, France, Italy and Spain, along with newspapers 
and magazines. Last, League Two, (sadly, particularly given 
the recent terrible events) Japan, which has been stagnant 
for almost 20 years. Perhaps the UK, with its Coalition 
Government’s emphasis on deficit reduction and long-term 
growth will gain promotion to The Championship?
In any event, the Group’s strategic focus on new markets, 
new media and consumer insight reflects these differing 
market dynamics and account respectively for 27%, 29% 
and 26% of the Group’s revenues of over $14 billion. 
2011 like-for-like revenue growth looks as though it 
should be similar to how 2010 actually turned out, as long as 
we have our budgets right. The final budget figures indicate 
continued growth of 5% over last year’s actual numbers. 
Budget optimism in 2009 was replaced by pessimism in 
2010. Perhaps the 2011 budgets will finally reflect realism.
However, the pattern of revenue growth looks as though it 
will be slightly different, with the balance of growth shifting 
from the West to the East to China and India, to the South to 
Brazil and Latin America and to the South-East to Africa and, 
functionally, to media investment management, digital media 
and data analytics and the application of technology. The 
shift to the East applies even in Europe itself, as the strong 
man of Europe, Germany, forms a strong axis with Poland, 
relatively untouched by the recession, and Russia, blessed 
with vast, increasingly valuable energy resources (as long 
as they invest the proceeds wisely). 
Clients seem to be increasingly focused on expansion in 
the faster-growing markets and cost containment and caution 
in the West. So far this strategy has paid off, with corporate 
profitability at record highs. Worries remain around euro-
contagion and the lack of willingness, at least in front of a US 
Presidential election in 2012, to tackle US deficit reduction. 
Additional concerns have also developed in recent months over 
events in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya and Yemen and the 
implications for other countries, such as Jordan or Saudi 
Arabia, and the shocking human catastrophes in Japan 
surrounding the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis. 
We have to admire the phlegmatic, stoical and disciplined 
response of the Japanese people to these bitterly unfair events. 
As we write there is news of another significant earthquake in 
Japan of over 7 on the Richter scale. As a point of reference, 
the Middle East accounts for about 1.7% or $300 million of 
our approximately $16 billion of revenues forecast by analysts 
and Japan about 1.5% or $200 million. However, despite 
Part of the Group’s strategy is to continue to ensure that 
variable staff costs (incentives, freelance and consultants 
costs) are a significant proportion of total staff costs and 
revenue, as this provides flexibility to deal with volatility in 
revenues and recessions or slow-downs. In 2010, the ratio of 
variable staff costs to total staff costs increased significantly 
to 13.4%, compared with 9.7% in 2009 and 11.4% in 2008. 
As a proportion of revenue, variable staff costs were 7.8% in 
2010 compared with 5.7% in 2009 and 6.6% in 2008. These 
represent the highest ratios in the last 10 years. The business is, 
therefore, even better protected against economic downturns.
As a result of all this, headline PBIT rose almost 21% 
to £1.229 billion from £1.017 billion, up almost 17% in 
constant currencies. Reported PBIT rose over 25% to 
£1.028 billion from £819 million, over 20% in constant 
currencies, reflecting a lower charge for goodwill impairment 
and amortisation of intangibles, partly offset by higher 
investment write-downs.
Net finance costs (excluding the revaluation of financial 
instruments) were £195 million, down from £205 million last 
year, reflecting lower average net debt, partly offset by higher 
funding costs. Headline profit before tax increased by more 
than 27% to £1.034 billion and reported profit before tax 
was up over 28% to £851 million.
The Group’s tax rate on headline profit before tax was 
22.0%, a reduction of 1.8 percentage points from 2009, as 
a result of continuing tax planning initiatives and deferred 
tax credits.
Diluted headline earnings per share rose over 27% to 
56.7p and diluted reported earnings per share increased 30% 
to 45.9p. Prudently, no severance or integration expenses 
have been excluded in arriving at headline earnings. This is 
not competitive practice, which is odd.
Integration of TNS
Following the acquisition of TNS in October 2008, the 
custom business of TNS has been combined with Research 
International and its other operations merged with several 
of the Kantar businesses to form Kantar Media, Kantar 
Worldpanel, Kantar Retail and Kantar Health. The integration 
has gone well and, as a result of actions taken since 
acquisition, as at 31 December 2010, the Group achieved the 
revised merger benefits target of an annualised £60 million, 
as opposed to the original commitment of £52 million.
The outlook for 2011
The world continues to move at very different speeds, both 
geographically and functionally. By means of explanation, 
perhaps an English football analogy is helpful. First, the 
Premier League which consists of the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, 
India and China) and the Next 11 (Bangladesh, Egypt, 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
22
How we’re doing
Letter to share owners

Globalisation, overcapacity of production in most sectors 
and the shortage of human capital, the developments in 
new technologies and media, the growth in importance 
of internal communications, the need to influence retail 
distribution, brand emphasis on health and wellness, 
the growth in government spending and the new focus 
on corporate responsibility issues such as climate change, 
underpin the need for our clients to continue to differentiate 
their products and services both tangibly and intangibly.
Moreover, the continuing growth of the BRICs, Next 11 
and other faster-growing geographical markets, will add 
significant opportunities in Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa 
and the Middle East and Central and Eastern Europe – along 
with the growth of ‘new-BRICs’ such as Vietnam, Pakistan, 
Indonesia, Bangladesh, Colombia and Mexico. Advertising 
and marketing services expenditure as a proportion of GDP 
has started to resume its growth, although in these relatively 
low inflationary times, where our clients have limited pricing 
power, we are committed to working with our clients and their 
procurement departments, to improve the effectiveness and 
efficiency of their spending and investments.
Given these short-term and long-term trends, your 
Company believes it has the correct strategic priorities – 
new markets, new media and consumer insight – and a 
focus on not only strategic planning, creative execution and 
distribution, but also on both the application of technology 
and analysis of data, to the benefit of our clients and people. 
Including associates, the Group had over 146,000 
full-time people in almost 2,400 offices in 107 countries 
at the year end. It services 336 of the Fortune Global 500 
companies, 29 of the Dow Jones 30, 61 of the Nasdaq 100, 
35 of the Fortune e-50, and 708 national or multinational 
clients in three or more disciplines. More than 460 clients are 
served in four disciplines and these clients account for over 
57% of Group revenues. The Group also works with over 
340 clients in six or more countries.
These statistics reflect the increasing opportunities for 
developing client relationships between activities nationally, 
internationally and by function. We estimate that over 35% 
of new assignments in the year were generated through the 
joint development of opportunities by two or more Group 
companies. New integration mechanisms, sensitive to global 
and local opportunities, including WPP Global Client 
Leaders for our top 30 clients (which account for around 
a third or $5 billion of revenues) and Country Managers, 
continue to be developed. There is an increasing number 
of major client creative and integration opportunities at a 
Group level. The Group continues to be extremely successful 
in most, if not all, of the integrated marketing competitions 
that clients are increasingly initiating. These opportunities 
range from the creation of teams across the Group to the 
integration of various operating units and to the creation 
of individually tailored agencies to meet clients’ needs. The 
Group’s integration record continues to lead its competitors 
by a considerable distance.
these concerns and commodity price inflation and high levels 
of unemployment, particularly amongst the youth, forecasts 
for global GDP growth in 2011 remain around 4% and media 
growth forecasts, including by our own GroupM, around the 
same level or even greater, as advertising and marketing 
spending picks up from depressed levels in mature markets 
and grows aggressively in relatively under-advertised, faster-
growth markets – almost a double-whammy.
Incentive plans for 2011 will place increased emphasis 
on revenue growth and improvement in operating margins 
in conjunction with operating profit growth, although 
objectives will continue to include qualitative Group 
objectives, including co-ordination and co-operation, talent 
management and succession planning.
At the time of writing, we have revenue and profit data 
for the first two months of 2011. The strong finish to 2010 
has continued into 2011, with like-for-like revenue and gross 
margin for the first two months of the year both up over 7%. 
Geographically, we are seeing stronger growth in both Asia 
and Latin America and the US remaining strong. By sector, 
Advertising and Media Investment Management also remain 
strong with our direct, digital and interactive businesses also 
well up and Consumer Insight up too. These trends are 
broadly in line with our budgets, which also indicate a 
stronger first half, understandable given easier 2010 first-half 
comparatives and our usual quarter four conservative 
budget. Operating profits were in line with budget and well 
up on last year.
Prospects for 2012 also feel good, particularly as the US 
Presidential election, the well-organised London Olympics 
and the UEFA European Football Championships should add 
1-2% to global advertising and marketing growth rates, as 
usual in a maxi-quadrennial year. The problems may well 
come, however, in 2013 or late 2012, as the newly re-elected 
or elected American President wrestles with a ballooning 
deficit – unless the bond markets lose patience before then. 
At least one major US institution has lost patience already. 
Margin objectives
Operating margins for 2011 are targeted to rise by 0.5 margin 
points to 13.7%, in line with our revised targets of 13.7% 
for 2011 and 14.2% for 2012, with a long-term objective 
of 18.3%, equivalent to 19.0% pre-TNS. This is challenging, 
of course, but not as outrageous as some believe, given that 
our best-performing companies in each services sector have 
already demonstrated they can perform at a combined Group 
margin of 17%.
The longer term
In the long term, the outlook for the advertising and 
marketing services industry appears favourable. 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
23
How we’re doing
Letter to share owners

First, to continue to raise operating margins to 
the levels of the best-performing competition. We 
achieved 15% for two consecutive years, in 2007 and 
2008. We continue to believe a margin of 18.3% is a 
tough, but realistic objective. BBDO, Dentsu and McCann 
have achieved this in the past, although the pressure became 
too great in some instances. It may well be that gross margin 
margin is a more accurate competitive comparison.
Second, to continue to increase flexibility in the 
cost structure. Great strides have been made in 
recent years. In 2010, variable staff costs made up 
7.8% of revenues, the highest ratio for 10 years. 
This compares with 6.6% in 2008 and 5.7% in 2009, and 
illustrates the value of this flexibility in protecting margins 
in the event of an economic downturn.
Third, to improve total share owner return by 
maximising the return on investment on the 
Company’s substantial free cash flow (of over £900 
million or around $1.4 billion). There are broadly 
three alternative uses of funds:
	 Capital expenditure, which usually approximates the 
depreciation cost. Pressure here has eased as technology 
pricing has fallen, although we are increasing investment in 
our digital and technology-based service offering, in line with 
our strategic goals. In 2009, we also invested significantly 
more in real estate following lease renewals, particularly 
in New York, to secure greater efficiencies.
	 Mergers and acquisitions, which have historically taken 
the lion’s share of free cash flow. Here we have raised the 
Change in variable costs  %
2010
2009
2008
2002
Variable staff costs
as a % of Revenue
Variable staff costs
as a % of staff costs
15
9.2
11.4
9.7
13.4
5.3
6.6
5.7
7.8
0
3
6
9
12
Headline operating margins1 vs peers  %
WPP
IPG
Omnicom
Publicis
Havas
WPP including
associates
WPP gross
margin margin2
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
0
5
10
15
20
1	 Based on headline operating profit as defined on page 186, excluding share of results of 
associates, and sourced from relevant public filings, adjusted to a comparable basis to WPP.
2	 Gross margin margin is defined as headline PBIT as a proportion of gross margin.
Our key priorities
Our reason for being, the justification for WPP’s existence, 
continues to be to add value to our clients’ businesses and 
our people’s careers. Our goal remains to be the world’s 
most successful provider of communications services to 
multinational and local companies, not just the largest.
To that end, we have three key strategic priorities. 
1 
First, our immediate priority is to continue to emerge 
from the financial crisis of 2008 a stronger company. 
Our 2010 results are an encouraging sign that we will 
or even have. Compared with the last downturn, our people 
are stronger: they are better resourced, better motivated and 
incentivised than when we exited the last recessions in the 
early 1990s and 2000s. The Company is also more profitable, 
more liquid and better structured. In this economic cycle, 
margins have peaked at 15.0% and bottomed at 11.7%, 
as opposed to 10.5% and 5.6% in the early 1990s. 
2 
Second, in the medium term, to build upon the 
successful base we have established whilst integrating 
our most recent acquisitions effectively. At TNS the 
integration has gone well and the focus has to now be on 
revenue growth, capturing greater market share. 
3 
Our third priority, in the long term or over the next 
five to 10 years, is to:
 Increase the combined geographic share of revenues from 
the faster-growing markets of Asia Pacific, Latin America, 
Africa and the Middle East, and Central and Eastern Europe, 
from around 27% to 35-40%. 
	 Increase the share of revenues of new media from 29% 
to 35-40%.
	 Maintain the share of more measurable marketing 
services – such as Consumer Insight and direct, 
digital and interactive – at 50% of revenues.
Our six specific objectives
Here are six objectives which represent our key performance 
indicators (KPIs). For an assessment of how we performed 
against them in 2010, read on.
	
Continue to raise operating margins to the levels 
of the best-performing competition.
	
Continue to increase flexibility in the cost structure.
	
Improve total share owner return and return 
on capital.
	
Continue to enhance the value added by 
the parent company.
	
Continue to place greater emphasis on 
revenue growth.
	
Improve still further the quality of our creative output.
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
24
How we’re doing
Letter to share owners

Share buy-backs in 2010 cost £46 million, representing 
0.5% of share capital, again well within the target set at the 
time of the TNS acquisition. It is likely that we will continue 
to ensure that share buy-backs at least equal the dilutive 
effect of option and restricted stock issuance.
Fourth, we will continue to enhance the value added 
by the parent company and build unique integrated 
marketing approaches for clients. WPP is not just a 
holding company focused on planning, budgeting, 
reporting and financial issues, but a parent company that can 
add value to our clients and our people in the areas of human 
resources, property, procurement, information technology 
and practice development. We will continue to do this through 
a limited group of 350 or so people at the centre in Dublin, 
London, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai and 
São Paulo. This does not mean that we seek to diminish the 
strength of our operating brands, but rather to learn from one 
another. Our objective is to maximise the added value for our 
clients with their businesses and our people with their careers.
Many of our initiatives are possible because of the scale 
on which we now operate. In the optimum use of property, 
in information technology and in procurement generally, 
we are able to achieve efficiencies that would be beyond the 
reach of any individual operating company.
But it is also clear that there is an increasing 
requirement for the centre to complement the operating 
companies in professional development and client co-
ordination. It is a relatively recent development for certain 
multinational marketing companies, when looking to satisfy 
their global communications needs, to make their initial 
approach not to operating companies, but directly to holding 
or parent companies. 
Such assignments present major, and increasingly 
frequent, opportunities for the few groups of our size. It is 
absolutely essential that we have the professional resources 
and the practice development capability to serve such clients 
comprehensively, actively and creatively. Initiatives involving 
some of the world’s largest marketers continue to gain 
momentum. The world’s largest advertiser is itself integrating 
its efforts around brands, in the areas of advertising, media 
investment management, market research, packaging 
hurdle rate on capital employed so that our return on capital 
may be increased. Valuations remain reasonable, particularly 
outside the US, although some speculative froth does seem 
to have developed, especially in digital and interactive in the 
US and in some faster-growing markets, like Brazil, as our 
competitors try to play catch-up.
Our acquisition focus in 2010 was again on the triplet 
opportunities of faster-growing geographic markets, new 
technologies and consumer insights, totally consistent 
with our strategic priorities in the areas of geography, 
new communication services and measurability.
The cost of the acquisition of TNS in 2008 was funded 
principally by debt. At the time of the transaction, we 
announced that, for the following two years, acquisitions 
would be limited to no more than £100 million per annum, 
the Group’s share buy-back program would be targeted up 
to 1% per annum and dividend growth at up to 15% per 
annum, with the objective of using surplus cash generated 
to reduce debt, whilst average net debt to headline EBITDA 
remained well above 2 times. For 2010, this ratio improved 
to 2.1 times so this objective has been largely achieved one 
year ahead of schedule.
In 2010, the Group spent £97 million on initial 
acquisition payments, net of cash acquired and disposal 
proceeds, so within the target set. It is likely we will continue 
to focus on small and medium-sized acquisitions in 2011 
but at a slightly greater level, around £150-200 million.
	 Dividends or share buy-backs. We continue to focus on 
examining the relative merits of dividends and share buybacks.
Following the strong first half results in 2010, we re-
instituted an increase in dividend with a 15% increase in the 
first interim dividend, the upper limit committed to at the time 
of the TNS acquisition. Following the continued improvement 
in profitability during the second half of 2010, the Board has 
also recommended an increase in the second interim dividend 
of 15%. This makes a total for the year of 17.79p per share, 
an all-time high for your Company. Dividends paid in 2010 
were 3.6 times covered by headline earnings.
Subject to share owner approval at the Company’s Annual 
General Meeting in June 2011, the Board also proposes to 
put in place a scrip dividend program which will enable share 
owners to elect to receive new fully paid ordinary shares in 
the Company instead of cash dividends, commencing with the 
second interim dividend for 2010. Details of the scrip dividend 
program will be sent to share owners together with the 
Notice of the Company’s Annual General Meeting. The Board 
has also undertaken a review of its dividend pay-out policy 
and consulted institutional share owners and analysts. It seems 
clear from this analysis that in current stock market conditions, 
many share owners favour consistent dividend growth and 
better dividend yields over share re-purchases. Given these 
views, the Board plans to increase the dividend payout ratio 
as a proportion of post-tax profits from the current level of 
approximately 30% to approximately 40% over the medium 
term, reducing dividend cover from approximately 3 times 
headline earnings to approximately 2.5 times.
Distributions to share owners1  £m
Buy-backs
Dividends paid
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
600
3.0%
4.8%
6.6%
4.7%
3.4%
0
150
300
450
3.0%
1	 Sum of share buy-backs and dividends paid divided by average shares in issue for the 
relevant period, as a % of the average share price for the relevant period.
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
25
How we’re doing
Letter to share owners

and social media channels and in print: our monthly public 
online news bulletin, e.wire; our consistently-awarded global 
newspaper and eBook, The WIRE; our annual Atticus 
Journal of original marketing thinking; the WPP Reading 
Room, an extensive online library of think pieces (both 
public and original) from WPP professionals worldwide; 
our online Fact Files profiling Group resources/companies/
products; regular communication on Group initiatives such 
as the WPP Worldwide Partnership Program and the WPP 
Marketing Fellowship Program; our annual Corporate 
Responsibility Report and this consistently award-winning 
Annual Report, both in print and online.
Property management
In 2010 we were able to reduce our property portfolio by 
almost 4% to 22.8 million sq ft as a result of shedding excess 
space created by the integration of the custom business of TNS 
with Research International and, sadly, as a result of the 
severance program that saw our staff numbers decline by 
over 12% in 2009.
The combination of revenue growth and reduction in 
portfolio enabled us to reduce the establishment cost-to-
revenue ratio from 8.0% in 2009 to 7.0% in 2010, equal to 
our medium-term goal. Average square foot per head fell 
slightly to 229 sq ft from 230 sq ft in 2009, although our 
target is to achieve 220 sq ft in 2011.
Our key property task is to maintain the 7% establishment 
cost-to-revenue ratio as we continue to grow the business, 
by focusing on the key metrics of space per head and cost 
per square foot on all our lease renewals.
Procurement
In procurement, we continue to set ourselves the goal of 
being the undisputed leader of procurement practice in the 
global advertising and marketing services industry.
We aim to benchmark ourselves regularly against our 
competitors and our clients. Through intensified investment 
in procurement people, processes and technology, our goal is 
to maintain the ratio of bought-in costs to revenue at around 
15%, by leveraging Group scale across all of our major 
markets, and focusing on those expenditure categories most 
favourable for global, regional and local supply contracts, 
such as in IT, telecoms, travel, professional services, facilities 
and production.
Information technology
In IT we continue to consolidate our core technology 
infrastructure with the objectives of reducing cost and 
improving quality. This enables our operating companies to 
design and public relations. Our largest client is seeking 
a seamless model, effectively a one-client agency within 
our Group. 
All our clients, whether global, multinational or local, 
continue to focus on the quality of our thinking, co-
ordination of communications and price. In response, 
we focus on talent, structure and incentives.
Managing talent
Talent and its management therefore remain the lynchpin of 
our reason for existence: that is what our clients pay us for. 
Development of our people and the way we manage that 
talent is a critical determinant of performance and on that 
critical dimension, we continue to make significant progress.
In the creation of highly-competitive incentives with 
extremely attractive working environments, we increasingly 
differentiate ourselves from our competitors and improve the 
attractiveness of WPP companies as destinations for talent. 
Our quarterly reviews with the operating companies have been 
restructured, consequently, to give more time and attention 
to talent and to clients. Our recruiting efforts throughout 
2010 were especially fruitful as we successfully targeted and 
recruited top talent within and beyond our industry, often 
competing with investment banking, management consulting 
and private equity offers. The war for talent is fierce and will 
intensify further, and there is more to be done.
The blueprint for our executive development curriculum 
has been completed, and our flagship client leadership 
training program, Maestro, is being continuously developed. 
The parent company and each of our operating companies 
installed its own approach to performance assessment and 
succession planning, aimed at developing the careers of their 
people, improving the quality of feedback, coaching and 
mentoring they receive and providing for orderly succession. 
We have launched a senior management mentoring and 
development program specifically for women, run by 
Charlotte Beers and called ‘The X Factor’.
We continued to scrutinise and modify our compensation 
practices, both to offer competitive and appropriately-based 
rewards to our people and to attract outstanding talent from 
elsewhere. This is a key strategic priority for us. Our 
competition is, sometimes, not so rigorous in evaluating and 
rewarding performance – for example, taking advantage of 
sharp falls in share prices to re-price or issue options or giving 
limited disclosure to investors of compensation plan details.
Communications
A communications services company must be a model of 
excellent external and internal communications. To that end, 
we accelerate understanding of the Group’s vast resources 
with a raft of regular communications through our websites 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
26
How we’re doing
Letter to share owners

was strong, but also for some of our major competitors. In all 
years, however, our margin performance was at the top end 
of the pack.
Estimated net new billings of £3.0 billion ($4.8 billion) 
in 2010, a similar level to 2009, reflected a consistently high 
level of wins throughout the year. The Group was ranked 
first in all the new business league table surveys in 2010.
Our practice development activities are also aimed at 
helping us position our portfolio in the faster-growing 
functional and geographic areas. During 2010, acquisitions 
and increased equity stakes were focused on Advertising and 
Media Investment Management in Canada, the UK, France, 
Germany, Poland, Israel, Brazil, Colombia, Hong Kong, 
India and South Korea; on Consumer Insight in Poland, 
Hungary, Cyprus, Chile and Guatemala; on Public Relations 
& Public Affairs in the UK, Germany, Poland and Turkey; 
on direct, digital and interactive in the US, the UK, Germany, 
Brazil, China and Singapore; and on Healthcare 
Communications in the US, the UK and the Czech Republic.
So far in 2011, the Group has made acquisitions or 
increased equity interests in Advertising and Media 
Investment Management in South Africa and South Korea; 
in Consumer Insight in Ireland, Germany, Lithuania and 
Africa; and in direct, digital and interactive in the US. These 
acquisitions continue to move us forward to our previously 
described strategic priorities; expanding the share of revenues 
of our businesses in Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa and 
the Middle East and Central and Eastern Europe to 35-40%; 
in new media to 35-40%; and in consumer insight, direct, 
digital and interactive, at one-half.
We intend to expand our strong networks – Ogilvy & 
Mather, JWT, Y&R, Grey, United Network, Bates 141, 
Mindshare, MEC, MediaCom, Maxus, TNS, Millward 
Brown, Kantar Media, Kantar Health, Kantar Retail, Kantar 
Worldpanel, Hill & Knowlton, Ogilvy Public Relations 
Worldwide, Burson-Marsteller, Cohn & Wolfe, OgilvyOne, 
Wunderman, OgilvyAction, G2, Possible Worldwide, 24/7 
Real Media, Ogilvy CommonHealth, Sudler & Hennessey, 
ghg, The Brand Union, Landor and FITCH – in high-growth 
markets or where their market share is insufficient.
We will also enhance our leadership position in 
Consumer Insight by further development of our key brands 
with particular emphasis on North America, Asia Pacific, 
concentrate their efforts on client-related developments and 
other internal business-focused applications.
The convergence of mobile, voice and data communications 
has allowed us to take advantage of new offerings in the 
telecommunications sector to increase efficiencies and to 
provide enhanced support to our increasingly mobile workforce.
Practice development
Finally, in practice development we continue to develop 
horizontal initiatives in a focused set of high-potential areas 
across our vertical operating brands: in media, healthcare, 
new technologies, new faster-growing markets, internal 
communications, retail, entertainment and media, financial 
services, hi-tech and telecommunications and corporate 
responsibility. Specifically, we continue to invest in sharing 
insights and developing initiatives through WPP Digital (in 
digital marketing and media) and The Store (in distribution 
and retail).
In key geographic markets we are increasingly 
coordinating our activities through WPP Country Managers. 
We continue to believe that increasing co-ordination is 
required between our brands at the country and global levels, 
as the arguments for investment in regional management 
become weaker. As experience has demonstrated, however, 
the activities of Country Managers must be closely aligned 
and monitored. In addition, we have increased the number of 
WPP Global Client Leaders to co-ordinate our efforts on 
behalf of clients and to ensure they get maximum benefit from 
their relationships with WPP operating brands. We are focused 
currently on our top 30 global clients accounting for around 
a third of total revenues and where our revenues grew by 7.0% 
in 2010, a higher rate than the overall increase of 5.3%.
Furthermore, we continue to encourage internal strategic 
alliances and promote co-operation. Practice development 
initiatives have therefore been reinforced in such areas as 
healthcare, retail, internal communications and media 
and entertainment. This has been especially important in 
developing our portfolio of direct investments in new media 
under WPP Digital and where our investments are working 
with our agencies and people to bring new technology 
capabilities and understanding to our clients. All these 
initiatives are designed to ensure that we, the parent company, 
really do (as well as being perceived to) inspire, motivate, 
coach, encourage, support and incentivise our operating 
companies to achieve their strategic and operational goals.
Fifth, to continue to place greater emphasis on 
revenue growth. One legitimate criticism of our 
performance against the best-performing competition 
is our comparative level of organic revenue growth, 
although the methods used to calculate rates of organic 
growth ‘vary’ to say the least. In 2008, revenue growth trailed 
a little behind our major competitors and, in 2009, the decline 
in our revenue was less worse than most. In 2010, our growth 
Organic revenue growth vs peers  %
WPP
IPG
Omnicom
Publicis
Havas
Q310 Q410
Q210
Q110
Q309 Q409
Q209
Q109
2008
-15
-10
-5
5
0
15
10
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
27
How we’re doing
Letter to share owners

In pursuing these aims, the Group is led by John 
O’Keeffe, WPP’s worldwide creative director. Under John’s 
guidance, gratifying and discernible progress continues.
2010 saw the fourth annual WPPED Cream awards, 
our internal award program for outstanding work across 
the Group. Your Company also amassed the second largest 
points tally at the 2010 advertising and marketing services 
festival in Cannes for the second year in a row and narrowed 
the gap to first place (please refer to our website, www.wpp.
com, for detailed, accurate calculations). Our objective is to 
achieve first place. Our performance in the Gunn Report, 
even on an accurately calculated weighted basis, is as strong.
At the same time we are committed to achieving all these 
objectives as a significantly responsible corporate citizen of the 
world at large and in the communities in which we operate. 
As a parent company, we continue to develop practical 
principles and policies for our companies’ charitable giving 
and services to the environment, education, the arts and 
healthcare based on best practice guidelines. We conservatively 
calculate that the WPP organisation contributed an estimated 
£14.3 million worth of time, skills, materials and money to 
social and community causes in 2010, as well as free media 
space worth £20.2 million negotiated by WPP media agencies 
on behalf of pro bono clients, making a total of £34.5 million. 
A summary of the Group’s approach to corporate 
responsibility can be found on pages 125 to 133. Doing good 
is not altruism or charity, it is good business, when like us 
you are focused on long-term total share owner return.
Please also see our annual Corporate Responsibility 
Report on the work our clients and our people do in these 
increasingly important areas.
Future challenges
A colossal amount remains to be done – challenging our 
clients, and therefore us. It seems certain that once these 
objectives are achieved, they will be replaced by new ones. 
As companies grow in size, most chairmen and CEOs 
become concerned that their organisations may become 
flabby, slow to respond, bureaucratic and sclerotic. Any 
sensible business leader aggressively resists this phenomenon; 
we all seek the benefits of size and scale without sacrificing 
the suppleness and energy of a smaller firm. And, for the first 
time, new technologies now make this possible on a global 
platform. WPP wants the scale and resources of the largest 
firm together with the heart and mind of a small one.
And finally...
We entered 2010 with fingers crossed. There were few 
certainties. Little could be taken for granted.
But in one under-recognised sense, the advertising and 
marketing services industry is relatively well-placed to 
Latin America and Continental and Eastern Europe. We will 
continue our growth of research panels and have established 
a Kantar-wide operational capability, which will be 
consolidated with the same function at TNS. We will 
reinforce our growing position in media research through 
Kantar Media, which includes our investments in television 
audience research through the former TNS Media 
Intelligence and TNS Media Research, and IBOPE and 
Marktest, which, combined, is the market leader outside 
North America.
In addition, we intend to reinforce our worldwide 
strength in direct and interactive marketing and research 
through our traditional channels such as OgilvyOne, 
Wunderman, G2, Blanc & Otus and Lightspeed. Although 
the early 2000-2001 compressions in financial valuations 
following the internet bust initially offered significant 
opportunities, we will now also invest directly in the new 
channels through start-ups, particularly as US and French 
valuations in search, for example, are still prohibitive, despite 
the financial crisis. Other opportunities will be sought to 
enhance our online capabilities.
Lastly, we will continue to develop our specialist expertise 
in areas such as healthcare, retail and interactive and to 
identify new high-growth areas.
Creativity remains paramount
Sixth, to improve still further the quality of creative 
work throughout the Group. Despite the growing 
importance of co-ordinated communications and 
price effectiveness, the quality of the work remains 
and will remain paramount. If you drew a graph 
plotting creative awards (as a proxy for creativity) against 
margins for any group of agencies, there would be a very 
strong correlation. The more awards, the stronger the 
margins. The client’s procurement department fades into the 
background when the work is strong. Of the three things we 
do – strategic thinking, creative execution and co-ordination 
– creative execution is undoubtedly the most important, 
and that means creativity in its broadest sense.
Clients look for creative thinking and output not just from 
advertising agencies, public relations and design companies, but 
also from our media companies and our research companies. 
Millward Brown remains arguably one of our most creative 
brands. Witness the BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Powerful Brands 
Study published annually with the Financial Times and its 
study of the BrandZ™ Top 50 Most Valuable Chinese Brands.
We intend to achieve this objective by stepping up our 
training and development programs; by recruiting the finest 
external talent; by celebrating and rewarding outstanding 
creative success tangibly and intangibly; by acquiring strong 
creative companies; and by encouraging, monitoring and 
promoting our companies’ achievements in winning 
creative awards.
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
28
How we’re doing
Letter to share owners

Forward-looking statements
In connection with the provisions of the 
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 
1995 (the ‘Reform Act’), the Company may 
include forward-thinking statements (as 
defined in the Reform Act) in oral or written 
public statements issued by or on behalf 
of the Company. These forward-looking 
statements may include, among other 
things, plans, objectives, projections and 
anticipated future economic performance 
based on assumptions and the like that 
are subject to risks and uncertainties. 
As such, actual results or outcomes may 
differ materially from those discussed in 
the forward-looking statements. Important 
factors which may cause actual results 
to differ include but are not limited to: the 
unanticipated loss of a material client or 
key personnel, delays or reductions in client 
advertising budgets, shifts in industry rates 
of compensation, government compliance 
costs or litigation, natural disasters or acts 
of terrorism, the Company’s exposure to 
changes in the values of other major 
currencies (because a substantial portion of 
its revenues are derived and costs incurred 
outside of the UK) and the overall level of 
economic activity in the Company’s major 
markets (which varies depending on, 
among other things, regional, national 
and international political and economic 
conditions and government regulations 
in the world’s advertising markets). In 
addition, you should consider the risks 
described under the caption ‘Principal risks 
and uncertainties’ on pages 120 and 122, 
which could also cause actual results to 
differ from forward-looking information. 
In light of these and other uncertainties, 
the forward-looking statements included in 
this document should not be regarded as 
a representation by the Company that the 
Company’s plans and objectives will be 
achieved. The Company undertakes no 
obligation to update or revise any such 
forward-looking statements, whether as 
a result of new information, future events 
or otherwise.
survive and prosper in uncertain times. Not because it’s 
recession-proof – far from it – but because of its very nature.
Every WPP company works in a fiercely competitive 
sector. Clients have an enviable range of specialist advisers 
from whom to choose. Client retention demands eternal 
vigilance and innovation. No agency can expect yesterday’s 
contribution, however valuable, to guarantee security for 
tomorrow. To remain successful in marketing services, 
agencies need to be alert to change – indeed, to instigate 
change – and be among the first to take advantage of it. They 
need professionals with open and inventive minds – always 
ready to challenge the status quo and work out ways of doing 
things better.
These are all qualities that our companies need even in the 
best of times. So they are, in a real sense, better rehearsed 
than most when turbulence strikes. Looking back now at 
2010, it’s clear that our companies employed those inherent 
skills to remarkable effect; not only to survive and prosper but 
even to achieve market share gains against almost all criteria. 
So it’s entirely proper that we should close this report 
with a note of recognition and deep gratitude to our 
companies and all their people. It is thanks to their creativity 
– in all its many senses – that the numbers we are able to 
report for 2010 are as gratifying and record-breaking as they 
are. We thank and salute them all. 
Philip Lader
Chairman
Sir Martin Sorrell
Group chief executive
Paul Richardson
Group finance director
*	 This letter to share owners should be read in conjunction with and as part of the 
management report set out in the section headed Directors’ report on pages 111 to 124. 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
29
How we’re doing
Letter to share owners

Advertising agency networks	
p32
Media Investment Management	
p50
Consumer Insight	
p57
Public Relations & Public Affairs	
p62
Branding & Identity	
p65
Healthcare Communications	
p69
Specialist Communications	
p72
WPP Digital	
p75
Reports from our 
operating brands
Our business is best understood through an 
understanding of its constituent parts. On the 
following pages, the leaders of some of our 
major companies give thumbnail accounts 
of their performance and progress in 2010.

Ogilvy Group 
Ogilvy & Mather
Report by Miles Young (below)
Chief executive officer
This is one of the most exciting periods in marketing and 
communications I can remember. We can now discern the 
real impact of digitalization on our world, re-shaping what 
we do and even why we do it. We can see it not as a mere 
channel but as a central platform, not just a messaging tactic 
but the means for creating ecosystems of rich content. 
Our own digital strategy is the very opposite of the 
so-called ‘pure plays’. We believe that everything has to 
be seen as digital; it cannot be separated into a silo. Digital 
influence, digital POS, paid-for digital, social selling, digital 
CRM, e-commerce are all embedded in the fabric of our 360° 
business model. Around the world we now have over 4,000 
staff who might be called ‘digital natives’, whose work is 
highly specialist, but who are completely integrated into the 
strategic process. 
We were joined at the end of last year by our new chief 
digital officer, Brandon Berger. One of Brandon’s roles is 
partnerships with Google, Twitter, Groupon, Facebook 
and Apple. With them, we are exploring both the 
opportunity for innovation but also better ways of adding 
strategic and practical value – beyond so much that is merely 
theoretical or tactical – to our clients’ businesses. Integration 
is the key here; and our unique structure – with disciplines 
genuinely under one roof and operating as one – gives us 
a compelling offer. 
In essence, what we are seeing is the arrival of a new 
agency model, where we move from being the generator of 
messages to the producer of content. Our new work for UPS, 
for instance, is premised on digitally-enabled content 
Advertising agency networks
which positions the company right at the heart of logistics, 
seamlessly meshing lead generation with image building. 
The Smarter Planet program for IBM is a massive 
publishing venture, much more than an advertising one, 
where traditional definitions of who does what have simply 
disappeared, and where public affairs and advertising 
speak the same language. Branded entertainment assumes 
a new centricity in this model: our strategic partnership 
with content market leader MIPTV puts us at the center 
of the debate; and through the year Ogilvy Entertainment 
has exponentially increased its production of content 
and programming. 
Content and thought leadership are inextricably linked. 
OgilvyEarth was recognized as the top sustainability agency, 
by Verdantix, an independent consultant firm, after just one 
year of operation. We launched Ogilvy Noor, the first Islamic 
branding consultancy, which attracted huge interest as it 
sought to highlight the impact of the world’s 1.8 billion 
Muslim consumers. 
2010 was a year of creative success. We won 57 Lions at 
Cannes, a big increase from last year. Our performance at the 
other major international shows was also consistently double-
digit: 31 London International Advertising awards; 17 Clios; 
17 DMA Echos; and 14 One Show Pencils. Particularly to be 
noted has been the exceptional performance of the Latina 
region, which dominated the El Ojo de Iberoamérica Awards 
and was named Best Creative Network of the Year. 
‘The work’ is what wins assignments; and we had an 
exceptionally strong year in new business. Global clients 
gained included Bayer, Coke Zero, the global business 
of Kimberly-Clark for Huggies, Kotex and Depends, 
InterContinental Hotels Group, Unilever’s corporate 
business, Brand Mexico and Expedia. This robust 
performance was mirrored by local offices, and meant that 
we ended the year financially well above our budget targets. 
As a result of these successes, many of our offices were 
recognized as Agency of the Year in their markets, including: 
Argentina, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dubai, Germany, 
Guatemala, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, 
Singapore, South Africa, Tunisia, Ukraine, the UK and the 
US. Three offices deserve special recognition for defending 
their best-in-region titles: Ogilvy Africa retained its crown as 
AdFocus African Advertising Agency Network of the Year; 
Ogilvy Paris was once again named European Agency of 
the Year at Eurobest 2010; and Ogilvy Mumbai was named 
 What we are seeing is the arrival of 
a new agency model, where we move 
from being the generator of messages 
to the producer of content
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
32
How we’re doing

and character of our employees. It is a hugely uplifting and 
privileged experience working with them, and it makes one 
understand how we are such a powerful brand. My thanks 
go to them. 
OgilvyOne Worldwide
Report by Brian Fetherstonhaugh (below)
Chairman and chief executive officer
By any standard, 2010 was a terrific comeback year for 
OgilvyOne Worldwide. 
Financially, we recovered from a very difficult 2009 and 
accelerated past pre-recession levels. Our top-performing 
market was the US, led by our flagship New York office. 
Encouragingly, every region contributed to year-on-year 
improvements in revenue and profit. 
Strategically, we sharpened our focus on driving 
customer value and on selling. It paid dividends. We had a 
banner year in new business wins, adding multi-million new 
assignments in hotels, logistics, insurance, telco and fast-
moving consumer goods. 
We continue to advance our effectiveness culture. During 
2010 we launched a Global Analytics hub in Bangalore, 
offering world-class analytics services and extremely 
attractive economics to clients. This fall we unveiled a 
comprehensive research initiative ‘The Future of Selling’ and 
launched the 21st Century Selling Partnership to help clients 
get more from their marketing and sales resources. 
Our global digital media arm, Neo@Ogilvy, continues 
to thrive growing to record levels in 2010. Neo’s hottest 
offer is its performance marketing unit which helps clients 
acquire new customers faster and more efficiently by using 
real-time optimization. 
Our reputation among digital direct agencies remains 
excellent. In its 2010 survey of over 7,000 digital agencies,
RECMA ranks OgilvyOne No. 2 in the world in size of 
digital resources. In addition to Agency of the Year 
Creative Agency of the Year for a second year running at 
the Media Asia Awards. 
One of our networks which is not called out separately 
in this report but which plays a significant role in this 
success is RedWorks. RedWorks is our global production 
business, committed to helping Ogilvy’s clients find 
efficiencies in the delivery of their communications. 
With 49 offices worldwide, it ensures global consistency, 
cost-effectiveness, and that every deliverable will be 
crafted to the highest standards of Ogilvy. 
In 2010, we fully integrated Ogilvy Government 
Relations in Washington, formerly the Federalist Group, 
into the Ogilvy network, giving us and our clients 
unmatched access to Capitol Hill.
Our biggest structural initiative this year has been in 
healthcare. Ogilvy & Mather’s healthcare group merged 
with US-based CommonHealth, effectively doubling the 
size and reach of each organization. The new entity, 
Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide, is now a true world 
leader in healthcare communications, led by chairman and 
CEO Matt Giegerich, who has just been named Industry 
Person of the Year by Med Ad News. His detailed report 
appears on page 69. 
In 2010, three new discipline leaders took their posts: 
Chris Graves for public relations, Steve Harding for 
activation, and Paul Heath for advertising. Even as we bring 
our units closer together, we are not melting or diluting our 
individual strengths. We have found that the best practice is 
to keep each discipline strong, to focus on being best-in-class 
in each discipline; while at the same time recognizing that the 
power of Ogilvy is when we tap their strength as part of 
a fully integrated 360° offering.
Geographically, we continue to be a highly diverse 
operation. Some 34% of our staff comes from the BRIC 
countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). Our leadership 
position in the BRICs is a huge asset for us, and one which 
we intend to leverage and publicize more aggressively in 2011. 
Beyond the BRICs, the Ogilvy brand continues to flourish 
in the new markets of the world. In particular, in 2010 we 
entered into a joint venture with Scangroup to significantly 
push our business in sub-Saharan Africa and more recently 
amplified this investment in the region by becoming majority 
owner of our Ogilvy South Africa operations. 
Finally, I want to reflect on our people, our most 
important asset. As I travelled the world last year, in all 
four regions, I could not help but feel blessed by the quality 
 Beyond the BRICs, the Ogilvy 
brand continues to flourish in the 
new markets of the world
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
33
How we’re doing
Advertising agency networks

Explorer via Facebook – something which had only ever been 
done at auto shows in the past. 
Knowing that expertise in social media is now mandatory 
for business, we established an ‘Ogilvy Belt’ training 
program to give employees the skills to use digital resources 
to their full potential. More than 500 employees in more 
than 20 cities have participated in the tiered program. 
Hiring, retaining and training top talent remains a 
priority. In 2010 our aggressive moving of talent around 
the world to spread best practices brought fresh ideas 
everywhere. Top executives moved from San Francisco to 
Hong Kong, Sydney to New York and Washington DC to 
Brussels. New outside hires include industry stalwart Stuart 
Smith as head of the global corporate practice and Brendan 
Daly, former communications director of US Speaker of the 
House, Nancy Pelosi, as executive vice president of Public 
Affairs in Washington. In 2010 we deployed our talent in 
many diverse projects and campaigns. For example: 
	 Our Washington office was selected by The Agency for 
Healthcare Research and Quality, part of the US Department 
of Health and Human Services, to build a marketing 
campaign around its comparative effectiveness research. 
Our differentiated strength lies in deep expertise in social 
marketing; we leveraged linguistic framing and behavioral 
economics to move populations toward healthier choices, such 
as with First Lady Michelle Obama’s ‘Let’s Move’ initiative.
	 As part of our overall relationship with BP, Ogilvy PR 
was called upon to create and run a social media strategy to 
support the company’s response during the Gulf of Mexico 
oil spill. 
	 The Government of Mexico asked Ogilvy PR to help 
promote its reputation worldwide as a global business 
partner and an unrivaled tourist destination.
Integrated efforts with other Ogilvy & Mather disciplines 
resulted in wins for Unilever, UPS, CDW, TD Ameritrade 
and the American Bar Association. PRWeek US editor-in-
chief Steve Barrett observed that our “intention is to integrate 
advertising and PR services more closely than other 
networked agencies”.
The results achieved in 2010, when we celebrated our 
30th anniversary, give us confidence that our global, 
integrated approach to communications will prove invaluable 
as the world economic picture brightens in 2011.
accolades in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Portugal and Germany, 
we were named Direct Agency of the Year in the UK by 
Campaign magazine and Digital Agency of the Year in Asia 
by Campaign Asia magazine. 
To keep us and our clients ahead of the pack in digital 
innovation, we have five Ogilvy Digital Labs, located in 
Singapore, New York, London, Beijing and São Paulo. The 
labs put together new marketing technology solutions for our 
clients in areas such as mobile, gaming, social media, CRM 
and digital point-of-sale. 
Creative awards are still an important driver of 
OgilvyOne’s new business success and momentum. We take 
them seriously. This year, OgilvyOne won a total of 524 
local and global awards for direct and digital marketing, up 
from 427 last year. Key wins include 17 Direct Marketing 
Association Echo Awards and eight in the Cannes Direct, 
Cyber and Promotion categories. For 2010, the Directory Big 
Won Report named OgilvyOne Frankfurt the No.1 most 
awarded direct marketing office in the world. 
Looking ahead, OgilvyOne will aggressively pursue 
digital opportunities in Social Selling, Mobile, eCommerce, 
Performance Marketing and Digital Innovation. With our 
commitment to selling at the core of everything we do, we 
are poised to build on the momentum and reach even greater 
heights in 2011.
Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
Report by Christopher Graves (below)
Global chief executive officer
In 2010 we focused on building further our expertise in 
social media, in growing our talent base and helping our 
clients through challenging times.
Ogilvy PR’s social media offering continued to grow, 
doubling its business in 2010. Working with a WPP multi-
agency team, the 360 Degree Digital Influence group helped 
create such world firsts as the ‘reveal’ of the all new Ford 
 Our aggressive moving of talent 
around the world to spread best 
practices brought fresh ideas 
everywhere
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
34
How we’re doing
Advertising agency networks

Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide (full report on page 69)
Report by Matt Giegerich
Chairman and chief executive officer
When CommonHealth, Med Ad News’ Agency of the Year 
2010 and already one of the most formidable healthcare 
communications groups in the industry, merged its offerings 
with Ogilvy & Mather’s healthcare group, the bold coupling 
became one of the most talked about agency mergers in 
years. Though the groups had collaborated extensively over 
the past 15 years, the formal marriage of the two like-
minded, similarly-cultured agencies effectively doubled the 
size and reach of each organization in the healthcare arena. 
The result? An entirely new entity, Ogilvy CommonHealth 
Worldwide (ogilvychww.com), was formed, creating what is 
arguably the largest, most highly resourced and creative 
agency in the world of healthcare communications.
OgilvyAction
Report by Steve Harding (top right)
Global chief executive officer
Following a challenging 2009, OgilvyAction entered 2010 
optimistic that the work done in transitioning and refocusing 
our business would provide a platform for a strong year 
ahead. This optimism proved well founded – our new Global 
Leadership Team drove an aggressive agenda in exceeding 
our financial targets with stellar revenue and profit growth 
across the network and exceptional turnarounds in North 
America and Asia Pacific as well as a solid performance in 
Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
This financial performance was underpinned by a number 
of strategic imperatives, delivered by a seamless collective 
effort from all parts of our network: We have:
	 Aligned OgilvyAction as a more integrated and integral 
part of the Ogilvy Group.
	 Launched our new global proposition of ‘Creating 
Purchase Behaviour’ – built around our promise that by 
understanding the behaviour of consumers, shoppers and 
retailers, we’re able to create the conditions that drive 
brand purchase.
	 Supported this launch with our new visual identity, 
website and global credentials.
	 Focused on strengthening our Shopper, Trade and 
Experiential capabilities, and enhancing our analytics 
offering across all disciplines.
	 Underpinned this with a drive towards delivering ‘Pervasive 
Creativity’ for our clients, through remaining focused on the 
‘Twin Peaks’ strategy of ‘Creativity and Effectiveness’.
These achievements have paid swift dividends in terms 
of our penetration within Ogilvy’s global client roster, with 
some impressive new business wins including Coca-Cola, 
Kimberly-Clark, Kraft, Kodak, BP, Barclays and 
Intercontinental Hotels Group, as well as local wins with 
clients such as Diageo, Grazia and Heineken. In 2011 we 
continue to have aggressive new business targets to further 
cement our relationships with major global and local clients.
The global recession has resulted in many clients 
reassessing their business models and giving greater strategic 
importance to activation disciplines. In line with this growth, 
we have extended our global footprint from 64 to 81 offices, 
and our recent joint venture with the Malone Group in the 
US has made OgilvyAction a top five activation agency in 
North America, further bolstering our Shopper and Trade 
Marketing capabilities and reputation.
So, 2010, whilst successful for us, represents only 
the start of our ambition. In 2011 we will focus on four 
core elements: 
1. Strengthening our talent pool.
2. Growing our strategic and analytical capabilities.
3. Delivering excellence in our core Shopper, Trade, 
Experiential and Promotional marketing disciplines.
4. Elevating our creative reputation. 
Central to all four is digital, which will increasingly 
become a key part of OgilvyAction’s offering in every region. 
Specifically, Digital Activation Instore, Social Shopping and 
Mobile will be areas that we accelerate; our ambition being 
to define the global agenda.
We believe that this focus, supported by the growth 
of activation as a fundamental and strategic part of the 
marketing mix, places OgilvyAction in a wonderful position 
to ensure we are at the forefront of the global activation 
arena in 2011 and beyond. 	
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we’re doing
Advertising agency networks

JWT
Report by Bob Jeffrey (below)
Worldwide chairman and chief executive officer
JWT creates ideas that people want to spend time with. 
And more so than ever, time is the currency defining which 
brands are successful in today’s complex, multi-channel, 
always-on world.
In a fragile global economic environment – with 2010 
being a year of transition out of recession – our single-
minded focus on creating ideas that people want to spend 
time with drove our growth. 
Last year also garnered industry honors. We had our 
best-ever performance at the Cannes Lions International 
Advertising Festival – 42 Lions – with awards earned for 
many key global clients, reflecting the breadth of creative 
talent across the network. Among our Lions: work for 
Kimberly-Clark and HSBC (via London); Nestlé Kit Kat (via 
New Zealand); Heineken (via Milan); Ford (via Argentina); 
and a coveted Titanium Lion for Microsoft (via New York). 
We also saw stellar results at the Effie Awards for 
effective marketing – recognition for delivering campaigns 
that get results. JWT scored a Grand Effie for Nestlé work 
out of Australia, as well as a slew of Gold Effies: two for 
Ford out of Team Detroit; two for JWT New York for 
work on Schick Quattro and HSBC; as well as awards for 
the U.S. Marines (via Atlanta); Johnson & Johnson Listerine 
(via Budapest); and Nestlé (via Peru).
In 2010, we added new clients to our roster, representing 
a broad range of industries including the technology and 
media sectors – Bloomberg in the US and Comcel in 
Colombia – and telecommunications, with Airtel in India. 
We also won dedicated digital accounts for Rimmel Coty 
and Simponi. Retail reigned strong; we added mammoth 
retail chain Pernambucanas in Brazil and Levi’s unique 
second brand dENiZEN in Hong Kong. 
We successfully launched Bing, Microsoft’s decision 
engine, in North America and the UK and further expanded 
our relationship with Microsoft into Brazil and China, 
focusing on their Genuine Windows product. We also 
saw growth on Mazda, by taking on its North America 
communication business. 
Kraft, an 87-year-old client, became even bigger with the 
purchase of Cadbury (a client for 35 years). The combined 
company includes some of the world’s most famous brands, 
including Philadelphia, Jacobs and Trident. Meanwhile, we 
continued to successfully nurture and revitalize enduring 
relationships with Bayer, Kellogg’s, Rolex, Royal Caribbean 
and Vodafone. 
Increasing fragmentation in the advertising industry is 
making it more difficult for clients to keep their focus on the 
long-term, strategic building of their brands. One key to our 
success is the push by David Eastman, JWT’s worldwide 
digital director, to put interactivity and multi-channel 
thinking at the heart of the network. In early 2010, David 
was appointed CEO of JWT North America, marking the 
first time a large agency placed a digital native – in David’s 
case, one with nearly 15 years’ experience at interactive 
companies – in a key leadership role.
Underlying our strategy to multiply our digital dexterity 
is the concept of ‘Hire, Acquire, Educate’, and over the past 
year we have taken significant steps to ensure that digital is 
an organic and integral part of what everyone does at JWT. 
The digital talent we have attracted runs from creative 
technologists and user-experience design experts to branded 
entertainment and analytics. And these individuals are 
baking digital in at the idea-conception stage. 
We also acquired Digitaria, a 100-person, award-winning 
digital shop in San Diego, with a strong media/
telecommunications client base (including DreamWorks, 
ESPN, FOX Corp., the National Football League and 
Qualcomm). Additional acquisitions in Brazil underscore 
our commitment to high-growth markets and recognize the 
significant skills that exist there: the full-service digital shop 
Midia Digital and SEO specialists i-Cherry bolster our digital 
expertise across the network.
 Over the past year we have taken 
significant steps to ensure that digital 
is an organic and integral part of what 
everyone does at JWT 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we’re doing
Advertising agency networks

We’re seeing the fruits of our labor with more creative 
work that captures people’s attention and greatly extends 
their time spent with our clients’ brands. From expanding 
use of social media platforms such as Facebook and Zynga 
to engage consumers with Unilever Lux, to developing 
innovative new ways to efficiently connect the next two 
billion mobile users across markets for Nokia, our 
commitment to create ideas that engage consumers 
anywhere and everywhere was evident. 
Some additional highlights of our work in 2010:
	 Developed a spectacularly innovative multi-channel 
campaign for Diageo, the ‘Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange 
Project’. Incubated and executed in a collaborative global 
think tank, the campaign joined – and physically swapped 
– the nightlife experiences of 14 countries in an evening of 
unique entertainment, propelling our relationship with 
Diageo into new territory.
	 Rolled out Shell’s new global campaign, ‘Let’s Go’, across 
channels into a truly multi-discipline communications 
platform, with extremely positive results across the globe. 
	 Launched Energizer Schick’s Hydro Razor in the US 
in April, with sales results in this competitive category 
exceeding expectations; the European and Asian launches 
in Q4 saw similarly impressive results.
	 Extended our ‘Yes, Virginia’ campaign in its second year 
for Macy’s department store into branded merchandise, 
DVD sales, window display installations and a balloon in 
the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. We’re also pioneering 
digital in the retail environment with an industry first: 
delivering consumer-oriented video content via mobile 
phones using QR codes in-store at Macy’s.
In an important move to fully leverage a global footprint, 
we’re using innovative technology to break down barriers, 
enabling us to crowdsource talent within our own network 
of nearly 10,000 employees, and work faster and leaner 
through virtual environments. 
Collaboration and communication are the core objectives 
of these efforts, making it more efficient, for example, to get 
an SEO expert from Brazil to work with a digital creative 
team in Europe, on a blue-chip global client. That is the true 
power of a global network spanning 200-plus offices in more 
than 90 countries, among them the emerging BRIC markets 
and up-and-coming Next 11, where we have had thriving 
presences for decades. 
 We’re seeing the fruits of our 
labor with more creative work that 
captures people’s attention and greatly 
extends their time spent with our 
clients’ brands
And to ensure that we never rest on our past performance, 
we monitor our client relationships via a unique agency 
appraisal system, ensuring client feedback reaches critical 
stakeholders to protect and nurture our client base. 
Looking ahead to 2011, as consumers spend time with 
an increasing number of channels and media, JWT will be in 
all of those areas with outstanding creative, engaging 
content, pure entertainment, and ideas people want to spend 
time with.
It will be a year to get things done. I’m not talking 
about activation – we’ve already achieved that – but rather 
bringing to life all of our great ideas, plans, discussions and 
concepts. Now is the time to DO, and as JWT nears its 
150th year in the business, I’m thrilled about leading the 
entire JWT family in these exciting times. 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
37
How we’re doing
Advertising agency networks

Our goal at Young & Rubicam Brands is to be the leader 
of ‘Innovation in Integration’ – the group whose people are 
recognized as the most inventive in finding new ways to 
combine big ideas with truly creative execution across all 
customer touchpoints. 
It is, in fact, what many clients need to build their brands 
and businesses, whether the focus is on geographic diversity 
or on the need to unify multiple disciplines into the most 
effective program of communications. 
The Young & Rubicam philosophy has always been 
‘Best Alone. Better Together.’ It starts with the recognition 
that our clients want the best-in-class for each discipline. 
Young & Rubicam Brands meets that criterion with leading 
companies across the disciplines. In 2011, there was great 
progress on many fronts, as you will read in the agency’s 
individual reports.
Our Global Client Partners, some 25 clients, account for 
40% of our total revenue. Sixty percent of them use four or 
more of our agencies. The focus on creating a structure that 
emphasizes both adaptability and accountability is clearly 
a key operational imperative. 
Over the past few years, we have launched several 
initiatives to make sure that we can support our mission with 
the best talent, the most collaborative structure, the strongest 
leadership, as well as the newest, sharpest thinking in our 
business. In 2010, we continued to advance the cause.
Young & Rubicam Brands
Report by Peter Stringham (below)
Global chief executive officer
We created an Annual Global Client Partner Summit, 
which puts our global client leadership together to exchange 
knowledge and best practices. Not unrelated, in 2010 we 
codified the ‘10 Things That Great Global Client Leaders 
Do.’ This formal analysis of global leadership will help us 
at every turn, from nurturing the next generation of global 
leaders to making operational changes that will support 
these principles.
In 2011, we made headlines (and bestseller lists) again 
with John Gerzema’s second book, Spend Shift, an analysis of 
consumer values changed by the past few years of economic 
crisis. Young & Rubicam Brands companies accounted for 
six WPP Atticus Award winners in 2010. And we provided 
thought leadership on other fronts: with Mark Penn’s column 
in the Wall Street Journal and Landor’s Allen Adamson’s 
column in Forbes.com and forums like the highly prestigious 
TEDx with VML, and with Green Brands, Global Insights, 
a collaborative perennial program that involves three of our 
companies and data from around the network.
Our Raymond Rubicam University, which provides 
our client leaders with cross-disciplinary, cross-geography 
experience with clients and prospects is proving so successful 
that we will conduct three more sessions in 2011 and 
will graduate 90 more students of the program. It’s an 
extraordinarily important way of both developing skills 
and promoting collaboration across our companies.
We also made headlines this year with the acquisition 
of the renowned creative network, TAXI (with offices in 
Canada, New York and Amsterdam), which adds another 
exciting resource to create innovative integrated solutions, 
and offers TAXI’s client roster the wide range of resources 
and talent across Young & Rubicam Brands.
Early in 2011, David Sable took over the reins at Y&R, 
becoming the CEO, when Hamish McLennan decided to 
return to his native Australia for personal reasons. David 
not only began his career at Y&R in 1976, he has worked 
for three more Young & Rubicam Brands companies. For 
the past 10 years, he has served as the vice chairman and chief 
operating officer of Wunderman. In addition to his two tours 
of duty at Y&R, he has also worked at Cohn & Wolfe and 
Burson-Marsteller, where he served as counselor to the CEOs 
of some of the world’s most prestigious companies. David’s 
experience as a digital pioneer and entrepreneur has made 
him a thought leader in the field. His return to Y&R makes 
an easy transition and he is a perfect choice for the future.
 Our Raymond Rubicam University 
[is] an extraordinarily important 
way of both developing skills and 
promoting collaboration across 
our companies
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we’re doing
Advertising agency networks

drove the global win of three major brands from Boehringer 
Ingelheim. Our investments in Eastern Europe and Russia, 
including the opening of a new office in Azerbaijan in 2010, 
have given us double-digit growth in key markets there.
Indeed, our focus on fast-growing and emerging markets 
is helping our clients build their brands around the world. 
Strong attention to Asia made 2010 transformative. We made 
significant hires around the region starting with Matthew 
Godfrey as president, Y&R Asia; Nils Andersson as CCO 
Y&R China; Charles Sampson as CEO of Y&R China; and 
Andrew Dowling, CEO of Y&R Jakarta.
With new regional creative leadership installed in 2009 
and new country creative leaders placed across much of the 
region, we have gained traction creatively. Asia had a creative 
world-first at Cannes, when Y&R Jakarta won Indonesia’s 
first and only Cannes Gold Lion, making Y&R the top 
creative agency in the country. 
The vitality of the Asia network translated into some 
iconic business wins, including Tiger Beer, where we bested 
six other agencies; Republic of Singapore Navy, where we 
won against a 28-year incumbent; Gap China, where we 
were entrusted with the important launch of their stores; 
China Southern Airlines, Harbin Beer and Bacardi.
Australia and New Zealand are also reawakening. The 
agency won four Cannes Lions in 2010, including Australia’s 
only Design Lion and a Gold Lion in Media. We are the only 
Australian agency in the Gunn Report Global Top 50. Y&R 
was the most awarded agency at both Melbourne’s and 
Brisbane’s Art Directors Club. And in early 2011, Melbourne 
was named AdNews Australian and Victoria Agency of the 
Year. Here, too, new business was brisk. Thirty new clients 
came on board, including Jenny Craig, Danone, 
PricewaterhouseCoopers and V8 Supercars, to name a few, 
and the agency retained the prestigious Australian Defence 
Force in the required agency review. 
Y&R also continued to take advantage of growth in Latin 
America, consolidating our position as the No.1 network in 
the region in 2010. Our agency in the massive Brazil market 
sustained its No.1 ranking for the eighth consecutive year. 
Creatively, Latin America once again delivered exceptional 
and effective work to clients. Our agencies in Argentina, 
Chile, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay all won Agency of the 
Year honors. Panama was the No.1 creative agency in its 
market for the sixth year in a row. Chile, Peru and Uruguay 
each earned Creative Director of the Year honors. We 
brought in new creative leadership in Mexico and Colombia. 
Young & Rubicam
David Sable (below)
Global chief executive officer
Y&R began seeding a creative transformation in 2008 with 
the naming of Tony Granger as global chief creative officer. 
Since his arrival, Tony has created a true global creative 
community at Y&R, with new focus and new ways of 
working together that let our clients benefit from the 
immense talent we have all across our network.
In 2010, Y&R’s creative resurgence gained formidable 
traction. Around the world, the industry began to recognize 
the great work coming out of all regions. Y&R was named the 
No.3 network at Cannes, and our New York agency was No.1 
in the US and No.2 worldwide there. The Art Directors Club, 
the New York Festival, and the London International Awards 
named Y&R ‘Network of the Year’, and the agency won more 
awards at D&AD and Epica than any other agency.
Of course, improved creative product reflects a broader, 
deeper strengthening of the greater network. We completed 
the global team with the addition of Sandy Thompson as 
global planning director. In North America, under the 
leadership of Tom Sebok, we won the global Goldman Sachs 
business; brought in Jane Barratt – with both solid digital 
and large-agency experience – to lead Y&R New York; 
revamped creative leadership in Chicago and, early this year, 
at our unified San Francisco/Irvine operations. A new CMO, 
Chris Hayes, joined at the end of the year, experienced across 
digital, social media and integrated assignments.
Our EMEA region still faced difficult economic conditions, 
but the trend is upwards. In late 2010, we moved Jaime Prieto 
from Y&R Asia to run the region, and he is focused on driving 
growth. RKCR/Y&R London is a tower of strength for us – 
a creative powerhouse and, not surprisingly, a strong new 
business performer. Last year, the agency was named the No.1 
agency in the UK in the recently published 2010 Gunn Report. 
RKCR/Y&R was also named Creative Agency of the Year at 
the London International Awards, won 10 Lions at Cannes 
last year and was the most awarded UK agency at the 2010 
D&AD awards, to name just a few honors. Y&R Frankfurt 
 Our focus on fast-growing and 
emerging markets is helping our 
clients build their brands around 
the world
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we’re doing
Advertising agency networks

And now, in the first quarter of 2011, Y&R Latin America 
has won the pan-regional assignment for FedEx.
Great work strengthened our relationships with key 
regional accounts and led to numerous new business wins: 
LAN, Direct TV (Argentina), LG (Argentina and Colombia), 
ELO Credit Cards, IBGE and Ponto Frio (Brazil), Hotels.com 
and Sigma Foods (Mexico), OESCHLE (Peru).
In our industry (and beyond), digital has redefined 
everything we do. Every one of our agencies must be digital 
– with a digital sensibility, environment, intelligence, culture. 
With VML as our digital backbone, we are differentiating 
ourselves both operationally and culturally in a way that no 
other agency can claim. In early 2011, Matt Anthony – VML 
CEO and one of its four initial principals – passed the torch 
to VML president, Jon Cook. In so doing, he renews his 
commitment to his role as Y&R’s chief global digital officer. 
This rededication will ensure that our entire network has 
VML’s unparalleled digital intelligence, creative and 
technology credentials, resources and tools integrated into 
each agency. We have established this as a major priority 
for Y&R going forward. 
In addition to our digital agenda, our plan for 2011 
includes a recommitment to company-wide training, a formal 
reintegration of channel planning into the agency, the 
establishment of regional operating boards with accountability 
to a new global executive committee, as well as a revamped 
and recharged global new business community. We continue 
our successful drive for creative excellence around our entire 
network and are driving a global creative development model 
that allows us to use our best talent across borders. Y&R is 
in a great position to build on our heritage and strengths and 
we look forward to continually refining our model to deliver 
great work to our clients today and in the future.
VML
Matt Anthony (below right)
Global chairman
and
Jon Cook (below left)
Chief executive officer and president
VML soared to new heights in 2010 on virtually every 
metric. It was a record-setting year in terms of new business 
wins, growth of long-standing client partnerships, value and 
diversity of engagements, head count, new office openings, 
WPP partnership strength, creative recognition and 
reputation, and overall business growth. 
VML’s long-time positioning of delivering creative 
solutions at the intersection of marketing and technology 
drove our business momentum again in 2010. Our output 
has never been more balanced – across industries, geography, 
scale of engagement and business-to-business versus business-
to-consumer work. 
We’ve initiated new client partnerships with many 
respected brands, including Kellogg, Kashi, Emerson 
Electric, Sallie Mae, T-Mobile, Abbott, Nature Made, 
House of Marley, San Diego Zoo, Texas Children’s Hospital 
and Quiznos. For these and other client partners, VML 
is providing the widest range of work imaginable.
VML’s burgeoning partnership with Gatorade has 
been transformational, pushing the boundaries of digital 
creativity and customer engagement. VML activated 
Gatorade’s Mission Control, a social media monitoring 
and campaign analytics hub. We led digital strategy and 
production for the launch of the G Series and G Series Pro 
product lines, utilizing the Super Bowl and marquee sporting 
events, leading the client to declare 2010 the most successful 
year in the brand’s digital history.
As a leader in branded content and broadcast production, 
VML delivered digital and television content that attracted 
and engaged consumers on an unprecedented level for client 
partners such Dell, Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Southwest Airlines 
and Tom’s of Maine.
VML’s expanded global presence led to one of the most 
exciting client engagements in recent years – developing a 
comprehensive new online experience for the Premier League, 
one of the world’s most popular sports organizations.
With nearly 800 employees on four continents, VML 
launched operations in Italy, Switzerland, the Czech 
Republic, Australia and New Zealand. New offices are 
planned for Asia and South America in the coming year.
Creative output for long-time client partners has never 
been stronger, including award-winning work and prominent 
campaigns for Colgate-Palmolive, Microsoft, SAP, Waste 
Management, Pioneer Hi-Bred, Carlson Hotels Worldwide, 
Xerox, Ford, Simon Property Group, DMC/Copia eReader 
and Western Union.
 VML delivered digital and 
television content that attracted 
and engaged consumers on an 
unprecedented level
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we’re doing
Advertising agency networks

VML continues to be in the vanguard of industry thought 
leadership – notably through a relationship with TED, the 
organization that provides TEDTalks through its popular 
TED.com website. As an official license holder for TEDx, 
VML delivers free, thought-provoking programming year-
round through live events and simulcast broadcasts. 
VML continues to ride the momentum of our most 
successful year in business. The bar is set high, and that’s right 
where we want it. Thanks to the dedication, hard work and 
creativity of each and every VMLer, the agency is poised to 
make 2011 the most exhilarating year in the agency’s history.
Wunderman
Report by Daniel Morel (below)
Chairman and chief executive officer
Advertising Agency list. And we were ranked No.1 in the 
2010 RECMA Digital Agency Rankings, based on the size 
of digital resources.
2010 revenues and profits were strong, surpassing nearly 
every pre-economic crisis financial milestone. Asia and Latin 
America, in particular, were hotbeds of activity. Partner 
companies like AGENDA, Blast Radius, Designkitchen and 
ZAAZ also excelled, validating our purposeful expansion 
and successful incorporation of their skills and resources. 
Asia is noteworthy because it is a microcosm of the 
Wunderman value proposition. Its strong foundation is rooted 
in four key accounts (Microsoft, Nokia, Ford and Colgate), 
which increasingly draw on the digital and analytics power of 
the network from KBM Group and ZAAZ. With the power 
of the network behind it, AGENDA won Disneyland, Gap 
and Pepsi in local Asian markets. Wunderman World Health, 
a new global service group, captured early traction in Japan, 
South Korea and China, that led to significant new business 
from Baxter, Pfizer, Guthy Renker and Sanofi-aventis. We 
also expanded by acquisition (Comwerks Interactive) and 
partnership with JWT in India. 
A global view of talent gives us a nimbleness to serve 
clients’ global and local demands. Furthermore, with 80% 
of our top leaders in place more than five years, we can 
better track, manage and move talent – especially our 
most promising mid-level managers. In 2010, 100+ people 
advanced their careers and our business through 
international assignments. In addition, our new Wunderman 
Zed Academy taps the world’s best design and digital 
marketing schools for the next generation of digital talent. 
Analytics remains at our core, especially as our ‘All 
Relationships Are Local’ mantra gains relevancy. KBM Group, 
with a presence in 21 countries, significantly expanded. Global 
clients like Microsoft and Nokia are leveraging its innovative 
Tagging Services Center, which creates and tracks tags across 
bought, owned and earned media. Acquisitions further 
broadened its service offering: I-Behavior’s predictive analytics 
and SKU-level purchase transaction data optimize performance 
across all channels; and Marketing Direct Inc. deepens existing 
healthcare expertise. The results were recognized – KBM 
Group was ranked a leader in The Forrester Wave™: U.S. 
Database Marketing Service Providers, Q1 2011 with the 
highest scores in both corporate and global strategy.
We wish David Sable, our former COO, every success in 
his new role at Y&R, and look forward to working together 
with our sibling Y&R agency on opportunities to create new 
value for clients.
Our founder and industry legend, Lester Wunderman, is 
still active in the company and comes to the office every day.
Never before has Wunderman’s mantra – ‘All Relationships 
Are Local’ – been more relevant than in today’s world of 
digital connection. Our strong performance over the past 
12 months is evidence of that. 
As testament to our power as a global network, 
Advertising Age ranked Wunderman the world’s largest 
marketing services agency. Our presence grew to 142 offices 
in 59 countries, enabling us to execute everywhere and 
lending further credibility to this mantra. 
Advertising Age also ranked Wunderman No.2 on its 
2010 A-List of ‘Stand-Out’ agencies, citing new business 
from AARP, CVS Caremark, Tommy Hilfiger, Best Buy, 
Lilly, Cisco and Kodak, ever-growing relationships with 
existing accounts (Microsoft, Nokia, Burger King, Sears 
and Citibank) and digital prowess as reasons for our strong 
showing. Senior creative talent was also recognized in 
Australia by Campaign Asia (Best Digital Creative), in the 
UK by Campaign (Top 10 Creative Director list) and in 
Austria by Horizont, which ranked Wunderman in its top 10 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we’re doing
Advertising agency networks

have expanded our social media monitoring and advising 
capabilities. More and more clients are realizing that social 
media is not just about fun, games and consumer products 
but can be critical in the big issue battles that shape our day.
We also extended our reach into the C-suite by expanding 
our Global Strategy Team, which brings together B-M’s most 
senior communications strategists to offer an unparalleled 
breadth of experience and insight to our clients’ most 
demanding needs. Consisting of leaders like chief strategy 
officer Don Baer and global vice chair Karen Hughes, both 
with extensive bi-partisan White House experience, the team 
has helped win and service new Fortune 100 clients around 
the world. 
We also witnessed a strong resurgence in demand for our 
grassroots capabilities led by our Direct Impact unit, which 
posted one of its best performances in several years. During 
2010, we expanded our relationship with long-time client 
The Coca-Cola Company and grew our US-based work for 
Ford Motor Company to other markets globally. 
As the global market for PR communications grows, we 
continue to expand our footprint so that every client’s global 
PR needs are met. We completed the acquisition begun five 
years ago of Burson-Genesis India and they are becoming an 
integral part of the Burson family. 
We continue to build and expand our client relationships 
through achieving top-quality results for our clients. In 
Latin America, we doubled our Sony Electronics business. 
In EMEA, we expanded Lufthansa to 28 markets. In the UK, 
we made history for the Royal British Legion’s Remembrance 
Sunday by getting the first non-musical video into the music 
video charts. 
Our sector-based practices also showed strong upswing, 
from our bedrock crisis work to our Healthcare Practice 
that grew 25% in 2010. This year we introduced several 
new specialty practices to address emerging trends – we 
are focusing on Energy, Change Communications, Food & 
Nutrition and Global Government work.
Our goal for 2011 is to build upon the momentum we 
have established to deliver another year of B-M success.
Burson-Marsteller
Report by Mark Penn (above)
Worldwide chief executive officer
For Burson-Marsteller, 2010 was a year of growth and 
achievement. Coming off only modest setbacks of the 2009 
financial crisis, the gains of 2010 catapulted us past the 
previous record year of 2008. Over the last four years, 
through organic growth and improved resource 
management, we have more than doubled our bottom line.
We believe our continued growth is the result of our 
DIGS strategy, which is focused on continually driving the 
firm in four key areas: Digital, Integrated, Global and 
Strategic. These initiatives, which all start with the idea that 
communications programs should be ‘evidence-based’, helped 
us deliver what PR industry watcher The Holmes Report 
called our “best year for at least a decade.” Others in the 
industry took note as well, including PRWeek in the UK, 
who named B-M the International Consultancy of the Year.
During 2010, we aggressively pursued new top talent. 
Notable additions include Bob Pickard, APAC CEO (formerly 
Edelman); Helene Ellison, global Healthcare Practice chair 
(formerly HealthStar); Jay Leveton, global EVP (transferred 
from Penn Schoen Berland); Jim Goldman, US Technology 
Practice chair (formerly CNBC Silicon Valley bureau chief); 
Margaret Key, Korea market leader (formally Edelman); 
Chris Deri, China market leader (formerly Edelman); Erica 
Swerdlow, Midwest market leader (formerly Porter Novelli); 
Steve Bowen, APAC Consumer and Marketing lead (formerly 
Edelman); Christine Jones, APAC Healthcare lead (formerly 
Roche); Peter Johnston, Global CIO (formerly Ogilvy); 
and Matt Carter, UK CEO (formerly Tony Blair’s General 
Secretary of the British Labour Party).
Our digital approach this year was strengthened by the 
integration of digital experts from Proof, our digital media 
group, into every step of the B-M process, ensuring cutting-
edge online ideas are a part of every pitch and campaign. 
The firm has over 120 digital experts worldwide and we 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we’re doing
Advertising agency networks

Landor Associates
Report by Charlie Wrench (page 42, bottom right)
Chief executive officer
Landor pushed past the worst of the recession in 2010, 
strengthening its global performance across the breadth 
of our corporate and consumer branding practices. 
As ever, our global key client relationships form the 
bedrock of our business. In this regard, I can report that 
Landor enjoyed an excellent year with Procter & Gamble, 
our largest client, not only cementing our role as its 
appointed design partner across many of their most iconic 
brands, but also being invited to partner with P&G in its 
high-profile sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympics. In 
addition, our agency performance ratings were strengthened 
in every one of our audited geographies, making it a record-
breaking year in the long history of this relationship. 
Our partnership with Diageo has strengthened as well, 
as we worked with the client on a diverse range of new 
innovation and design projects. And Kraft, with whom we’ve 
long enjoyed a solid relationship in Europe, has now become 
an important client across North America, China and 
Australia too.
We were also pleased to welcome many new clients to 
Landor in 2010. General Electric, General Mills, Henkel, 
Marks & Spencer and SEAT have provided new challenges 
and sparked fresh thinking in our teams. 
As the breadth of our client base grew this year, so too did 
our offerings in the areas of digital branding, innovation and 
brand purpose. Across the Landor network, we are flexing 
and growing to respond to the needs of 21st century brands. 
Our peer-leading performances in WPP’s Atticus Awards 
and WPPed Cream Awards were, once again, points of pride 
for our network, attesting to our leadership within our 
category. We were also honored to win prestigious internal 
awards from both P&G and Diageo, as well as earning 
recognition from some of our industry’s leading independent 
juries, including D&AD, Pentawards and Graphis. 
I feel Landor has weathered the storm of the last two 
years relatively well, and I am confident that we are well 
positioned to see investment, growth, and renewed 
momentum as the markets pick up.
Sudler & Hennessey
Report by Jed Beitler (right)
Chairman and worldwide chief executive officer
2010 was another strong year for the Sudler global network. 
We finished the year on a very positive note, winning seven 
out of our last eight pitches of the year, including four major 
global assignments from both US- and European-based 
multinationals. Our worldwide network proved itself with 
global wins in primary care, specialty care, orphan drugs and 
oncology in both established as well as emerging markets. 
The Sudler global network is divided into three key 
regions: The Americas, headed up by co-CEOs Louisa 
Holland and Rob Rogers, and the EMEA (Europe, Middle 
East and Africa) and Asia Pacific regions, both headed up by 
CEO Max Jackson. Ellen Goldman is the global CFO/COO. 
The Sudler global network continued to solidify its 
core offices throughout the Americas, EMEA and Asia 
Pacific regions with new leadership in Canada, India, 
Mexico and Australia and new medical education and 
digital offerings in the UK, Italy, Mexico, China and India. 
In addition, we expanded our delivery in many of the 
growth markets of the ‘pharmerging’ world, including our 
increased promotional/educational activities in Russia, 
Brazil, South Africa, Korea and the MENA (Middle East/
North Africa) region. 
Three initiatives during 2010 highlighted the ever-
changing nature of our industry and the need for our agency 
network to grow, adapt and evolve: 
	 The first was supporting the rapidly-evolving generics 
businesses where many of our clients are currently active. 
Having developed a global network that includes many of 
these new emerging markets, Sudler was in the right place 
at the right time to assist our multinational clients as they 
began to engage with additional audiences in a new 
branded environment. 
	 The second opportunity was to expand on our strength 
in medical education writing in India and develop that office 
as an offshore hub for top quality medical writing to support 
many of our European and Asia Pacific offices. 
	 The final initiative, which continues in 2011, was to 
expand our internal digital capabilities under the banner 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
43
How we’re doing
Advertising agency networks

Chevron, Nabisco, Pfizer/Wyeth and Wrigley continue to 
be deep, solid, profitable and full of further potential. By 
creating a culture of client centricity and bold performance, 
Bravo is able to align itself to our clients’ priorities and 
successfully deliver solutions that build their brands and 
their bottom line.
In 2010 Bravo also re-launched its commitment to 
superior insights and business discipline. Key talent was 
added in the strategic planning area, and the agency made 
a significant investment in the Hispanic Brand Asset 
Valuator, the most comprehensive brand study in the US 
based on Hispanic consumers and attitudes about brands. 
This investment has paid off handsomely with better counsel 
to clients and strategically-attuned creative campaigns.
Cohn & Wolfe (full report on page 63)
Report by Donna Imperato
Chief executive officer
2010 was a transformative year for Cohn & Wolfe, marked 
by game-changing wins, a new global leadership team and 
a re-energized brand. C&W continued its focus on defining 
and strengthening the agency, and in turn laid a strong 
foundation for long-term growth.
Robinson Lerer & Montgomery
Report by Linda Gosden Robinson
Chairman
Robinson Lerer & Montgomery, a New York-based strategic 
communications firm, provides counsel and tactical services 
to senior management and directors of companies in virtually 
every industry. Its wide range of practice areas includes crisis 
management, regulatory and governance issues, litigation, 
M&A, bankruptcies, CEO transitions and long-term 
corporate positioning. Through the outstanding client work 
by of all our colleagues at RLM, the firm again delivered 
excellent financial results in 2010.
Among its major successes last year, RLM executed 
a comprehensive corporate reputation campaign for a 
prominent global manufacturer. The firm also continued to 
support several leading global financial institutions in their 
recovery from the financial crisis and worked with leading 
healthcare companies on a variety of internal and external 
communications campaigns. Other high-visibility 
assignments included CEO transitions in the technology, 
pharmaceutical and financial services industries. 
of Sudler Digital, as well as to extend our digital offerings 
to our clients. That has been a two-fold process, involving 
both new hires and new expanded internal capabilities as 
well as continuing our partnerships with other Y&R and 
WPP digital companies. In Europe, we have hired new 
digital strategists and analytics specialists. In the US, 
we have revamped Sudler Digital, bringing in new 
strategic, creative and account talents as well as beginning 
the process of inculcating our digital teams within our 
existing client groups. In so doing, we are removing the 
barriers between our online and offline deliveries for our 
clients and helping to provide a more seamless offering 
of media-agnostic solutions.
The Bravo Group
Report by Eddie Gonzalez (below)
Chairman and chief executive officer
2010 was a ‘fantastico’ year for Bravo, under the day-to-day 
leadership of Eric Hoyt, and continued to establish the 
agency as a premier player in the multicultural sector in 
the US. 
New business success was the leading storyline for the 
year. In the highly-competitive new business arena Bravo 
proved to be superlative: winning Hispanic agency-of-record 
status on Pfizer (all pharmaceutical brands), CVS Pharmacies 
and Wendy’s restaurants. 
Bravo’s promise to clients, to help them leverage and 
profit from the US Hispanic market, is being delivered. 
The agency’s ability to craft insightful strategic solutions, 
to create compelling ideas and to precisely deliver integrated 
programs is proving to be very effective.
Equally compelling was Bravo’s continued success and 
growth with key clients. Our relationships with AT&T, 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
44
How we’re doing
Advertising agency networks

Grey Group
Grey (Advertising)
Report by Jim Heekin (below)
Chairman and chief executive officer, Grey Group 
and Grey
Grey received important recognition of the 
multi-platform creative excellence we are achieving. Grey 
worldwide and Grey New York were named to Advertising 
Age’s prestigious A-List, comprising the best agencies in the 
business. Fast Company, the respected magazine devoted 
to the business of innovation, named Grey New York in its 
‘50 Most Innovative Companies in the World’ issue in both 
2010 and 2011, the only advertising agency so honored. 
Creativity magazine, part of Advertising Age, chose Tor 
Myhren of Grey New York as one of its ‘Creative 50’, those 
influential and inspiring leaders who have made the biggest 
impact across all areas of creative culture. And Metropolis 
magazine called Grey’s new headquarters in New York 
“the model of a 21st century ad agency.”
Grey also delivered one of its best new business 
performances ever. We expanded our client roster with 
high-profile new business wins of Panadol worldwide; 
Red Lobster, DirecTV, Bausch & Lomb, UPMC, The Tuna 
Council, CB Richard Ellis, Ortega Foods and Cryovac 
in the US; Sony, Brother, Lucozade, Findus, Schweppes, 
Schlecker, Santander Bank, InBev and Pfitzer Foods in 
Europe, Middle East and Africa; Reliance Communications, 
Chang Yu, Hutchinson Wampoa, Telekom Indonesia and 
JoEun Sangjo Korea in Asia Pacific; and Hasbro, Mead 
Johnson, Heineken and SENAC Brazil in Latin America.
The bedrock of Grey is its long-standing dynamic 
partnerships with global clients. Many of our top clients 
grew in agency revenue, some by double digits, and we were 
awarded significant new brand assignments from Procter & 
Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly, Boehringer Ingelheim, 
Playtex, Allergan, AXA, Pfizer and Coca-Cola.
Grey’s flagship agency in New York accelerated its 
forward momentum. Tor Myhren, our award-winning chief 
creative officer, was promoted to president, the first time 
a creative executive has held this post. Highly-acclaimed 
integrated campaigns for CoverGirl, Pantene, Febreze, 
DirecTV and Canon gained broad recognition and success. 
Once again, the famous E*TRADE ‘Talking Baby’ 
campaign set new records for popularity and effectiveness 
in the Super Bowl as did our work for the NFL. Together, 
they dominated social media, generating millions of dollars 
in free publicity and media buzz.
 New executive creative directors 
were appointed in more than a dozen 
countries, underscoring the priority 
we place on superlative creativity
In 2010, the revitalization of Grey hit its stride, producing 
one of the best years in our history thanks to a dynamic 
creative product, new business success, growth from current 
clients and an ongoing infusion of world-class talent. 
Adweek captured our momentum with the cover story 
entitled ‘Red Hot Grey’.
Our mantra: ‘Grey Famously Effective Since 1917’ 
became a powerful competitive advantage across the globe. 
It leverages our 94-year track record of effectively building 
many of the world’s great brands coupled with our growing 
reputation for famous work that permeates popular culture.
Grey made significant strides in elevating our creative 
performance and award recognition through the work of 
our Worldwide Creative Council, headed by Tim Mellors, 
vice chairman of Grey Group and worldwide chief creative 
director. We earned 20 Cannes Lions in 10 categories from 
14 countries of our global network. This was our best 
showing ever, ranking us among the top 10 winning 
agencies. New executive creative directors were appointed 
in more than a dozen countries, underscoring the priority 
we place on superlative creativity.
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
45
How we’re doing
Advertising agency networks

G2 Worldwide (Activation Marketing)
Report by Joe Celia (below)
Chairman and chief executive officer, G2 Worldwide
Vice chairman, Grey Group
G2 Worldwide had a very successful year in 2010, 
highlighted by positive growth and continued evolution 
across the entire organisation. Our accomplishments were 
driven by G2’s focused and energetic worldwide staff, who 
contributed to the expansion of our relationships with key 
clients, as well as the addition of important new clients 
and assignments to our growing portfolio of businesses.
Since our inception as the first specialised agency 
network to launch globally with a dedicated focus on 
brand activation, G2 has been devoted to helping our 
clients progress beyond traditional forms of marketing 
communications to more measurable forms that are better 
targeted and interactive. More than ever before, the 
marketplace recognises the critical need and value of 
branding beyond advertising. And today, G2 is firmly 
Four Grey New York print efforts were named the most 
effective magazine ad campaigns of 2010 in their categories: 
Latisse, Pantene and CoverGirl twice, ranking first on the 
Affinity Vista index of ad recall, brand association and actions 
taken. We also produced the single most memorable print ad 
of 2010, according to Starch, the measurement service, 
CoverGirl featuring Ellen DeGeneres, with 91% recall.
Grey EMEA, under the leadership of David Patton, 
compiled a strong new business record fueled by a resurgent 
creative product. Grey London received the highest score 
of all Group agencies from Campaign. Both Marketing 
magazine and Campaign short-listed it for Agency of the 
Year thanks to world-class campaigns for Honda, Toshiba 
and the British Heart Foundation.
Once again, Grey’s Eye on Asia proprietary trends 
study opened a window into consumer psyche and provided 
valuable insights to marketers across the region. This 
ongoing effort, spearheaded by Nirvik Singh, chairman 
and CEO of Grey Group Asia Pacific, continues to 
showcase Grey’s thought leadership in the world’s media.
Our Worldwide Planning Council, under the leadership 
of Suresh Nair, director of global strategic planning, 
continued to build Grey’s pre-eminence in consumer insight. 
We will soon launch a next-generation communications 
planning platform that combines strategic planning with 
channel and digital planning.
Grey remains ranked among the top tier of global 
advertising agencies because of the reach and resources of 
our network in 96 countries. Our blue-chip client roster 
counts one-fourth of all Fortune 500 companies and our 
capabilities to launch and sustain leading brands are 
expanding to meet the needs of the new media landscape.
Today we are producing leading-edge creative work 
across platforms, breaking new ground in brand experience 
and building relationships. Please go to www.grey.com to 
see our successful case histories across countries, cultures 
and the media spectrum.
Grey enhanced its ability to harness the social power 
of the internet to reach today’s consumers as the 
democratization of technology continues at warp speed. 
Our mandate is to place digital at the core of our business. 
We recruited renowned digital leaders such as Josh Golden, 
our first chief digital officer at Grey New York; expanded 
our digital centers of excellence in all regions, building 
them through investment and acquisition and strengthened 
our synergy with G2 Worldwide. 
We are delivering a seamless, integrated offering that 
unites the creative expertise of Grey with the activation 
expertise of G2, resulting in dozens of joint projects and 
new business wins across the globe.
As we enter 2011, Grey is an agency on the rise. 
Our talented, passionate, committed employees have 
wholeheartedly embraced the goal of becoming a truly 
great agency and our winning strategy has put industry 
leadership well within our grasp.
 G2 has been devoted to helping 
our clients progress beyond traditional 
forms of marketing communications to 
more measurable forms that are better 
targeted and interactive 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
46
How we’re doing
Advertising agency networks

established as a top global player in this increasingly 
important space.
G2’s top 20 clients accounted for the lion’s share of 
our total global revenue, and the strength of our client 
relationships is a testament to the intelligence and 
commitment of G2’s worldwide staff.
In 2010, we continued to build upon our partnerships 
with our stable of key multi-market clients:
	 We expanded our global relationships with 
GlaxoSmithKline’s Panadol brand in Asia Pacific, EMEA 
and the US.
	 From a strong base in the US for Heineken, we won 
new assignments in the UK and Russia, as well as expanded 
our engagements with Heineken in the Caribbean and 
Central America.
	 In the EMEA region, we won new business assignments 
from Commerzbank AG and Paradores Spain, and expanded 
our client portfolio within the automotive and financial 
services sector.
	 In the US, we won the agency-of-record business for 
Aetna B2B, expanding our already strong partnership with 
the premium insurance brand.
	 Across the globe, we gained incremental assignments 
from P&G and BAT for a range of brands.
In addition to strong ties with existing clients, G2 also 
added a number of new clients/brands to our roster:
	 In Asia Pacific, G2 Japan won creative duties for Nippon 
Becton Dickinson, in addition to several other high 
profile assignments from new and existing clients throughout 
the region.
	 In the US, we experienced noteworthy business 
development successes, with wins including the digital 
agency-of-record assignment for Hertz; the promotional/
experiential assignment for Southwest Airlines; and 
direct mail and digital duties for Capital One US Credit 
Card Services.
	 And we welcomed new multimarket relationships with 
LG and Vodafone.
Our reputation within the industry continues to grow, 
especially as a strategic partner to clients and agency 
collaborators, thanks in no small measure to our newly 
launched positioning, ‘Maximizing Brand Commitment’, 
along with a suite of tools and processes. Our new 
proprietary planning process, G2 Pathfinder, maps 
consumers’ purchase decision journeys onto which we 
overlay compelling creative ideas, synthesising them into 
innovative, powerful and focused communications plans 
that determine when, where and how to communicate 
most effectively.
We were ranked No.5 in the 2010 Promo 100, and 
ranked No.2 in the Retail Specialty area of the same list. 
We were ranked in The Hub’s annual Top 12 agency report 
for Shopper Marketing excellence. And we were once again 
named to B2B Magazine’s Top Agencies list.
Around the world, G2 agencies garnered award recognition 
for our creativity and innovation, including a Gold POPAI/
OMA Award and the P&G Beauty and Grooming Best 
Digital Innovation Award – Mobile Innovations for 
CoverGirl; a Gold REGGIE for Heineken’s Dos Equis brand; 
a Gold Effie for Campbell Soup Company; a Gold at the 
Promotion Marketing Awards of Asia for Shell from G2 
Malaysia; and a Gold Award from New York Festivals for 
the Diesel/Rockin’ Dots transit campaign from G2 Japan.
We had a good showing at Cannes in 2010, with G2 
Argentina winning three Lions Awards for Playboy, while G2 
Japan was shortlisted twice in the Outdoor Lions Category.
A key priority in 2010 was continuing to build our senior 
management ranks, and we strengthened our worldwide 
leadership teams in virtually all regions across the globe.
There were major additions and elevations in EMEA: 
Pietro Leone, who served as COO for G2 EMEA since 2009, 
was elevated with the added responsibilities as CEO of the 
region. Building on the strength of G2 EMEA’s UK presence, 
Tim Hipperson joined as CEO, G2 UK. Stefan Kniess was 
elevated to the new role of CEO, G2 Germany, unifying G2 
as an independent entity, co-existing with Grey under the 
Grey/G2 Group in Germany.
In line with our dynamic growth strategy, we reinforced 
our total communications offering and expanded our global 
capabilities through the acquisition of Greater China’s 
leading shopper marketing consultancy, DPI, which has 
been renamed G2 DPI.
We continued to expand our digital capabilities in 
South America with a strategic partnership between 
G2/Grey Argentina and 451, a leading interactive shop 
in Latin America, consolidating digital operations of the 
two companies.
For the third year in a row, G2 devoted its global 
pro bono efforts to Save the Children. In 2008 and 2009, 
G2 partnered with the charity to build a school in Mali, 
Africa and establish a community well to provide clean 
drinking water. In 2010, G2 sponsored 10 children around 
the world, launching a Facebook campaign to drive 
awareness and donations. 
Looking ahead, we will continue to bolster our 
communications planning offer, led by Jim Taylor, our global 
communications planning director based in the G2 EMEA 
headquarters. Additionally, Jonathan Dodd, global chief 
strategy officer, continues to drive greater prominence for 
our shopper marketing capabilities around the world.
Maximizing Brand Commitment for our clients has long 
been at the heart of what G2 does. In 2010, we put into place 
the right tools and the right people to ensure that the next 
decade of our history will be as fruitful and productive as 
our first. 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
47
How we’re doing
Advertising agency networks

United Network
Report by Ewen Cameron (right)
Chief executive officer
2010 was a positive year for United’s continued quest 
to define itself as the micro-network of choice for WPP’s 
global clients. 
Sra Rushmore in Spain acquired additional international 
assignments from clients Coca-Cola and Diageo. 1861 United 
Milan continued to be the creative focus of pan-European 
work for Vodafone and Sky Italia. Berlin Cameron United 
contributed to the successful Group pitch for blue-chip client 
Mazda, and Cole & Weber United’s global work for the 
International Olympic Committee was universally recognized 
as one of the creative hits of 2010, with Cannes and One 
Show awards.
At a regional level, BTS United in Scandinavia won 13 
additional client assignments in 2010, and dominated local 
creative and design awards. In Belgium, LDV United’s year 
was crowned with a high-profile creative campaign for the 
City of Antwerp. In Paris, changes in senior management 
necessitated a restructuring of the agency which has paid 
off with some impressive new business wins including, 
most recently, Clarins.
As we look to 2011, we are seeing a great deal of 
promising new business activity especially out of Berlin 
Cameron United in New York, where we are focused on 
converting incremental revenue to profitable growth. Our 
second priority is to continue to grow our central role in 
WPP’s industry-leading ‘client team’ structures. Finally, 2011 
will be a year where we look to reclaim our place in the 
creative awards tables and push for a higher profile. 
 2011 will be a year where we 
look to reclaim our place in the 
creative awards tables and push 
for a higher profile
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
48
How we’re doing
Advertising agency networks

Bates 141
Report by Tim Isaac (bottom right)
Chairman, Bates Ogilvy Group Asia Pacific
2010 was a year of changes in organization, strong 
financial results and deepening commitment to our 
‘Change Agency’ promise. 
In 2010, Bates 141 focused its resources on the growth 
markets of Asia Pacific; specifically on the two BRIC 
markets, China and India, and on the Next 11 markets 
of Southeast Asia (especially Vietnam, Indonesia and the 
Philippines). Our management organization was centered 
on these three clusters of offices. We put emphasis on getting 
the leadership working closer to the market opportunities.
2010 was also the year in which collaboration with 
Ogilvy & Mather on back-end support and financial 
management moved ahead with greater purpose and vigor. 
Following the example best set by Bates 141 Jakarta, 
those offices where the collaboration has been closest have 
benefited most in being able to concentrate their resources on 
productive front office services to clients. Client satisfaction 
and profitability have both been enhanced.
Largely due to these developments, the year’s advance 
in commercial performance was sustained with results 
coming in well ahead of the prior year and our own budget 
for the year.
We continued to develop and promote our ‘Change 
Agency’ promise. We had one of our best years in terms of 
delivering on that promise with work for HSBC, Häagen 
Dazs, Sampoerna, Heineken, MTV and Virgin Mobile. 
Our work was recognized at Cannes, where we won a 
Bronze Lion for Virgin Mobile India; at Asia Pacific Spikes 
for our ‘Vote for Change’ campaign from the Philippines; 
and at the Effies for our work for F&N Dairies Malaysia. 
We were also named Creative Agency of the Year at the ROI 
awards Festival for Greater China, and in Taiwan we came 
top of the Campaign Brief rankings. 
We achieved some notable new business success during 
the year: Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts in China; Proton 
cars in Indonesia; Johnnie Walker and Vietnam Post in 
Vietnam; Colgate and MTV in India; LG mobile in Taiwan; 
and Fuji Xerox in Hong Kong.
During 2010 we continued to invest in thought leadership 
to provide substance and content to our ‘Change Agency’ 
positioning. Key initiatives included 2010 Changes from 
the Streets of Asia, From Little Emperor to Bird’s Nest 
Generation – a paper on China’s youth – and Reverse Filial 
Piety – a paper on the Hong Kong silver market. Our 
regional planning director for Asia, Dheeraj Sinha, published 
a book on the changing Indian consumer, Consumer India.
Once again, our Change dictionary was well received 
and underscored our positioning in a populist way. We will 
continue to marshal our philosophy and operations around 
understanding, harnessing and creating ‘Change’ for our 
clients across Asia in 2011.
In closing, a final word on ‘Change for Good’ in the 
communities in which we work. In 2009 we launched 
ChangeRally as a Bates 141 activation tool to create positive 
change in society. In 2010 our most notable programs were 
‘Vote for Change’ on behalf of the 100,000 street children of 
Manila; the Sunrise home for children film project in Cambodia; 
and the ‘Room to Read’ program in Singapore to promote 
literacy and gender equality in developing countries. 
 We continued to invest in thought 
leadership to provide substance and 
content to our ‘Change Agency’ 
positioning
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
49
How we’re doing
Advertising agency networks

Media Investment Management
GroupM
Report by Irwin Gotlieb (right)
Chief executive officer
By the end of 2010, GroupM once again found itself the 
undisputed worldwide market leader among all global media 
agency networks. RECMA, the independent organization 
that measures media agency sector operations, reported that 
GroupM held almost a 29% share of the total measured 
volume among all its competitors with $73.3 billion in 
worldwide billings. In its report, RECMA said: “GroupM 
is leading the race by a considerable margin (almost 30%) 
on its closest challenger”. 
The primary goal of GroupM is to provide support 
for each of our operating companies – Maxus, MEC, 
MediaCom and Mindshare – as both a parent company and 
collaborator. We focus on activities that benefit our clients, 
such as trading, content creation, digital communications, 
new business, finance, proprietary tool development and 
other critical capabilities.
Like all companies, GroupM felt the impact of the global 
economic recession that began in 2008 and lasted into 2010, 
but at the same time we began to see signs of improvement as 
the year progressed and the economy improved. Our agencies 
experienced significant new business wins around the globe 
and also benefitted from varying degrees of organic growth 
from existing clients. The account wins, along with industry 
awards, are outlined in the individual agency accounts found 
in the following pages of this report.
Throughout 2010, GroupM also continued to focus on 
developing new initiatives designed to keep our company 
at the forefront of the media services business and maintain 
our global reputation as a pioneering influence throughout 
our industry. This was especially true in the digital 
communications arena.
We have been at the forefront in the development and 
deployment of advanced DSP (Demand Side Platform) and 
RTB (Real-Time Bidding) platforms. These technologies have 
been developed in partnership with the MIG, our Media 
Innovations Group, along with our WPP technology partner, 
24/7 Real Media. These developments will become 
increasingly important during 2011 and beyond as more of 
our clients’ investments shift to digital media and the focus 
of the investment shifts to identifying and acquiring highly-
targeted audiences. These platforms also rely on robust data 
capabilities, which we have developed in conjunction with 
our partners at 24/7 Real Media. 
GroupM showed progress in several other areas 
throughout 2010. For example, in the spring we launched 
a new division dedicated to corporate trading. Dubbed the 
Midas Exchange, the unit is dedicated to helping our clients 
secure media credits in exchange for underperforming assets. 
The Midas Exchange was formed at the request of clients 
who asked that WPP, in cooperation with GroupM, enter 
the corporate trading arena to complement current services, 
seamlessly deliver a media plan consistent with objectives 
and be fully accountable for the total media product. 
GroupM also took an important step in 2010 to address 
the issue of diversity in the advertising and media industries. 
In the fall, we formed a new partnership with the City 
College of New York designed to identify and cultivate 
college students for careers in the advertising industry. 
The program, called the GroupM Professional Development 
Initiative, is available to students in CCNY’s Advertising/
Public Relations Program with an emphasis on 
undergraduates with ethnically-diverse backgrounds. 
In other areas, GroupM continues to be a leading 
prognosticator of worldwide advertising spending in both 
traditional and digital media, issuing several This Year, 
Next Year forecast reports throughout 2010. Last year we 
 GroupM continued to focus on 
developing new initiatives designed 
to...maintain our global reputation 
as a pioneering influence throughout 
our industry 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
50
How we’re doing

published local forecasts covering the UK, Russia, China 
and India, as well as a worldwide report that received 
widespread press coverage and was presented at the annual 
Global Media and Communications Conference, hosted by 
investment bank UBS in New York. The worldwide report, 
traditionally issued early in the year, is then updated and 
released about six to eight months later. We also published 
Interaction 2010, our fourth annual point of view on the 
state and future of the digital media marketplace with an 
analysis of what it means for the world’s largest advertisers. 
GroupM also remains active in branded entertainment 
and content development, with specialty units at each of our 
agencies producing a wide range of engaging, results-oriented 
projects such as webisodes and reality TV shows. In one 
of the most interesting and important projects of the year, 
GroupM Entertainment played a key role in the production 
of a new We Are The World song and video, which reprised 
the iconic 1985 anthem. The project’s purpose was to benefit 
the Haitian earthquake relief efforts and the rebuilding 
of Haiti. GroupM Entertainment served as an executive 
producer along with famed music producer Quincy Jones and 
singer/songwriter Lionel Richie. The world premiere of We 
Are the World 25 for Haiti aired during NBC’s coverage of 
the Opening Ceremony of the Vancouver Winter Olympics 
in February.
Overall, in 2010, GroupM made important and 
substantive strides toward strengthening our position in 
the media services marketplace. We continue to act as a 
catalyst in advancing the media landscape for the benefit 
of our stakeholders and our clients. Our goal is to take 
an aggressive and progressive stance toward any and all 
initiatives that will improve the competitive advantage 
we bring to our clients. 
 We continue to act as a catalyst in 
advancing the media landscape for 
the benefit of our stakeholders and 
our clients
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
51
How we’re doing
Media Investment Management

Maxus
Report by Kelly Clark (below right)
Chief executive officer
As we look back over the past few years and the difficult 
environment we’ve faced, we’ve learned some important 
lessons. And importantly, our clients have reminded us 
of what matters most.
Creativity and innovation
If the work isn’t great, it just won’t break through. Maxus 
India has been leading the way for us in this area, winning 
a record number of industry awards for their work with 
clients including Nokia and Vodafone. Our agencies in 
Poland, Russia, the UK and the US have also performed 
particularly well over the last year. We will place an even 
greater emphasis on innovation in 2011 and we’ve launched 
our new internal awards program, the Maxus Magnets, 
which will reward the best work from our network.
Experience they can count on everywhere
Our clients need us to deliver effective solutions for them 
everyday around the world. In 2010, we launched new 
Maxus agencies in Ireland, Hungary and Mexico. We formed 
a partnership in the Middle East with WPP agency BPG. 
We launched our third China office in Guangzhou, our fifth 
India office in Kerala, and our third US office in St Louis. 
Our network now spans more than 60 offices in 50 countries. 
We expanded client relationships to new markets, including 
Chrysler, Fiat, L’Oréal and UPS. And we won new global 
clients like Bausch & Lomb and Shangri-la Hotels & Resorts.
Accountability and measurement
Helping clients quantify the impact of marketing investments 
is at the heart of our Relationship Media proposition. We’ve 
made major investments in people and tools. We hired Martin 
Lawson from digital agency i-level as our global director of 
data and insights. We developed a proprietary approach to 
tracking and optimising the journeys that consumers make 
online, and we’ll be rolling this out globally in 2011.
Better value from their media budgets
We choose not to compete for business when price is the 
only criterion. But delivering improved media value is an 
important part of our offer, and in 2010 we built a strong 
global trading structure led by Alan Hodge. Alan was 
previously GroupM’s European trading director and was 
recently recognized by Campaign magazine as one of the 
industry’s top 10 media buyers. He and his team make sure 
our clients get the best from GroupM’s unmatched scale, 
trading expertise and technology leadership.
Real integration
Many agencies have silos of narrow specialists in areas like 
search and social media, all working independently. As an 
agency born in the digital age, we’ve eliminated the false 
boundaries between digital and traditional media. We have 
specialists but they are fully integrated in our client teams. 
We pioneered this approach with BT in the UK, bringing 
our media planning and implementation teams together 
with experts in search, digital display, social, data analytics, 
mobile and direct response. We’ll adopt this approach 
across our network in 2011.
Effective partnerships
Clients want their different agency partners to work better 
together. Collaboration is part of our DNA. In 2010, we 
started working more intensely on shared client projects 
with WPP companies including Ogilvy, ZAAZ, Geppetto 
and Kantar Media. We work just as well with many exciting 
agencies outside of WPP. Clients have told us this is a 
real advantage.
As I write this report, most economies around the world 
seem to be recovering well from the economic difficulties of 
the past few years. RECMA, the independent organisation 
that measures media agencies, has again named Maxus the 
fastest-growing global media network in 2010. Our client 
relationships are strong and our people have performed 
brilliantly. Because of them, I’m more optimistic than ever. 
 As an agency born in the digital 
age, we’ve eliminated the false 
boundaries between digital and 
traditional media
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we’re doing
Media Investment Management

MediaCom
Report by Stephen Allan (right)
Worldwide chairman and chief executive officer
After the global economic crisis of 2009, 2010 began with 
some degree of uncertainty. Our clients generally remained 
cautious about their spending, and client procurement 
and finance functions placed more emphasis on cost 
management. What was certain were the continued global 
shifts in economic, political and social power. These shifts 
are impacting upon our own business globally and we are 
adapting swiftly and successfully to manage and to 
capitalise on this trend. 
In terms of new business, we had a particularly satisfying 
year, with some encouraging client wins and many fantastic 
client retentions such as Electronic Arts in Europe (where we 
also added new markets), GlaxoSmithKline and COI in the 
UK and the renewal of our global contract for VW Group, our 
largest client. Significant new client wins included Revlon and 
The Travelers Company in the US, Peek & Cloppenburg in 
Germany, AB-Inbev and Swatch Group in China, IAG and 
Yum! Brands in Australia, and Bayer AG and Fast Retailing 
in Russia. These accounts alone contributed nearly half of 
over $1 billion of new business that we won during the year.
With regard to client retention, our business record in 
2010 was generally good. However, we faced major 
disappointment at the end of the year with the loss of our 
GSK assignment in the US. Despite many other achievements 
and successes throughout the year, it illustrated the fierce 
competitiveness of our industry at a time when advertisers 
remain cautious about spending.
Building on our development in 2009, we continued to 
progress as a network by adding new hires to our talented 
team at global, regional and local levels. Key appointments 
have included our CEO of the APAC region, Alex Crowther, 
and local CEOs Gerardo Mariñas in Spain, Ian Manning in 
South Africa and Jamie Edwards in Canada, and senior hires 
to our network team including Dominic Guba as global head 
of Trading. 
Our global best practice goes from strength to strength. 
The summer saw the launch of GSIP (Gold Standard 
Implementation Planning) to ensure that we continue to 
provide the same consistently high service for our clients 
anywhere in the world – success that has been recognised and 
reflected by our incredible 237 industry accolades in 2010.
Alongside 104 award wins from 24 different countries, 
we were delighted to receive two more Global Agency 
Network of the Year awards. The first came at the 
Festival of Media Awards in April, followed by a second 
consecutive year of success at the M&M Awards in London 
in September. 
There have been some notable performances by many 
of our local operations. In particular, MediaCom Australia 
enjoyed an amazing ‘turnaround’ year, winning pitch after 
pitch following significant changes and restructuring under 
the new leadership of CEO Toby Jenner and COO Marc 
Pejic. The agency was recently named Agency of the Year, 
along with our offices in Korea, the Philippines, Scotland 
and Sweden, which also gained Agency of the Year accolades. 
While it is nice to put trophies in the cabinet, more 
importantly it proves that we have delivered strong business 
results for our clients. 
Measuring the agency as a whole, 2010 saw us move up 
a further two places to No.3 in RECMA’s Overall Activity 
Billings Report; a clear sign that we are progressing as an 
agency and are moving closer to our stated ambition of 
becoming the global No.1. Additionally, we have maintained 
our position as the No.1 global agency for integrated 
interaction services.
We have set ourselves high targets for 2011, meaning 
growth in all areas. In a time of a constantly changing media 
landscape, we will be challenging ourselves and our clients 
to be bolder, braver and to do new things, in new ways. 
This behaviour will be borne out of company strength and is 
built from within, and as our ‘People First’ mantra suggests, 
at MediaCom we value personal development very highly. 
Inside the agency, 2011 will see a continued investment in 
and focus on the learning and development of our staff – 
at all levels. 
Looking forward, I believe that 2011 will be exceptionally 
exciting and full of opportunities for us as a business. As last 
year’s awards successes prove, we are capable of producing 
world-class work, right across our network. This fills me with 
enormous optimism about our prospects for the year ahead. 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we’re doing
Media Investment Management

MEC
Report by Charles Courtier (below)
Chief executive officer
MEC delivered a major turnaround in 2010. Of course, it 
comes off the back of a very difficult 2009, but nonetheless 
we made significant progress. 
Growth makes the world go round. Looking around the 
MEC world this year; EMEA came back to growth after a 
torrid 2009. Asia Pacific and Latin America both delivered 
growth in the double-digits. For the second year running, 
It’s not just about new business though; the improving 
year meant increased activity from right across our client 
base. This naturally played a huge part in our success.
Keeping pace with the communications storm occupies 
a lot of our waking hours. We continue to innovate, adapt 
and change our organisation and product to stay ahead. 
We launched our view of the future, Are you in 
control enough to let go?, to widespread praise as genuine 
thought leadership and a demonstration of the courage of 
our convictions. 
To deliver an integrated ‘Paid Owned Earned’ product 
we re-launched our MEC Navigator process, training over 
half of staff globally in two-day courses. We created the 
Client Leader Forum as the driving force of our client-
centricity program.
Trading is a crucial part of our business. We got better 
organised and invested in this vital area of MEC, alongside 
GroupM. The appointment of Keith Tiley as our director 
of Trading is key to this. 
As Asia Pacific takes an ever more pivotal role globally, 
the region enters a new management phase under the 
leadership of Stephen Li.
We launched our new Analytics & Insight offer, 
combining all of our consumer insight, data and ROI 
specialisms, with new A&I leaders announced in the US, 
Latin America, China, the Nordics and Belgium among others.
Our digital resources continue to deepen and broaden 
with eight new leaders in Asia Pacific alone and Social & 
Emerging Platform leaders announced in the US and EMEA.
Training was stepped up versus 2009 as we continue to 
develop and invest in our talent. We also launched a bespoke 
e-learning platform, MEC Learning.
So, a successful year. We got back on track and drove 
forward our agenda and ambition. As always, this is 
testament to the thousands of MEC people all around the 
world – they are the ones that make everything happen.
This was a much more rewarding year for us all. 
The early signs for 2011 are positive. We start the year 
with predicted good revenue growth, product initiatives, 
some key senior hires and a strong new business pipeline. 
MEC is confident and enthusiastic about the year ahead. 
Latin America is MEC’s fastest-growing region. North 
America also turned their fortunes around and delivered 
growth in 2010.
Our new business success was characterised by strong 
local market performance as opposed to international wins 
where the activity was much lower this year. A number 
of markets had particularly strong performances – India, 
Italy and Russia have tremendous momentum. We added 
more than $1 billion in billings.
 A number of markets had 
particularly strong performances – 
India, Italy and Russia have 
tremendous momentum
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we’re doing
Media Investment Management

Mindshare
Report by Dominic Proctor (below)
Chief executive officer
2010 was a remarkable year for Mindshare.
Through the hard work and dedication of our teams 
around the world we managed to win many new clients, 
including L’Oreal, Boehringer Ingelheim, CVS, Abbott, 
Radio Shack, Air Asia and Mexico Tourism. Winning new 
accounts (and keeping old ones) is still the clearest sign of 
success and momentum in the agency business. By this 
measure we had a very strong performance in every region 
in the world.
The most successful regional performance was from 
North America. Under a new management team, the business 
grew considerably in 2010, its best ever performance. 
Highlights included the winning of Unilever’s business in 
Canada, to add to the US business. Indeed, the conclusion of 
the global Unilever review was a real highlight for Mindshare 
as we won or retained the account in most world markets 
after a fiercely competitive pitch.
Clearly during the last two years media pricing has been 
an even bigger focus than usual. We are fortunate that as 
part of GroupM we are part of the world’s biggest buying 
group, so we have always been extremely competitive on 
that front. 
As the global media markets recovered we were able to 
invest back into other areas of the business. For example, 
we made a lot of significant hires in Business Planning, a 
discipline which our clients are encouraging us to expand. 
As the world becomes more fragmented and chaotic we need 
to provide simple and clear advice on how to optimise 
marketing expenditure.
There was also a big focus on digital media, our fastest-
growing activity. Bringing digital talent into the agency is a 
big priority for us and our clients. During 2010 we developed 
very successful digital initiatives for LG, Unilever, Ford, Nike 
and American Express, amongst others.
The third broad area of focus in 2010 was our Content 
business. The development and management of original 
content for clients is increasingly important for cutting 
through the communications clutter. We won many 
awards for this work, including a Gold Lion at Cannes 
for First Direct. It will be important to continue to develop 
this practice.
Talking of awards we also won Agency of the Year in 
many countries including Belgium, Turkey, Netherlands, 
China, Hong Kong, India and Singapore. This is a real 
testament to the dedication of our staff as well the support 
of our clients and friends. 2011 is shaping up to be another 
very good year! 
 The development and management 
of original content for clients is 
increasingly important for cutting 
through the communications clutter
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we’re doing
Media Investment Management

tenthavenue
Report by Rupert Day
Chief executive officer
tenthavenue is one of WPP’s newest entities, with a focus on 
delivering tailored solutions, be they specific audiences or 
outcomes. The new group’s goal is to deliver relevant content, 
in environments which reflect the consumer’s immediate 
lifestyle, across multiple devices – whether they are place-
based or mobile screens – and with the ability to optimize 
and measure across them. 
2010 was as much a year of planning this ambition for 
the three WPP companies in the group (Kinetic, Quisma and 
Spafax), as achieving their own 2010 goals. tenthavenue 
launched in March 2011 but the three companies worked 
together as a team in the second half of 2010 to develop 
tenthavenue’s offering to both WPP and third-party agencies 
and clients.
Spafax
The entertainment and custom content businesses performed 
strongly, developing new services with existing clients such 
as Air Canada, British Airways and Etihad, and new client 
wins with Singapore Airlines and Thai International. The 
year saw robust media sales in the North American market 
and improving performances in the Gulf and in Chile.
Outside the company’s heritage of in-flight entertainment, 
but in line with tenthavenue’s objectives, the company 
continues to invest in new services in digital, content and 
technical services: achieving MPAA (Motion Picture 
Association of America) approval for the facility in 
California; and cross-platform digital products (websites, 
e-zines and apps) for clients in new categories such as 
Fairmont Hotels, Mercedes and Bombardier.
Quisma
In performance marketing, advertisers and marketers only 
pay for successful transactions as defined by a consumer 
taking a pre-defined action, such as a purchase, a subscription 
or lead. In this area in 2010, Quisma reinforced its dominant 
position as the leading EMEA performance network, serving 
billions of impressions monthly in Germany, Switzerland, 
Austria, Poland and the Netherlands. Services in Spain, Italy, 
France, the UK and the US are planned for 2011.
Quisma is now the leading pan-European provider of 
performance-oriented related solutions in search, display 
and affiliate for major brands across the world such as 
Expedia, Hotels.com, Dell, Citibank, Ford and other 
outcome-driven clients.
Kinetic
In 2010, there was a dual strategy of consolidating Kinetic’s 
position as the leading global out of home (OOH) company 
in all traditional and digital channels, and building a 
higher-value strategic lifestyle and environment company 
to ensure that clients receive maximum benefit from the 
changing OOH environment.
To this end, a dedicated shopper/retail initiative, S2B, 
was developed in the US, with an EMEA roll-out planned in 
2011. As well as launching a mobile Demand Side Platform 
with GroupM, mobile marketing agency Joule consolidated its 
offering as a full service mobile agency in both the US and UK 
with roll-outs planned in other major European markets and 
China in 2011. This offers end-to-end mobile solutions, from 
media planning/buying to couponing. In addition, a business 
and commercial analytics group, Meta, was developed in the 
US, the UK, the Netherlands and Germany, with clients such as 
Madison Square Garden in the US and Swiftcover in the UK.
This focus allowed us to deepen the relationship with 
the core client base from GroupM companies as well as 
develop additional third-party agency business and new 
direct clients.  
Below, left to right:
Ronald Paul, CEO, Quisma, Steve Ridley, CEO, Kinetic, 
Rupert Day, CEO, tenthavenue, Niall McBain, CEO, Spafax 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we’re doing
Media Investment Management

Kantar
Report by Eric Salama (right)
Chairman and chief executive officer
In 2010 we held our annual management meeting in Boston. 
There were many good reasons for our location – not least 
that a number of our most entrepreneurial businesses are 
based there, employing a disproportionate number of sector 
gurus, PhDs and young ‘digerati’ – connected, future-
focused, smart, creative, entrepreneurial – in sum, what 
we aspire to be across the whole of the Kantar world. 
As a bonus we visited the JFK Presidential Library and 
were reminded of the power of storytelling. Fifty years on 
from JFK’s inauguration, the world is crowded by greater 
complexity and information than ever before. Political 
events in the Arab world, volcanic eruptions, floods and 
earthquakes and the explosion of data and views facilitated 
by companies such as Google, Facebook and Twitter make 
the need for interpretation, for painting pictures of our times 
and our futures, for stories which tell the truth of human 
attitudes and behaviour ever more important, but ever harder. 
In uncertain times, our goal remains to use insights into 
people – as citizens, customers, consumers, influencers – to 
inspire our clients to make better decisions for the future. 
Our destinations are clear and it is against these destinations 
that we measure our progress in 2010.
A house of brands with deeply-connected experts 
and thought leaders
Clients want deep expertise; people want to work in 
environments in which what they do is central to the 
business. Uniquely amongst our competitive set we are 
structured in a way which facilitates that and in 2010 
we began to see the value and impact of this expertise 
and thought leadership. 
In an area such as retail and shopper, Giles Quick and 
Paul Murphy of Kantar Worldpanel have been educating 
clients that 80% of all incremental grocery sales for a brand 
come from new users and that changing usage occasions has 
a bigger impact on long-term sales than any promotions; and 
Bryan Gildenberg and colleagues from Kantar Retail have 
developed 5 shares – an innovative way of looking at what 
advertisers need to do to succeed by increasing share of 
Consumer Insight
growth, share of wallet, share of consumer decisions, share 
of solutions and share of engagement.
In operations, our teams from Kantar Operations and 
Lightspeed have responded superbly to the seriousness 
with which we take data quality by passing ISO standards 
and developing InTouch as a way of improving engagement 
in taking surveys, carrying out ethnographically-based 
usability studies on questionnaires and developing 
relationships across the industry with ‘competitors’ such 
as GfK and Market Tools to set industry standards. As James 
Sallows of Lightspeed said at a recent industry conference, 
“Your data is ultimately the victim of a survey that does not 
engage respondents”. 
In understanding the way that the recession has changed 
consumer attitudes and behaviours, The Futures Company 
has worked with clients to incorporate those learnings into 
the way they position their products and services. 
And across issues as diverse as the use of neuroscience 
in advertising testing, the role of social media in forecasting 
sales of new products, and the way in which segmentation 
can drive effective product development and engagement 
strategies – expert teams from across Millward Brown, 
TNS and Added Value have made much progress this year.
We had many pieces of work which had extensive press 
coverage, none more so than a groundbreaking global 
46-country study of consumers’ digital behaviour by TNS; 
 ...our goal remains to use insights 
into people – as citizens, customers, 
consumers, influencers – to inspire 
our clients to make better decisions 
for the future
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we’re doing

across our companies to tackle individual client questions, 
resolve brand issues, or develop growth strategies based 
around existing expertise and knowledge – all without 
collecting or commissioning any new research. It is an 
approach we have taken on numerous occasions in 2010, 
to great effect.
	 Connecting tools which we are already providing to 
clients, e.g. incorporating TNS Needscope segmentation into 
Millward Brown Link copy testing so that clients who use 
both can get the benefits of their segmentation approach in 
the way they evaluate and develop advertising, or the Kantar 
Media MARS study which linked sufferers offline and online 
behaviour and segmented the population by disease and stage 
of condition.
	 Connecting our data with our own, client or third-party 
data to help provide a more holistic and dynamic view 
of the marketplace. Good examples are overlaying our 
second‑by-second TV audience behaviour with purchase 
data from JDPower; linking our attitudinal segmentation 
with MTS’s customer records to provide a more 
actionable brand strategy for Eastern Europe’s largest 
mobile telecoms provider; linking Dynamic Logic’s online 
advertising effectiveness data with social media insights 
from Cymfony; putting our Compete software onto Kantar 
Worldpanel in the UK, France, Spain and linking online 
and TV viewing data with frequent shopper card data in 
our Kantar Retail ShopComm practice so that clients can 
understand the impact which different types of media 
behaviour have on consumption, or the sales effectiveness 
of different ads; linking TGI media consumption with 
Worldpanel purchase data.
a study carried out by Millward Brown for WPP on the 
strongest brands in China; a study on ‘the new Muslim 
consumer’ conducted by TNS across a number of markets 
in conjunction with Ogilvy; and a study of teens in the 
Middle East carried out by IMRB.
And we were recognised for the quality of our work and 
thought leadership in numerous forums around the world 
with Millward Brown winning special recognition and a host 
of Ogilvy effectiveness awards from ARF, Kantar Worldpanel 
and TNS winning Agency of the Year in Mexico and India 
respectively, and TNS South Africa scooping all of the prizes 
for best papers in South Africa.
Connecting the insights
Central to our strategy going forward is the desire and ability 
to connect insights and data, not just collect them. We know 
that clients are frustrated with too much of their ‘data’ sitting 
in silos and we share that frustration. It is inefficient, costly 
and militates against an holistic understanding of the 
marketplace and of the link between cause and effect.
We are passionate about our desire to connect insights 
and are open to working with competitor, client and 
third-party data to maximise our impact. To do so 
successfully requires an attitude of mind, technology and an 
infrastructure which facilitates connecting and people with 
the appropriate skills. During 2010 we made notable 
progress in connecting, in each case adding value to clients. 
Our efforts have been concentrated in four areas:
	 Connecting expertise – Under a program we dubbed 
‘Catalyst’ we bring together smart, young experts from 
Above, left to right:
David Geiger, CEO, Center Partners, Sharon Potter, CEO, Kantar Operations, Josep Montserrat, CEO, Kantar Worldpanel, Thomas Puliyel, 
CEO/president, IMRB, Janine Hawkins, CEO, Added Value, David Day, CEO, Lightspeed Research
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we’re doing
Consumer Insight

talent pool. Have a look at www.informationisbeautiful.net 
to see what we have in mind.
A reputation for innovation
A running theme through much of what has been discussed 
above is that of innovation. It is no coincidence. As the world 
speeds up, as the media world fragments and as the ability 
to capture human attitudes and behaviours becomes more 
complex we have to innovate at an increasing pace to be 
able to serve our clients’ needs and to retain their respect 
and our relevance. 
The ways we are connecting data and insights, the 
investments we are making to innovate and roll out cross-
media measurement techniques, the development of new 
tools such as Added Value’s Character Lab to understand 
brand character and Millward Brown Firefly to scale 
qualitative research and develop talent, the development 
by Center Partners of at-home agents to deal with customer 
relationships, the use of mobile phone text services to collect 
data in Africa, and the successful setting up of a fully 
electronic 40,000 person Kantar Worldpanel in China are 
all examples of our commitment to innovation. 
We measure our success in innovating by directly asking 
our clients and quantifying our progress. But we can also 
measure progress by the company we keep. We are proud 
of all of our clients but when clients such as Ford and Levi 
Strauss work with Added Value around innovation issues; 
when Google and Microsoft have become large Kantar 
Media clients working to understand online behaviour and 
the impact it has on offline purchase; when Walmart works 
with Millward Brown on issues relating to store-level 
customer satisfaction, when PayPal and RIM work with TNS 
in understanding how to segment their customer groups; and 
when a host of leading retailers and manufacturers adopt 
Red Dot Square as their virtual reality shopping technology 
of choice, we know we are on the right track. 
A culture which is more client- and talent-centric
Our client and talent agendas are inseparable. We cannot 
succeed with as ambitious a client and business agenda as 
we have without having engaged, talented people. And it is 
in the area of talent that we have made some of our biggest 
progress during 2010. 
Our infrastructure has improved. We are in the 
process of setting up and rolling out a web-based human 
resources information system which will enable us to track 
and develop compensation, talent interactions and needs 
and free up the time of our talent professionals. We have 
significantly upgraded the quality of our talent/HR 
professionals with new people coming in as chief talent 
officers at Kantar HQ, TNS, Added Value and Kantar 
Media as well as in senior regional roles in Millward Brown 
and elsewhere.
	 Connecting digital content – 2010 saw us launching 
KTags as an industry-wide solution, allowing clients to tag 
all of their digital content and link it to our various databases 
so as to allow an understanding of who consumes what 
content and where.
Our ability to connect is unprecedented and the impact 
we can have on clients equally so. 
Greater usability of our work, with insights used to drive 
better decisions
We all want our work to have impact, to be used by our 
clients to make better decisions. To achieve this consistently 
and as a matter of routine requires two things: developing 
genuine insights with a clear sense of the implications for 
clients and an ability to communicate those insights/
implications in an inspiring way.
As 2010 developed we became increasingly focused 
on two factors, real-time insights and data visualisation:
	 Real-time insights – We recognise that some data and 
insights are of value only if they are provided in real-time 
and that for some types of insights, being 80% correct now is 
more important than being 100% correct in six months’ time. 
Clients who are launching new products or new marketing 
campaigns want to be able to adapt and correct them as they 
happen. So, with clients as diverse as BAT and Procter & 
Gamble, our cross-Kantar teams have developed ways of 
monitoring the impact of launches through analysis of social 
media, brand tracking data, purchase data and, crucially, 
of synthesising that analysis and providing it to the client and 
its agencies in a way which allows them to adapt its media 
and creative campaigns early enough to make a difference.
	 Data visualisation – Our ability to inspire and 
communicate depends on the way we visualise our insights. 
Many insights come alive this way. 
Across our group, we are making good progress in this 
regard. Millward Brown and Added Value have teamed up 
with outside creative agencies and with internal operational 
and IT teams to redesign the way in which key outputs will 
be delivered to clients; TNS’s Digital Life allows users to 
interact with the data in novel ways; Kantar Worldpanel and 
Kantar Media are delivering monthly data and video through 
iPad/iPhone applications. And just weeks ago we announced 
a three-year tie-up with David McCandless, the recognised 
guru of data visualisation, designed to bring in thinking from 
around the world and help us team up with an extended 
 As 2010 developed we 
became increasingly focused on 
two factors, real-time insights and 
data visualisation
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we’re doing
Consumer Insight

Worldpanel we have had an exceptional year carrying out 
high quality work such as the British Crime Survey and 
winning assignments such as the Out Of Employment 
Survey in Canada, the primary study of social behaviour 
in Germany, work for the Ministry of Human Resources 
in India on the reasons behind the number of out-of-school 
children and a world first for the French Government, 
tracking the carbon footprint of packaged goods purchased 
in France on a continuous basis.
Above-market growth, leading industry margins, 
more revenue from emerging markets, digital and 
syndicated work
Our results are laid out elsewhere in this report. We are 
pleased with the progress we made on margins and in 
integrating the TNS businesses with resulting efficiencies. 
Virtually all of our businesses made their budgets in 2010 
and we captured the synergy efficiencies we had promised 
in 2008. 
Some, notably Millward Brown, Center Partners, IMRB, 
Kantar Worldpanel and Kantar Japan, had strong market-
share-gaining revenue growth whilst others had new business 
wins in 2010 that bode well for future years. In the case of 
Kantar Media, special mention must be made of the four-
year EU news monitoring contract, the largest ever awarded 
in Europe, and of TV audience measurement wins in the 
United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Romania. Overall, we 
had too many places where our revenue growth was not what 
it should have been and we are not satisfied with our overall 
level of revenue growth, which was lower than that of some 
of our competitors. 
The shape of our revenues changed in the way we wanted 
it to. Our specialist digital companies such as Dynamic 
Logic, Compete and Cymfony grew strongly and extended 
Most importantly, our management teams have reacted 
to the disappointing feedback we received from employees 
in 2009 and have focused on putting in place consistent and 
forward-looking HR practices and ways of stretching and 
developing our people. The result has been a significant 
improvement in employee satisfaction scores during 2010 
across many of our businesses and markets and a base on 
which to build. 
Passionate about diversity and our impact on society
We are part of the communities in which we work and live 
and our work is all about understanding their attitudes and 
behaviours. As such it is important that we have a talent pool 
which is representative of our communities and draws on the 
talent which is available. We have good representation across 
the business but we are not yet sufficiently diverse at the most 
senior levels and are determined to be so (e.g. the majority 
of our employees are women but only 30% of our top 
management are women).
More broadly we strive to have a positive impact on our 
society. Partly this comes through our charitable activity 
which has increased this year with the expansion of our 
centrally-coordinated UNICEF activity to cover projects 
in Bolivia, Malawi and Bangladesh and with local activity 
such as Millward Brown’s Habitat for Humanity program. 
Partly it comes through pro bono work that the likes of 
Added Value carried out for The MTN Foundation to 
help it develop a strategy for the introduction of a topical 
solution to reduce the risk of HIV infection.
But even more importantly it comes from the fact that 
we have a large stream of business where our clients are 
governments and NGOs and where the issues we are 
addressing are ones of societal change and behaviour. 
Through businesses such as TNS, IMRB and Kantar 
Above, left to right:
Wayne Levings, CEO, Kantar Retail, Lynnette Cooke, CEO, Kantar Health, Masanori Miyajima, CEO, Kantar Japan, Eileen Campbell, CEO, 
Millward Brown, Jean-Michel Portier, CEO, Kantar Media, Will Galgey, CEO, The Futures Company, Pedro Ros, CEO, TNS 
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How we’re doing
Consumer Insight

their reach into European and Asian markets. We had some 
regions such as Latin America which grew fast organically 
and consistently ahead of peers. 
We made some good acquisitions such as Spring to 
enhance our digital measurement capabilities, and Nigeria-
based RMS with a footprint across Africa, which has been 
integrated into TNS. Millward Brown opened in Peru, 
Ghana and Vietnam and The Futures Company set up in 
Latin America. 
We extended our syndicated studies in areas such as 
oncology, health outcomes, media intelligence and futures, 
into many more markets in Asia and Latin America. To that 
end we also laid the groundwork for extending our key 
platforms – media, purchase, digital, internet access – into 
key markets around the world so that clients will be able to 
benefit from Kantar Media Compete and Kantar Media 
Cymfony services in the UK and France, and from Kantar 
Worldpanel insights in Indonesia in 2011. 
And finally…
As Boston’s most famous son said, “Change is the law of 
life.” I’m proud of the way Kantar people have adapted to 
enormous change and are shaping our future. Two years on 
from the transformational acquisition of TNS we have a clear 
sense of ambition. We have a framework against which to 
judge our progress – in creating a more client- and talent-
centric culture, in connecting our insights and our expertise 
and in outperforming our competitors in financial terms. 
Unlike other parts of the marketing services industry, 
our work is rarely made public and it is hard to publicly 
demonstrate the impact we are having. But privately, we see 
the growing number of media plans and creative executions 
which have been changed as a result of our work, of products 
and services which have been created, developed or 
repositioned, of retail layouts assortments and pricing plans 
which have been modified in-store, of government campaigns 
which seek to change certain behaviours, of employee and 
customer engagement programs which address issues we have 
identified. The list is long.
Our success will be in continuing to change but above 
all, in explaining to our clients the opportunities that 
change brings for them and helping them benefit from it. 
Last year I described myself as “pleased but not satisfied” 
with our progress. This year I am even more pleased and 
even less satisfied. 
 [As a result of our work] we see 
media plans and creative executions 
changed, products and services 
created, developed or repositioned, 
retail layouts and pricing plans 
modified in-store, government 
campaigns to change behaviours, 
employee and customer engagement 
programs which address issues we 
have identified
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
61
How we’re doing
Consumer Insight

clients and offering support and outreach to the marketing 
community. The firm assisted the Canadian Association 
of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) on industry-wide programs 
around Responsible Canadian Energy, driving an 
international conversation around Canada’s oil sands by 
bringing together serious-minded business, environmental, 
sustainability, academic, aboriginal and community leaders. 
Closer to home, H&K was deeply immersed in the Cannes 
Lions International Advertising Festival as official PR 
partner, competing for top honors and participating in the 
judging panel. 
Leaner staffing levels from the previous year were fleshed 
out with significant senior staff hires, underpinning major 
practices and geographies. Dan McIntyre came on board as 
global head of healthcare; Ernst Primosch chairman and 
CEO of Germany; Baey Yam Keng took the reins of 
Singapore; Alexander Döll for East Africa; Patrick Slevin the 
new head of Tallahassee; Mauricio Borja as GM of the new 
Colombian operation; Jeroen van Seeters was promoted to 
CEO H&K Benelux; and Shoichi Yoshikawa hired as head 
of Tokyo. Additionally, the newly-acquired Global Hill & 
Knowlton in Istanbul joined the roster. And proudly, H&K’s 
vice chairman Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, in a testament 
to his more than 40 years of service to the US, was honored 
by the US House of Representatives for his lifetime of 
public service.
At year-end, Public Strategies, Inc. merged with H&K, 
becoming a subsidiary of Hill & Knowlton USA. Dan 
Bartlett, newly-named president and CEO of H&K USA 
and a veteran of the US White House, is driving growth for 
Hill & Knowlton
Report by Jack Martin (right)
Global chairman and chief executive officer
I was honored to be asked to join the Hill & Knowlton team 
in the fall of 2010. As global chairman and CEO, I look 
forward to leading the company during one of the most 
innovative and distinctive eras in communications in many 
years. With the worldwide democratization of virtually every 
segment of society, Hill & Knowlton is dedicated to offering 
enhanced client capabilities with emphasis on key areas such 
as research, digital and financial services. As client advisors, 
we are committed to achieving excellence, seating Hill & 
Knowlton as the 21st century source for the best ideas in 
meeting the challenges of the global economy.
In 2010, H&K clients took center stage with teams 
from around the world leading communications for clients 
such as CGE and Procter & Gamble in their humanitarian 
initiatives during the Chile earthquake, and for clients and 
sponsors at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, the Shanghai 
Expo and World Cup football in South Africa. H&K 
is playing a central role in a fully-integrated Olympic 
marketing campaign for London 2012, helping create 
awareness of the P&G masterbrand in the host market 
and driving scale and impact across EMEA.
New clients to the fold included Avery Dennison, J&J 
Ethicon and Dos Equis, and FOX/MGM Home Entertainment 
joined the new US entertainment practice. Petrobras appointed 
H&K as global media relations agency and Italy’s ENEL win 
exemplified the firm’s global expertise in energy. By year-end, 
H&K represented the largest Norwegian corporations, 
a significant nod to H&K’s reputation.
Leading up to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, H&K 
Canada supported Coca-Cola Canada and the 106-day 
Olympic Torch Relay promoting torchbearers and legacy 
announcements. Wins for EMEA included P&G Wella, 
Rolls-Royce, Telenor Norge, LG, Abu Dhabi Ports, UCB 
Pharma, Lundbeck, DHL Belux and RIM. Asia Pacific 
closed on International Olive Oil, Align Technology, the 
Government of Singapore Investment Corporation and 
the US brought in the Department of Health and Human 
Services, SanDisk consumer, Pfizer and Novartis.
In 2010, PR-centric campaigns dominated the landscape 
with the rise of citizen media and social networks, and to 
that end, H&K focused on creating conversations for its 
Public Relations & Public Affairs
 In 2010, PR-centric campaigns 
dominated the landscape with 
the rise of citizen media and 
social networks
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we’re doing

2010 was a transformative year for Cohn & Wolfe, marked 
by game-changing wins, a new global leadership team and 
a re-energized brand. We continued our focus on defining 
and strengthening the agency, and in turn laid a strong 
foundation for long-term growth. 
Despite a challenging start to the year, with budget 
reductions from several major clients, we ended 2010 with 
significant momentum. We achieved the best year of new 
business in Cohn & Wolfe’s 40-year history, adding dozens 
of major brands to our roster, including APP, Bayer 
Oncology, Boehringer Ingelheim, General Motors, Genzyme, 
HSBC, Lloyds of London and Sanofi-aventis. We also saw 
significant organic growth from existing clients such as 
Walmart, JM Smucker Co, MasterCard, Endo 
Pharmaceuticals, Panasonic, Ashland (Valvoline), Bank 
of America and Navigon.
To broaden our senior talent base, we restructured our 
global leadership team, adding nine new leaders in 2010. 
We brought in new talent to lead four key markets – London, 
New York, Stockholm and Los Angeles – as well as new 
leadership for our Global Digital and Healthcare practices. 
This infusion of talent has helped drive our new business 
success, expand our client offering and reinvigorate 
our employees.
Digital expertise continues to be critical to our success, 
with our digital practice delivering pioneering work for 
renowned global brands. Last year, we were selected as 
agency of record for ExxonMobil in digital and social
media programming. And we continue to drive social
media strategy for major brands such as GlaxoSmithKline, 
MasterCard, Merck, Nike and Universal Studios. Our digital 
team is expanding across the US, Europe and Asia, and 
we are investing in a multi-faceted global digital training 
program for all employees throughout our network.
Year after year, our work and our people are consistently 
recognized as the best of the best. In 2010, global digital 
practice leader Chad Latz was named to PRWeek’s annual 
‘40 Under 40’ list. In the US, PRWeek bestowed us with top 
honors for ‘Technology Campaign of the Year’ (SanDisk) and 
‘Community Relations Campaign of the Year’ (RadioShack). 
Our work for Hilton Hotels and Hill’s Pet Nutrition earned 
Gold SABRE awards, while RadioShack earned a PRSA 
Silver Anvil. And across the globe, our London office won 
three EMEA SABRE awards for Mundipharma, Medtronic 
and Barclays; Milan earned ‘Campaign of the Year’ and 
‘Best Product Communication’ by the Assorel Awards for 
work with Navigon; Stockholm won a Spinn Award for Best 
Consumer Campaign for Unibet; and Madrid was recognized 
as ‘Best PR Company’ by magazine Estrategias.
the new entity, winning transformative assignments. 
Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates had a second 
straight record-breaking year, especially strong in energy 
and environment along with space and defense. Education 
issues saw significant growth in the second half and 
telecommunications, transportation and trade stayed strong 
for the firm. Communications technology specialist, Blanc & 
Otus, saw the beginning of the return to growth in the 
technology arena during 2010. With key client wins in clean 
technology and enterprise software, the company added 
significantly to its client roster and saw the expansion of 
programs within its current client set.
Finally, Hill & Knowlton was recognized globally as 
evidenced by the 2010 Asia-Pacific Consultancy of the Year 
award given by The Holmes Report and Canada was named 
one of the Best Workplaces in Canada, a Top 100 Employer 
in Canada for the eighth time. The Toronto office was also 
named one of Greater Toronto’s Top Employers for the 
fourth consecutive year. 
Cohn & Wolfe
Report by Donna Imperato (below)
Chief executive officer
 We achieved the best year of new 
business in Cohn & Wolfe’s 40-year 
history, adding dozens of major 
brands to our roster
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
63
How we’re doing
Public Relations & Public Affairs

The launch of our new guiding mantra, Dig Deeper. 
Imagine More., dares us to challenge the rules of convention 
and deliver purpose-driven ideas. Last November, our first 
Dig Deeper. Imagine More. Day brought together more than 
1,000 Cohn & Wolfe people across 15 countries, sharing 
their collective creative firepower to benefit pro bono client 
Project Kaisei, an organization dedicated to removing plastic 
debris from the world’s oceans.
To reinforce our culture of innovation and our 
commitment to delivering brand-building ideas, we unveiled 
a new website, www.cohnwolfe.com. Featuring Hollywood-
style animation and bold, irreverent copy, the site has 
received glowing reviews from clients (current and 
prospective), employees and influentials. The Interactive 
Media Awards named it ‘Best in Class’ in both its marketing 
and public relations categories. 
Cohn & Wolfe performed well across the board in 2010, 
with our specialty companies, GCI Health and AxiCom, 
experiencing new and organic growth. GCI Health doubled 
its work for Biogen Idec and grew organically with clients 
such as Boehringer Ingelheim, Endo Pharmaceuticals and 
Merck. It also added new clients including Allergan, Bosch 
Healthcare, North Shore University Hospital and the 
American Society of Dermatology. Meanwhile, AxiCom 
significantly grew business with Dell, while adding a number 
of blue-chip technology companies such as ADT, Lexis 
Nexis, Lucid, Molecular Power, Milan Direct, Pano Logic 
and TP-Link. 
As we enter 2011, we do so with a palpable energy 
and a sense of optimism for our future. Cohn & Wolfe 
remains committed to helping build the world’s best brands, 
and leveraging our momentum as a powerful force in 
the industry. 
Burson-Marsteller
Full report on page 41
For Burson-Marsteller, 2010 was a year of growth and 
achievement. Coming off only modest setbacks of the 2009 
financial crisis, the gains of 2010 catapulted the company 
past the previous record year of 2008. Over the last four 
years, through organic growth and improved resource 
management, Burson-Marsteller has more than doubled 
its bottom line.  
Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
Full report on page 34
In 2010, Ogilvy PR focused on building further its expertise 
in social media, in growing its talent base and helping its 
clients through challenging times. 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
64
How we’re doing
Public Relations & Public Affairs

B to D Group
Report by Craig Branigan (below)
Chairman and chief executive officer
2010 was a stronger year for the Branding to Design (B to D) 
Group overall. Coming off a challenging 2009, most of our 
companies were able to achieve an increase in revenue, 
coupled with a significant profit improvement. 
More so than ever, our key client relationships continued 
to play a big role as the growth engine for our group. Top 20 
client revenue experienced double-digit growth for the year, 
and these relationships were drivers for much of our 
geographic expansion in 2010.
There were a number of highlights to the year. Lambie- 
Nairn successfully executed its expansion into Latin 
America, laying the foundation for a B to D Group strategic 
footprint in South America. FITCH completed the 
restructuring that began last year and saw dramatic 
improvement to its bottom line in 2010. Similarly, 
PeclersParis, who began reporting to B to D in late 2009, 
achieved a turnaround after several challenging years.
Addison and VBAT both continued to expand their offerings, 
with Addison establishing themselves in the area of digital 
communications and VBAT further building their 
international profile.
Our companies once again distinguished themselves
as industry leaders, winning several high profile awards. 
Notably, The Partners retained its No.1 position in Design 
Week’s Creative League Table and was also named by 
Marketing magazine as Branding Agency of the Year in the 
UK. The Brand Union won a Bronze Lion at Cannes for its 
work on House of Barbie in Shanghai and was also awarded 
Economic Times’ Agency of the Year in India. Landor finished 
the year as a top winner at Diageo’s Brilliance Innovation 
Awards, and was awarded Best Innovation Agency for its 
brand identity work on Shanghai White vodka.
As we negotiate 2011 and the challenges and opportunity 
it brings our companies, our focus will be on continuing 
to leverage the combined strengths and shared resources of 
our companies to our great advantage. As a group we are 
confident that our strong client relationships, award-winning 
creative work and overall business strategy will contribute 
to another year of progress.
 Please see below for an overview of Addison, FITCH, 
Lambie-Nairn, PeclersParis, The Brand Union, The Partners 
and VBAT, together with Landor Associates, which is also 
a Y&R Brands company.
Addison
2010 was a year of continued expansion for Addison. Under 
the leadership of Tom Robinson, the company continued to 
deliver a strong performance with a number of significant 
new business wins for the year across Europe, including 
BASF, Sulzer and BG Group. The company’s reputation for 
delivering leading edge consultancy and design in corporate 
communications has seen a growth in revenues outside of its 
traditional areas of delivery. New and existing clients alike 
are seeking Addison’s skills to help manage and develop their 
identities, position them in the key area of sustainability, 
both internally and externally, and deliver these across the 
growing list of digital platforms.
Addison’s position as Europe’s leading corporate reporting 
agency was reinforced through another good performance 
across the UK, the Netherlands and Switzerland, as well 
as further success in France and Germany. Recognition of 
the company’s leading position in this area included the 
prestigious Henri Sijthoff prize for its work on TNT’s 2009 
Annual Report and, for the third time, the Accountancy Age 
FTSE Report of the Year for WPP’s 2009 Annual Report.
FITCH (full report on page 68)
2010 was a much better year for FITCH. Under the 
leadership of Lois Jacobs, the company completed the 
restructuring that began in 2009, enabling it to focus on 
its core offer of translating brand into consumer experience.
In 2010 the company grew its worldwide revenues and 
saw a dramatic improvement to its bottom line despite ending 
its involvement in conference and event production. FITCH’s 
Middle East offering in Kuwait, Doha and Dubai was 
combined under one leader, Oliver Auroy, and the US offices 
were combined under Victoria Leavitt. Growth was seen in 
almost all 10 offices; of particular note were London and 
Doha which both experienced strong double-digit growth.
Branding & Identity
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
65
How we’re doing

Lambie-Nairn
Led by CEO Christian Schroeder, Lambie-Nairn had strong 
growth through 2010 and opened four new offices in Madrid, 
Buenos Aires, Mexico City and Bogota. Much of this growth 
was driven by the company’s role as Global Brand Guardians 
for the Telefonica Group, working on the Telefonica, 
Movistar and O2 brands. 
Lambie-Nairn continued to grow in Germany with the 
rebranding of global aerospace and defence company, EADS, 
being the highlight of 2010. The company also grew their 
business in the Middle East with some great successes, 
notably developing the brand for the winning Qatar 2022
bid for the FIFA World Cup.
PeclersParis
2010 was a strong year of growth for PeclersParis, in Europe, 
China and the US, both in consulting and trend publications. 
At a time when consumer needs are more difficult to predict 
than ever, many of the world’s leading brands turned to 
PeclersParis to help fuel their product development 
innovation projects with creative and style direction.
Under the leadership of CEO Eric Duchamp, the company 
continued to build its relationships with key clients including 
Carrefour, Samsung, and BASF. Always at the forefront of 
trend research, PeclersParis helped its clients to develop 
ownable signature styles for their brands, build an emotional 
link with consumers and drive sales.
The Brand Union (full report on page 67)
Led by Simon Bolton, The Brand Union had a good year, 
gathering pace in business performance throughout the year 
and showing strong top-line and bottom-line growth. This 
was in spite of the challenging macroeconomy and most clients 
continuing to be cautious in their activity planning.
Growth was principally fuelled by the outstanding 
performance of the company’s enlarged New York team, 
improvement across its Asia Pacific network and sustained 
growth from its multinational business.
The Partners
The Partners once again delivered a strong performance in 
2010, accomplishing its fifth consecutive year of revenue, 
profit and margin growth. Driven by its focus on creative 
solutions and thought leadership, the company continues
to be one of the most creatively recognized agencies in the 
world. Notably, The Partners retained its No.1 position in 
Design Week’s Creative League Table based on major design 
awards won worldwide. It was also named by Marketing 
magazine in the UK as 2010 Branding Agency of the Year. 
This is the first time in history both awards were won by the 
same company in one year.
Under the leadership of CEO Jim Prior, The Partners 
continued its move onto more of the global stage. It was 
appointed as Global Brand Guardian for Vodafone in 2010, 
a significant new business win for the company. The agency 
has also continued to develop its strong relationships with 
key clients Deloitte, Aviva, eBay and AstraZeneca. The 
New York office, which opened in 2008, continues to gather 
strong momentum with clients such as Chevron, Carnegie 
Hall and the government of the island of Aruba.
VBAT
For Netherlands-based VBAT, 2010 proved to be a 
challenging year, characterized by a distinct difference 
between the first half and second half of the year. Where 
the first six months proved to be disappointing, still heavily 
affected by the economic turmoil, the last six months showed 
a significant recovery.
Despite the economic situation, VBAT’s long-term 
relationships with key clients such as Campina, Heineken 
and Intergamma continued to grow in 2010. Its continued 
focus on its retail expertise was rewarded with added 
opportunities with existing clients like SNS Reaal and Jumbo 
Supermarkets, and also attracted the attention of many new 
clients. The company’s creative effort in 2010 was recognized 
with a Graphis Gold for SNS Reaal.
VBAT continued to build its international profile with 
successful launches for Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma, Carta 
Blanca (Mexico), Tri Medvedya and Oxota (Russia). Led by 
chairman/CEO Eugene Bay, who reassumed leadership of the 
company in October, VBAT has a positive outlook on the 
coming year and is determined to deliver significant growth 
in 2011.
Landor Associates (full report on page 42)
Landor pushed past the worst of the recession in 2010, 
strengthening its global performance across the breadth 
of our corporate and consumer branding practices. 
In particular, the company enjoyed an excellent year 
with Procter & Gamble, its largest client. Landor not only 
cemented its role as P&G’s appointed design partner across 
many of their most iconic brands, but was also invited to 
partner with P&G in its high-profile sponsorship of the 
London 2012 Olympics. In addition, Landor’s performance 
ratings were strengthened in every one of its audited 
geographies, making it a record-breaking year in the long 
history of this relationship. 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we’re doing
Branding & Identity

16 countries over the African continent. In India too,
our Bangalore office helped GSK restage the giant
Horlicks brand.
In the fourth quarter, we were awarded major corporate 
branding assignments for Sony (led from London), Sorouh 
(Abu Dhabi) and Prudential (Hong Kong).
Network development
We continue to look for geographic opportunities to build 
our business with key clients. In February we opened an 
office in Moscow. The team has quickly added value for 
key clients such as Henkel, JTI and the St Petersburg-based 
Russian Museum.
At time of going to press, we announced that we will 
launch The Brand Union in Bangkok, taking over an 
energetic team led by Khun Dzovinar Basill, formerly with 
Ogilvy. They have a venerable client base that includes CP 
Foods, Boon Rawd (Singha Beer) Brewery and Thorensen.
We continue to explore opportunities to expand our 
footprint in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
Leadership in motion
We believe that one of the tenets to our successful year has 
been the transfer of key talent around our network. Toby 
Southgate has transferred from our New York office to head 
up our London business, having previously run our Abu 
Dhabi operation. Alan Couldrey has moved from Bangkok 
to Hong Kong to become CEO of our Asia Pacific network 
and Ismael Ibnoulouafi will shortly move from Moscow to 
London where he will take up the new role of international 
client service director. 
Additionally, we saw the transfer of talent from Dublin 
to London, and from Dubai to Singapore and New York. 
These are great examples of our people broadening their 
international experience for the benefit of themselves, the 
network and especially our clients.
Awards and recognition
We had another successful year, winning in the major 
creative shows: Graphis, Red Dot, Clio and DBA. We were 
the only international branding/design agency to win a
Lion in the Design category at Cannes. Our Bangalore office 
was once again named Agency of the Year by The Economic 
Times of India. Having earned that accolade from Marketing 
magazine in 2009, London came in joint runner-up and our 
Singapore office was strongly commended in Campaign Brief.
From this compelling platform, we look forward to 
building ‘The Brand Union story’ in 2011. 
The Brand Union
Report by Simon Bolton (below)
Worldwide chief executive officer
We had a good year, gathering pace in our business 
throughout the year and showing strong top-line and 
bottom-line growth. This was in spite of the challenging 
macroeconomy and most companies continuing to be 
cautious in their activity planning.
Our growth was principally fuelled by the outstanding 
performance of our enlarged New York team, improvement 
across our Asia Pacific network and sustained growth from 
our multinational business.
Building with our key clients
Three years ago we launched the Key Client Partnership 
initiative around a number of our forward-looking clients, 
investing in existing and new service offerings around the 
world to underpin our mutual growth. Increased business 
from this collaborative way of working flowed in 2010 from 
key clients: Bank of America, Ericsson, Henkel, Mars, JTI, 
Pernod Ricard, Reckitt Benckiser and Vattenfall. 
Key Client Partnerships now account for half of our 
revenues, emphasising a conscious shift in our business 
from project to relationship mentality.
New client wins
New business wins are the partnerships of tomorrow and 
we had a strong year pitching and winning new clients. 
We helped Time Warner Cable re-launch its brand in North 
America, and also helped Bharti Airtel re-launch its brand 
across the Indian sub-continent and its extension across 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
67
How we’re doing
Branding & Identity

FITCH 
Report by Lois Jacobs (below)
Chief executive officer
As we had hoped, 2010 was a much better year for FITCH. 
We completed the restructuring that began in 2009, enabling 
us to focus on our core offer of translating brand into 
consumer experience.
In 2010 we grew our worldwide revenues and saw a 
dramatic improvement to our bottom line despite ending 
our involvement in conference and event production. We 
rationalised our Middle East offering in Kuwait, Doha and 
Dubai under one leader, Olivier Auroy, and combined our US 
offices under Victoria Leavitt. We saw growth in almost all 
our 10 offices; of particular note were London and Doha 
which both experienced strong double-digit growth.
Russia remains a strong market for FITCH. In 2009 we 
created Sberbank’s new brand identity and in 2010 we were 
pleased to design the bank’s 19 pilot branches. This latest 
work is a clear example of our ability to combine both our 
graphic and environmental design skills in one integrated 
consumer experience. Further new clients in Russia included 
consumer electronics retailer Eldorado, and telecoms 
company, Beeline. 
We gained many new clients in other regions in 2010 
including Target, The Sports Authority and Fixtures Living 
in the US; Land Securities and UBS in Europe; Jumeirah in 
the Middle East; L&T, Infosys and Bajaj Auto in India; 
Philips in Singapore; and Sundan in China. Indeed our work 
in China, with both new and existing clients like Dell and 
Nokia, prompted us to open our newest FITCH office in 
Beijing at the end of the year. 
Early in 2011 we will be opening in Delhi to complement 
our Mumbai office. 
As a global design consultancy it’s important for us to 
look forward as we create consumer experiences that will 
be both compelling and engaging. Shopping options are 
changing dramatically and there is an ever-increasing 
need to provide people with reasons to visit the store. 
At FITCH we spend a lot of time examining consumer 
trends as evidenced in our latest white paper, Future Retail. 
We see an atavistic yearning for community spirit, 
cooperation and collaboration. The meaning of value is 
being redefined and retailers are responding with concepts 
such as Freetail and Tryvertising. ‘Inline’ retail embraces new 
technologies which increase engagement as the digital and 
physical worlds converge. Future Retail formats are being 
defined by flexibility, convenience, speed of reaction, local 
relevance and clarity of choice while powerful storytelling, 
delivered in seconds, gives brands a way to cut through 
the noise.
There has never been a more exciting time for retail 
and for retail designers. 
 We saw growth in almost all our 
10 offices; of particular note were 
London and Doha
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we’re doing
Branding & Identity

Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide
Report by Matt Giegerich (below)
Chairman and chief executive officer
OCHWW boasts experience in every marketing 
discipline, in every therapeutic category. The agency 
provides its clients with global marketing services including: 
advertising and promotion, brand identity and development, 
global integration, direct-to-consumer, direct-to-patient, 
relationship marketing, digital/interactive services, payer 
marketing, medical education, media planning and buying, 
scientific communications and publications, clinical trial 
recruitment, market research and analytics, strategic 
consulting and public affairs and relations. 
The network maintains numerous hubs in the 
North America, EMEA, Asia Pacific and Latin America 
regions and in an increasing number of markets, 
OCHWW houses the individual Ogilvy CommonHealth 
and Ogilvy Healthworld sub-brand identities. The collective 
group is run by a global executive team comprised of 
agency principals from both the original Ogilvy and 
CommonHealth groups.
Since the merger, clients have responded with resounding 
and enthusiastic support; the organization now boasts a total 
of more than 200 client partnerships on its global roster, 
with significant new opportunities streaming steadily in 
each week. 
Culturally, OCHWW has shown a surprisingly strong 
sense of self for a newly-formed agency. From the moment 
the merger was conceived, OCHWW agency leaders saw the 
remarkable similarities in the CommonHealth and Ogilvy 
cultures. It proved a natural and easy transition as the agency 
fully embraced the rich history of the Ogilvy brand, taking 
it on as its own. Executives at OCHWW transformed the 
group’s corporate headquarters to better reflect their new 
identity – modeling the look, feel, attitude and standards 
of the Ogilvy brand in all areas. 
Moving forward, the executive team at OCHWW 
anticipates clients will begin to place greater emphasis on 
emerging markets, developing more targeted, specialty-
oriented therapies while diversifying into other, health-related 
categories – and OCHWW is prepared to meet whatever 
client needs arise. With the merger now firmly established, 
OCHWW’s future focus remains solidly on growing its 
clients’ brands, building upon the organization’s current 
offerings through an ever-evolving array of specialized 
services, and growing its client base around the globe. 
Healthcare Communications
When CommonHealth, Med Ad News’ Agency of the Year 
2010 and already one of the most formidable healthcare 
communications groups in the industry, merged its offerings 
with Ogilvy & Mather’s healthcare group, the bold coupling 
became one of the most talked about agency mergers in 
years. Though the groups had collaborated extensively over 
the past 15 years, the formal marriage of the two like-
minded, similarly-cultured agencies effectively doubled the 
size and reach of each organization in the healthcare arena. 
The result? An entirely new entity, Ogilvy CommonHealth 
Worldwide (OCHWW), was formed, creating what is 
arguably the largest, most highly resourced and creative 
agency in the world of healthcare communications.
The formation of OCHWW was a bold yet sophisticated 
solution to the ongoing challenges of the healthcare industry. 
With the marketplace evolving at an increasingly high level 
and pace, the principals at both CommonHealth and Ogilvy 
knew a dramatic change was necessary for them to continue 
to compete in an ever-changing world. Now, with the 
benefits of expanded creative skills and services, planning 
tools, digital technologies, data and analytics, and rich 
learnings from other, non-health related client categories, 
OCHWW clients have an automatic marketplace advantage. 
The creation of OCHWW has positioned the agency for the 
future of healthcare communications, aligning the group 
and its services against what has become pharma’s new 
commercial model.
 The formation of OCHWW was 
a bold yet sophisticated solution 
to the ongoing challenges of the 
healthcare industry
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
69
How we’re doing

ghg
Report by Lynn O’Connor Vos (below)
President and chief executive
In 2010, ghg had a very successful year, achieving double-
digit growth through important new business wins, global 
expansion of medical education, a significant acquisition in 
animal health and strengthening of the digital offering in the 
US and Europe. ghg is well positioned as one of the most 
innovative communications leaders in human and animal 
health, committed to creating high impact, engaging 
campaigns designed to improve health outcomes while 
delivering solid business results for clients.
Our highlights of 2010: 
	 Won consumer advertising for the Novo Nordisk 
insulin portfolio.
	 Chosen by AstraZeneca to be a key global 
branding partner.
	 Secured significant new professional, consumer, and 
digital assignments in the US from Bayer, Essilor, Forest, 
Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Novartis Vaccines, Strativa 
and Transitions Optical.
	 Expanded European business with important wins in 
Europe from Allergan, Boehringer Ingelheim, Glaxo/Amgen, 
Johnson & Johnson and Novo Nordisk.
	 Grew significantly in Australia with wins and new 
assignments from Abbott, Allergan, Baxter, Bayer Animal 
Health and Shire – winning a Clio for the Bayer campaign 
‘Because Pets Aren’t As Tough As They Think They Are’.
	 Achieved double-digit growth with ghg’s medical education 
companies – Phase Five, IMsci, Darwin Grey and Osprey. 
Expanded client roster and developed cutting-edge digital 
medical education programs in the US, Australia and Europe. 
A major achievement was the acquisition of Geoff Howe 
Marketing Communications, Inc., a leader in animal health. 
The acquisition resulted in an expanded global footprint and 
established the largest global agency dedicated to animal 
health. The agency gained an Eastern European hub in 
Prague and doubled the size of its London office. It also 
established a Midwest base in Kansas City, Missouri – 
the global corridor for animal health.
This year ghg created ground-breaking multi-channel 
health engagement campaigns. 
	 Text4baby, a mobile health initiative launched with 
Voxiva, ghg, National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies 
Coalition (HMHB), and Johnson & Johnson received 
numerous accolades; but none bigger than acknowledgment 
from Aneesh Chopra, US chief technology officer, at the 
White House, who said: “This marks an important 
achievement for the public/private partnership model – 
especially for the pioneering founders of text4baby. It is 
both low-cost and effective in helping to close an important 
information gap for pregnant women and new mothers.” 
	 ‘Think About Your Eyes’, a national award-winning 
campaign increased awareness of the importance of eye 
health and motivated thousands of consumers to visit their 
eye care professional for an annual eye exam.
ghg is a communications partner that gets brands deeply 
engaged in all the conversations that matter because we 
speak the language of every healthcare influencer fluently – 
from the in-depth scientific lingo of key opinion leaders to 
the plainspoken opinion of the blogger – we are proven 
experts in the anticipation and application of digital 
technologies, and tellers of compelling brand stories, 
so that health brands connect in more meaningful ways 
to generate trial, grow sales and improve lives. 
 The acquisition [of Geoff Howe] 
resulted in an expanded global 
footprint and established the 
largest global agency dedicated 
to animal health
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
70
How we’re doing
Healthcare Communications

GCI Health
Report by Wendy Lund
Chief executive officer
GCI Health’s 2010 goal of driving growth exceeded 
expectations in new business ventures, organic growth 
of existing accounts and the addition of several seasoned 
communications experts to the agency. 
As one of the world’s largest specialty healthcare PR 
agencies, the primary focus at GCI Health is the patient, 
and we are constantly exploring ways to reach them through 
new and unique channels. This year we launched our 
Synchronicity practice, which is centered around patient and 
physician education with a focus on improving the health 
outcomes of patients. 
Due to the changing and growing needs of the 
marketplace and the ongoing evolution of digital channels 
and platforms, GCI Health invested in expanding our 
digital health services. Our digital health practice offers 
breakthrough solutions to influence healthcare opinion 
and behavior, build better, more direct communications 
and ultimately, drive brand visibility and uptake. 
Our client roster ranges from large multinational 
companies, to specialized pharmaceutical companies, to 
high-science biotechnology firms, to small start-ups with 
promising investigational therapies. To all of these clients 
GCI Health brings a deep understanding of the industry 
and a relentless passion for helping to shape and define it. 
GCI Health continues to offer clients a commitment to 
‘beating’ expectations and an obsession with anticipating 
the challenges of an increasingly complex and transforming 
healthcare communications environment. With great 
momentum going into 2011, our goal is to become the 
best specialty healthcare PR agency in the industry. 
Sudler & Hennessey
Full report on page 43
2010 was another strong year for the Sudler global network. 
It finished the year on a very positive note, winning seven 
out of its last eight pitches of the year, including four major 
global assignments from both US- and European-based 
multinationals. Sudler’s worldwide network proved itself 
with global wins in primary care, specialty care, orphan 
drugs and oncology in both established as well as 
emerging markets. 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
71
How we’re doing
Healthcare Communications

Report by Andrew Scott (below)
Chief operating officer
International Specialist Communications 
and
Mary Ellen Howe (see page 74)
Chief operating officer
Specialist Communications, North America
WPP’s Specialist Communications division comprises 
individual business units with separate and distinct 
marketing expertise by industry, audience segment or 
medium. Our clients benefit from their depth of knowledge 
and strategic focus; the Group benefits through the flexibility 
these companies offer as partners for affiliated WPP 
companies when serving clients’ integrated marketing needs. 
Additionally, we are able to capitalize on evolving trends in 
terms of new areas of expertise. Our role in managing this 
portfolio is to help these companies grow on their own terms 
and to support cooperation opportunities across the Group. 
Direct, promotion, digital 
and interactive marketing
MJM, a US-based leading corporate events company serving 
long-term clients such as Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Deloitte, 
continued to focus on creating innovative events that 
transform the performance of primarily internal audiences. 
To better align with the strategic goals of clients, MJM 
developed processes that optimize investment in corporate 
meetings and sales training. The process unifies creative and 
production strategy and empowers organizations. New 
clients acquired include Sara Lee and Johnson & Johnson.
UK outsourcing agency EWA continued to focus on 
adding value to its clients’ direct communications through 
an innovative combination of strategy, insight and delivery 
techniques. New client projects during the year included the 
set up of a dedicated guidance contact centre for Immigration 
New Zealand, a new insight-based direct sales channel for 
Merial Animal Health and the set up of an e-CRM system 
for adidas.
Risk management specialists Mando worked on World 
Cup sales promotions for TomTom across Europe and Brazil, 
and with O2 in the UK. Significant growth was seen in the 
UK with Rachel’s Organics and Coca-Cola’s Coke Zone. 
In Germany, clients included Kimberly-Clark, Henkel and 
Nescafé Dolce Gusto. In Spain, work was won from Reckitt 
Benckiser, Danone, Grupo SOS and Lindt. Activity with 
McDonald’s continued to develop across Europe.
Headcount had a steady 2010 with continued field 
marketing activity being provided for Kraft, Warner Home 
Video and Whirlpool. In addition, the partnership with BT 
was expanded to deliver door-to-door sales. The agency 
Specialist Communications
 We will continue to develop our 
unique creative service offering – 
including our digital capabilities – 
and deliver measurable, cost-effective 
results to clients
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
72
How we’re doing

2010 was a challenging year in the working environment 
design sector in which BDGworkfutures and BDG McColl 
operate. However, both brands have maintained a strong 
presence in their field. For BDGworkfutures new 
commissions included Honeywell, PwC and the relocation 
of Mindshare London, whilst existing relationships with 
key clients including Barclaycard, BNYMellon and EDF 
Energy remained strong and active. The company’s 
international reach continues to develop with projects across 
Europe for global companies such as Honeywell and Mentor 
Graphics as well as local companies and its work for STS 
Media in Moscow was awarded ‘Best Concept Office’ 
by Frame magazine. 
In Scotland, BDG McColl secured commissions from 
Royal London Group and Standard Life, whilst an 
appointment from energy consultants Wood Mackenzie built 
on the commission for its Edinburgh head office completed 
earlier in the year. Other private sector clients included BP, 
Balfour Beatty, State Street Bank, and Quintiles. Work for 
public sector clients included ongoing major projects for 
University of Edinburgh and St Andrews University.
Contract furniture business Dovetail saw an improved 
year with ongoing relationships with Burberry, Unilever, 
BAT and Deloitte remaining the backbone of the business. 
Significant new clients included Rolex, Fladgate Fielder and 
Flagstone Re.
Media and film production services
Metro, a leading event production company, had a successful 
year in 2010. It renewed its outsourced contract at Shell Centre 
and was awarded the contract to provide Shell Global 
solutions an upgrade to its digital information system. For the 
Financial Services Authority, Metro assisted with the Event 
and Audio Visual support for both its event and roadshow 
activities, and it supported Tesco with its investor roadshow 
in Korea and China. Metro further entrenched its relationships 
with Credit Suisse, Deloitte and Roche. New client wins 
over the year included Amateur Rowing Association, 
Diamond Trading and the New York Stock Exchange. 
In Edinburgh, Metro Ecosse maintained and developed 
relationships with Deloitte, Experian and NHS Health 
Scotland. It provided event support services for Royal Bank 
of Scotland and Prudential, and video production and post 
production projects were undertaken for some notable new 
clients including BAFTA Scotland and Scottish Power.
The Farm Group enjoyed another highly successful 
year in 2010. It maintained its dominant share of the ever-
competitive London post production market and again 
supplied full post production services on the high-rating 
and award-winning ITV primetime shows: The X Factor, 
Britain’s Got Talent and Downton Abbey as well as key 
performers on the other main channels, including Deal or 
No Deal, Shameless, Skins, Live at the Apollo, One Born 
achieved a Silver award at the Field Marketing and Brand 
Experience awards for the Department of Health Social Care 
Careers roadshow.
Custom media
In 2010, branded-content specialist Forward won a number 
of new contracts in traditional and digital sectors, and picked 
up several awards for its work. In digital, Forward launched 
a new London property portal, an iPhone app for homeless 
charity Streetsmart; extended its outbound e-zine campaign 
for Regus to Spain and China; won email and microsite work 
for international recruitment firm Astbury Marsden and 
conducted e-consultancy work for McKinsey. In the 
traditional arena, Forward won two new print-based 
projects: a wine mailing program for Tesco; and a monthly 
newspaper for B&Q, called B&Q Home, which is being 
distributed to approximately five million customers and 
prospects each month. Lastly, Forward picked up awards 
for its Tesco Baby Club work and its weekly e-zine work for 
Transport for London at the 2010 International Customer 
Publishing Awards.
The Forward Arts Foundation, established in 1992, 
continued to raise the profile of contemporary poetry in the 
UK with the 19th Forward Poetry Prize.
Demographic and sector marketing
The Food Group’s digital operation continued to show strong 
growth and launched a division called Feed Interactive to 
pursue non-food/beverage-focused digital business. Also in 
2010, The Food Group continued to work with the premier 
foodservice brands of Kraft Foods, Tabasco®, Dawn Foods, 
Dannon, Kozy Shack and the Florida Department of Citrus.
The Food Group added to its roster the PERDUE® 
brand, which is the top premium fresh chicken in the eastern 
US. PERDUE® will be tapping into The Food Group’s 
extensive culinary experience to provide their customers with 
more flavorful menu offerings of poultry products. The Food 
Group also expanded its retail marketing presence with retail 
campaigns for the Norwegian Seafood Export Council and 
LALA Foods brands of Weight Watchers® and la Crème®. 
Geppetto, the youth marketing company, helped clients 
like PepsiCo, ConAgra Foods, Energizer Brands and the 
NBA tap the potential of the youth mindset with programs 
and products based on its expertise of that unique market.
Pace Advertising and its Green Advertising division 
continued to build their Florida operation by focusing on 
digital growth opportunities, including interactive corporate 
videos, commercials, viral content and direct response 
programs. Green’s direct marketing offering has been 
adapted with the integration of mobile marketing, including 
SMS, mobile apps and social marketing.
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
73
How we’re doing
Specialist Communications

Every Minute and Total Wipeout. Also, The Farm and 
its team were proud to win another Bafta in 2010 for 
The X Factor. In 2011 The Farm is exploring an entrance 
into the Los Angeles post production market.
In 2010, MRC solidified its reputation as one of the 
world’s leading independent film and television studios. 
MRC Film entered into an output arrangement with 
Universal Studios, securing major studio distribution 
for 20 pictures over the next five years. MRC completed 
principal photography on 30 Minutes or Less, starring 
Academy Award nominee Jesse Eisenberg (The Social 
Network) and Danny McBride (Eastbound and Down) 
and commenced production on Ted, the highly anticipated 
directorial debut of Seth McFarlane (Family Guy) starring 
Mark Wahlberg. MRC partnered with Academy Award-
nominated director Neill Blomkamp (District 9) on his 
eagerly-awaited follow-up film, Elysium, starring Matt 
Damon and Jodie Foster, and announced a two picture 
directing/producing deal with him. Upcoming MRC films 
include House of Cards, a thriller executive-produced by 
David Fincher (The Social Network) and a comedy written 
and directed by Greg Daniels (The Office).
In television, MRC established itself as a major 
independent cable television studio behind Lionsgate, Sony 
and Fox and as a major external supplier for HBO, which is 
currently airing the second season of Emmy-nominated The 
Ricky Gervais Show, soon to be followed by the third season 
of The Life and Times of Tim. MRC TV is now in advanced 
development of multiple series with top film and TV talent 
including David Fincher, Larry Charles (Seinfeld) and David 
Hornsby (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia).
In the future
We will continue to develop our unique creative service 
offering –including our digital capabilities – and deliver 
measurable, cost-effective results to clients. 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
74
How we’re doing
Specialist Communications

ad per day for every internet user. And the Web Alliance 
continued to strengthen, finishing the year ranked as the 
sixth largest advertising network by reach in the US.
Media Innovation Group 
The Media Innovation Group (MIG) is WPP’s digital 
marketing technology hub, serving advertisers and agencies 
with the most complete multi-channel digital advertising 
solution currently in the market. Based on a unified data 
management platform that is proprietary to WPP and its 
companies’ clients, the MIG’s unique combination of 
technology and service better hones and analyses digital 
media campaigns across every digital consumer touchpoint 
to optimise the campaigns and generate long-term business 
value for clients. 
In 2010, its second full year of operations, the MIG 
successfully grew to $750 million in billings globally across 
display, search, video, social and mobile. The MIG’s in-house 
technology development team, which counts a former top 
rocket scientist in the Russian space program among its 
many PhDs, continued to build its lead over competitors 
by innovating continuously along an aggressive product 
roadmap. Examples include real-time auction-based media 
bidding technology and a state-of-the-art analytics product 
suite, designed to bridge the gap between the limited 
conventional online ad metrics based on clicks and 
impressions and the true ROI and brand lift measurement 
that marketers require.
Possible Worldwide
The past year saw continued success for four of WPP’s digital 
agencies – BLUE, Bridge Worldwide, Schematic and Quasar 
– while they simultaneously prepared to merge in 2011.
In 2010, for the second consecutive year, BLUE was 
named the top agency by Marketing magazine in Singapore, 
and was the only digital agency to make it to the top 10. 
We enjoyed positive growth across WPP Digital during 2010. 
While the economic backdrop was challenging, we laid the 
foundation for the launch of Possible Worldwide in February 
2011 and continued our investment in proprietary 
technologies, both of which will provide a strong platform 
for further growth.
Report by Mark Read (below)
Chief executive officer
WPP Digital
24/7 Real Media
David Moore (right)
Chairman
24/7 Real Media is at the centre of our strategy to invest in 
proprietary technologies where critical, and to partner with 
industry leaders when possible; the aim being to develop 
an integrated technology platform, which allows our clients 
to reach their customers more effectively. During 2010, 
24/7 Real Media continued to pursue this strategy with 
considerable success, both in its own business, where 
it operates in 12 countries through 18 offices and in 
partnership with other WPP companies. 24/7 Real 
Media significantly extended the reach of its proprietary 
technologies by expanding into key developing markets such 
as China and Brazil. Its market-leading ad management 
platform, Open AdStream, delivered 1.2 trillion ads across 
thousands of websites in 2010 – equivalent to more than one 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
75
How we’re doing

Trevor Kaufman (above left)	
Jay Woffington (above right)
Chief executive officer 	
Global president
Possible Worldwide	
Possible Worldwide
of sustained growth from its domestic client base, and rapid 
growth of its international production business. At the 
Indian Digital Media Awards, it took home Best Corporate 
Site Gold for its work on Apollo Munich Health Insurance. 
Quasar’s leading clients included Microsoft, Eureka Forbes, 
General Motors, Apollo Munich Health, and Skoda.
In February 2011, BLUE, Quasar, Schematic and Bridge 
Worldwide announced that they had combined to form a 
new global agency network, Possible Worldwide. With 18 
offices in nine countries, including the US, China, India, 
Singapore, the UK, Costa Rica, Kenya and UAE. Possible 
Worldwide has nearly 1,000 employees worldwide and is 
expected to have more than $100 million of net revenue for 
2011. The agency will continue to have digital at its core, 
but will be focused on creating meaningful and measurable 
interactions with customers, from strategy through 
execution. The four agencies chose to come together not just 
because of complementary geographic reach, but because of a 
shared philosophy: that the balance of marketing needs to go 
beyond ‘communications’, which is focused on broadcasting 
messages, and towards ‘interactions’, focused on delivering 
value to customers. 
Over the next few years, our strategy is to grow Possible 
Worldwide even further, by winning new clients and 
extending relationships with existing clients around the 
world, as well as by an aggressive acquisition plan.
Deliver
In recognition of clients’ needs to produce quality digital 
work more cost-effectively, we took the decision to invest in 
high-quality, low-cost production with the establishment of 
Deliver in 2008. In its second full year, Deliver continued to 
grow its production work with Nokia, its founding client, 
and expanded its work with AstraZeneca in both the US 
and internationally. Deliver now serves a growing number 
of the Group’s largest clients including Colgate, Ford, IBM 
and Nokia. Deliver also launched DEPP 2.0, its proprietary 
digital production system, with expanded capabilities in 
briefing templates and a new reporting engine. DEPP now 
manages over 4,500 briefs each month with users in 
60 countries.
Johannes Leonardo
Based in New York, creative hotshop Johannes Leonardo 
continues to lead global brands by harnessing the power of 
creativity to play a liberating force in business challenges, 
wherever the solution may lie. Its recent work for Google, 
DemoSlam, a platform developed to transform the standard 
tech demo into a crowd-sourced expression of creativity and 
imagination shows how it works, not as a strictly digital 
agency, but a creative community inspired by an increasingly 
Under new leadership, the China business grew significantly 
and enjoyed a record year. BLUE continued to build its client 
roster, adding leading brands such as Nike, Johnnie Walker, 
Barclays, Kimberly-Clark, L’Oreal, and Mastercard. 
Investment in talent and training resulted in an expansion 
of skills and capabilities – most notably mobile and tablet 
apps, user experience, analytics, social, and video.
Bridge Worldwide, a leading US digital and relationship 
marketing agency, continued its strong revenue growth. 
Established client relationships at Procter & Gamble, Abbott 
Labs, and ConAgra Foods remained strong while new clients 
Southern Comfort, Timberland, DirecTV, Hasbro and 
Hershey’s were added. The agency’s creative department also 
made huge strides, winning over 40 digital creative awards. 
Building off a Gold Cyber Lion in 2009, Bridge’s work on 
Procter & Gamble’s Pringles brand was recognized by the 
Webby Awards (including the People’s Choice Award), the 
CLIOs, the Sammys and the One Show. The agency’s book, 
The Next Evolution of Marketing, Connect with Your 
Customers by Marketing with Meaning, formed the core 
of a seminar at the Cannes Lions International Advertising 
Festival that featured the CMOs of P&G, AT&T, Samsung 
and Kraft. In recognition of the agency’s focus on its people 
and its culture, Bridge was named one of the Top 25 Best 
Places to Work by the Great Place to Work Institute – for 
a fifth consecutive year.
Schematic had a successful 2010, with several 
prestigious new business wins, including Google, Mazda, 
Southern California Edison, The Bill and Melinda Gates 
Foundation, Ford, and the Hong Kong Jockey Club. 
Schematic also continued to build on its strong existing 
client relationships with such brands as Dell, Comcast, 
Time Warner, and Orange. 
Quasar strengthened its position as one of India’s leading 
digital agencies. 2010 was a record year with a combination 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
76
How we’re doing
WPP Digital

which will allow clients from across the Group to benefit 
from increased efficiency and effectiveness in their digital 
marketing activities.
Future outlook
The opportunities offered by digital marketing will accelerate 
over the next few years. At the same time, the marketing 
landscape will fragment further and new channels will 
further complicate the task faced by our clients to reach their 
consumers. Our task is to make this simpler for our clients. 
Our key priorities over the coming year are strengthening 
our mobile capabilities for clients, increasingly helping our 
clients understand the opportunities and perils of social 
media, investing in greater ecommerce capabilities as well as 
focusing even more on data, technology and analytics each 
of which will become increasingly important. Our people are 
passionate about digital marketing and the innovation and 
pace of change in this industry. It is this passion, as well as 
their hard work, that has allowed our success to date and 
will position us well in the future. 
digital universe. In 2010, it continued to build a venerable 
roster with global assignments on brands such as Google, 
Coca-Cola, Chanel and AB Inbev. It was recognised by 
Advertising Age and Creativity as an ‘Agency to Watch’ 
for 2011. 
iconmobile 
iconmobile had continued success in 2010 with growth in 
client demand in the US and Europe, particularly for mobile 
solutions in the automotive, finance, pharmaceutical and 
packaged goods sectors, where clients are looking for more 
strategic implementations of mobile within their business. 
Microsoft continued as a major client, using iconmobile 
technology in 33 markets. Carrier relationships with 
Telefonica and France Telecom, now in the seventh year, have 
evolved as they navigate new areas such as financial services. 
Handset manufacturers such as Samsung are working on 
creating the devices of the future using iconmobile’s strong 
focus on design and technology. An area where iconmobile 
sees tremendous innovation is in the automotive sector, 
where the in-car team is working on new navigation systems, 
dashboards, entertainment systems and ways to use the 
mobile device to bring new services into the automobile. 
Shared clients with other WPP companies include Colgate-
Palmolive, Land Rover, Microsoft and X-Box, will 
develop further.
Syzygy
In 2010, the Syzygy Group paved the way for further growth: 
with prestigious pitch wins including L’Oreal and the 
European AVIS social program, the formation of Mobile and 
Strategic Planning groups across all offices, the opening of 
Hi-ReS! New York and the integration of the Polish digital 
studio Ars Thanea. Syzygy is looking forward to a promising 
and exciting 2011.
Acquisitions and investments
We strengthened our agency group through the acquisition 
of Blue State Digital in December 2010. Blue State Digital 
is an online activation agency, most famous for its work on 
President Obama’s election campaign. We also continued our 
strategy of making investments in promising new technology 
companies that can bring unique capabilities to our agencies 
and clients through investments in eCommera, an 
ecommerce technology platform, Ace Metrix, a provider of 
real-time television advertising analytics, and Buddy Media, 
the leading Facebook page management platform. Finally, we 
backed True Worldwide, a London-based hybrid agency, and 
Fabric Worldwide which is building a technology platform 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
77
How we’re doing
WPP Digital

The US and traditional 
media bite back  
WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell reports
What we think
T
he recovery of 2010 did not turn out quite the way 
we expected. Rather than ‘L-U-V’-shaped, the world 
economy was more ‘L-V-V’- or ‘LuVVy’-shaped. The 
expression LUV was originally coined* to describe the 
way the world’s regional economies would pull out of recession, 
but it served equally as a reminder of where we were going. It 
worked like this – a flatter ‘L’ or italic ‘L’ for Western European 
growth, a speedier ‘U’ for the US and a sharper, more rapid 
‘V’ for the BRICs nations and the Next 11 as identified by 
Goldman Sachs. The letters do approximate the fragile recovery 
of 2009 – very much a year of two halves – but were also 
supposedly the shape of things to come. 
* By Stella Dawson of Thomson Reuters in July 2009.
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
78

H
owever, 2010 was remarkable for the strength of the 
American recovery – more a ‘V’ than a ‘U’ – and 
with it, the strength of traditional media. Why? 
First, there was a certain amount of dead-cat bounce, given 
that advertising as a proportion of gross national product 
(GNP) in the US probably fell to a low we had not seen since 
the mid-1970s. Seemingly, we have already forgotten the 
depths we reached in the first half of 2009. Second, 
categories that had almost stopped advertising came back 
with a vengeance, such as automobiles and trucks, financial 
services, travel and retail. Third, with so much surplus 
traditional media inventory in 2009, prices or costs per 
thousand (cpms) had fallen significantly, making traditional 
media look a bargain even against new media inventory. 
Lord Grade of Yarmouth was right when he said as he was 
leaving ITV that TV prices in the UK were the lowest they 
had been for 10 years. Fourth, there may have been a feeling 
developing that new media were more about price and deal 
and old media more about brand and market share. Finally, 
post-Lehman, with over $2 trillion in cash on unleveraged 
balance sheets, cautious chairmen, chief executives and 
boards were fearful of expanding capacity and investing in 
slow-growth Western markets, and preferred to maintain or 
increase share by investing in the brand. 
Over a quarter of a century, WPP’s strength has been 
our ability to identify trends and capitalise on them for our 
clients and ourselves. It’s how we began with two people 
in a room all those years ago. It is how we have weathered 
the recent crisis. And it is how we will position WPP for 
sustained growth in the years ahead – albeit with nearly 
100,000 people directly with us, access to over 146,000 
and rather more rooms than we started with.
It is essential that we identify geographic, functional and 
technological changes and adapt our business to make the 
most of them. For that reason, we expect the balance of our 
work to move from the ‘L’ shape of Western Europe and 
other established, slower-growing economies towards the 
‘V’ of dynamic new markets. They include China with its 
possibly 1.5 billion and rising population, along with India 
and its even faster-growing population, and the other BRICs 
nations, Brazil and Russia – not to mention the Next 11.
The process is unstoppable. Cynics can no longer argue 
that the inevitable power shift from West to East or South to 
Latin America or South-East to Africa and the Middle East 
is just about cheap labour and low-cost manufacturing. 
Indeed, assuming that China and India will remain mere 
makers of cheap generic goods could prove life-threatening. 
Both countries are cultivating their own global brands and 
service industries, and they will be as good as anything the 
West can muster. After all, we used to say the same thing 
about Japan or Hong Kong.
Fortunately, WPP has leadership or near-leadership 
positions in all these countries (other than Iran, one of the 
Next 11), a position we will maintain. In India, for instance, 
we have a substantial market-leading share and in Greater 
China a market-leading share, making the latter WPP’s 
fourth-largest market already after the US, the UK and 
Germany. That can only grow as the global financial 
crisis fades.
Other changes are remaking our world. Of these, the 
most important is the continuing expansion of those parts of 
our business that sit outside traditional advertising. More of 
our work will be in marketing services, the so-called below-
the-line areas such as Consumer Insight, Public Relations & 
Public Affairs, Branding & Identity, Healthcare and 
Specialist Communications – particularly direct, interactive 
and internet communications. Public Relations & Public 
Affairs, also, can expect a prosperous future as its traditional 
skills – building relationships and influencing opinion-
formers – are brought to bear on the new internet frontiers 
of blogging and social networking. These shifts in the 
balance of our business are inevitable as audiences fragment, 
the costs of television airtime continue to fluctuate, gadgets 
like the iPad, smart phones or e-readers change media 
consumption habits and – most importantly – as the 
internet’s reach extends, promising more measurable, 
predictable results.
So what will keep our clients awake at night in the 21st 
century? Overcapacity in almost all areas of manufacturing 
– too many cars still chasing too few customers, for example 
– casts a cloud over prospects, forcing discounting and a 
profitless prosperity on key industries. This was true before 
the credit crunch; it is all the more so now.
Clients are equally troubled by the dominance of global 
retailers and the consequent pressure on prices. Some 
companies rely on sales in Walmart or Tesco or Carrefour 
stores for a large part of their turnover. These sales may be 
crucial to the company, but the numbers appear no more 
than a rounding error for retail giants like Walmart. A deep 
understanding of distribution and retail is crucial for survival.
Internal alignment is another essential requirement as 
global companies react to new markets in the East and 
stagnant economies in the West; getting everyone in a 
company facing the same way, working towards the same 
vision, is key. As the geography changes, so will old-
fashioned management structures. Regional silos can expect 
a shake-up and local managers, sensitive and knowledgeable 
about their markets, may well come to the fore again. 
Consolidation also presents a threat and an opportunity for 
our clients – and is changing our industry with the rebirth 
of super-agencies or full-service agencies and shifts in the 
way we structure ourselves to meet companies’ needs.
Large clients are increasingly looking to parent or holding 
companies that draw on the strength of their individual 
subsidiaries to present integrated solutions for their marketing 
needs. We are winning such pitches. All this dictates that 
hiring and retaining the right talent will remain crucial for 
us and our clients. And here is a paradox. It is almost as if 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
80
What we think
The US and traditional media bite back

2010f
2011f
2012f
GDP projections 2010f-2012f  % change
10
16
14
8
6
4
2
0
France
Germany
Japan1
US
Brazil
India
China
UK
Russia
World output
12
20
18
Shape of global recovery  % growth
Media 
World
GDP
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009f2010f 2011f 2012f 2013f 2014f 2015f
-10
-5
5
0
10
15
20
the shortage of human capital runs in inverse proportion 
to excess manufacturing capacity. People and skills are 
always crucial.
Following the sub-prime, insurance monoline,
Bear Stearns, Lehman crisis a couple of trends intensified. 
Power inside companies moved even further to finance and 
procurement, particularly in a slower-growth, low-inflation 
world, where pricing power was hard to come by. And 
government, which must have injected something like $13 
trillion into the $65 trillion worldwide economy, became 
even more important, not just as a regulator or investor,
but as a potential client, too.
Also, health and wellness became more and more critical 
as a differentiator for goods and services, particularly with 
declining birth rates and ageing populations. Corporate 
responsibility is another concern for clients – although 
in truth a no-brainer. Only those seeking a fast buck and 
subsequent oblivion would surely think otherwise. While 
globalisation, free trade and scientific advance, within 
reasonable environmental and social constraints, will still 
be the most efficient way of enriching the most people in 
the world in the fastest time, the recent economic crisis 
underlines the importance of corporate responsibility and 
less conspicuous consumption. 
Where 2009 was a very, very tough year, 2010 saw 
stabilisation and a return to growth, perhaps mainly because 
of the massive amounts of money – $13 trillion and counting 
– pumped into the system one way or another. Most of that 
money came from governments, who because of this 
increased spending have themselves become major clients 
for us. 
In uncertain times, branding or differentiation and 
innovation – essentially, what we do – are everything. The 
first requirement is always a brilliant idea. Then you need 
co-ordination. Without the first, however, the second is 
pointless. You can’t, after all, co-ordinate a lousy idea. 
So creativity and imagination win every time. There is 
a limit to how much you can cut costs, but there is no 
ceiling on innovation, at least until 100% market share.
A faster than expected recovery in 2010
Following a rough 2009, growth returned in the second 
quarter of 2010 as predicted, but faster than anticipated, 
particularly in traditional geographic and functional areas. 
The mini-quadrennial events of 2010 also helped – the 
Winter Olympic Games in Toronto, the World Cup in 
South Africa, the World Expo in Shanghai, the Asian Games 
in Guangzhou and the mid-term Congressional elections 
in the US, all helped push up advertising and marketing 
services expenditure by around 1% above trend.
Although 2009 was an extremely challenging year, the 
Group responded well, particularly in the second half. 
Source: IMF/GroupM
f:	Forecast.
1	 Prior to events on 11 March 2011.
Sources: IMF; GroupM
f: Forecast.
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
81
What we think
The US and traditional media bite back

(Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey, South 
Africa). WPP has leadership or near-leadership positions 
in nearly all these countries.
Latin America, Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe, 
while impacted by the global downturn, remained among 
our strongest-performing regions. Pakistan, with a 
population of 187 million, Vietnam with 90 million and 
Indonesia with more than 245 million – of which 210 million 
are Muslim – also remained faster-growing markets and 
became even more influential in 2010. Extrapolate WPP’s 
current revenues in the BRICs countries or BRICI (including 
Indonesia) at the rates of GDP growth predicted in recent 
Goldman Sachs research and assume moderate rises in 
advertising-to-GDP ratios. The result is that Asia Pacific, 
Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Central and 
Eastern Europe will take a growing share of our business: 
probably 34% by 2015, excluding acquisitions. That’s why 
we have upped our revenue share target for these markets 
from 33.3% to 35-40%.
Currently, China and India are home to more than 
one-third of the world’s population. Asia Pacific represents 
half. By 2014, Asia Pacific will account for more than 
two-thirds. WPP already has a strong position in the region. 
Greater China is WPP’s fourth-largest market, in which we 
have a significant advantage over our competitors. In India, 
our market share is very strong, with a similarly significant 
market share in South Korea. In Japan, it is almost 10%, 
behind both the dominating, although challenged, Dentsu 
and Hakuhodo DY Group.
There is no doubt the marketing world is becoming 
two-paced or even three-paced, geographically and 
functionally. Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa and 
the Middle East, and Central and Eastern Europe are 
outpacing the US and Spain (post-Franco Spain was a 
standout market in Western Europe, although the current 
financial crisis has laid it low). In turn, the US and Spain 
historically, and now Germany, have been outpacing the 
rest of Western Europe. 
Such shifts are not new. At other times in history, 
when a country or empire seemed to have total political, 
social or economic hegemony, as the US has, things changed 
and the vacuum was filled by another power. China and 
India will take that role, in the context of the growth of 
Asia Pacific. They are already enjoying their new stature. 
Over the past few years at the World Economic Forum in 
Davos, the Chinese and Indians have exhibited a greater 
degree of self-reliance and independence – perhaps even 
over-confidence. Both are now quick to blame the US for 
the recent crisis. Both no longer seem to rely on handouts 
or support. Both have reached or are reaching a size and rate 
of growth that may be self-sustaining and certainly more 
independent of US influence. Both now believe they have 
little to learn from the nations that got us into the recent 
economic mess in the first place. 
That was all the more gratifying, given that 2009 had none 
of the maxi-quadrennial stimulative events of 2008. That 
year was a record in terms of billings, revenues and profits, 
bolstered by a Summer Olympics, a European football 
championship and an American presidential election. 
Surprisingly, by the end of 2010, business was back to 
pre-Lehman levels, faster than many had anticipated. This 
was a relatively quick recovery and certainly faster than we 
could have possibly anticipated following that momentous 
weekend in September 2008.
Overall, in 2010, spending on worldwide communications 
services – advertising and marketing services – rose by 6.5% 
to $798 billion from an actual spend of $757 billion in 2009. 
WPP’s market share stood at around 10%. Despite the 
uncertainties, the industry will probably grow by 4-5% 
in the current year. GroupM forecasts a 5.8% rise in 
advertising, which now accounts for approximately 40% 
of our business. GroupM also predicts a 4.4% increase in 
marketing services, which affects the other 60%. Our 
conservative budgeted revenue increase of 5% probably 
means increased market share.
As a proportion of worldwide GDP, communications 
services probably stayed constant in 2008, falling in the 
sharp recession of 2009, but rising again in 2010. 2011 
and 2012 should see further increases, particularly in the 
‘V’-shaped economies of the BRICs and Next 11 and in 
the US, although in the ‘L’-shaped economies of Western 
Europe, it is likely to remain a slog, but we believe WPP is 
well placed to make the most of it. On the following pages, 
we explain why.
The shifting centre of gravity
Nothing is constant. The way the world – and our industry 
– does business is changing as its economic centre of gravity 
moves. The US has hitherto accounted for about half of 
worldwide advertising and marketing services spending, 
with the most prominent non-American markets being 
Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain. Now Asia 
Pacific, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Central 
and Eastern Europe are becoming more and more significant. 
This will continue as multinational corporations build their 
businesses where populations are large and growing faster 
– seeking to drive top-line like-for-like sales growth, a 
primary driver of total shareholder return. Even Cuba, with 
its population of 11 million, may become an opportunity. 
And also, if political differences are overcome, perhaps Iran 
with its population of more than 70 million.
Goldman Sachs, which first identified the BRICs nations 
– Brazil, Russia, India and China – now focuses on the Next 
11 – Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, 
Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey, South Korea and Egypt. 
The Economist adds a new dimension – the CIVETS 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
82
What we think
The US and traditional media bite back

Global nominal
GDP change %
Media and 
Marketing total $m
Worldwide communications expenditure 2006-2011f  
09
08
11f
10f
07
06
05
900,000
800,000
600,000
700,000
8%
-2%
2%
0%
6%
4%
past five years and shows little sign of slowing. There is no 
shortage of eager candidates for those jobs: Infosys still receives 
more than one million applications each year.
No longer a maker of cheap, generic goods, China will 
increasingly become a service-based economy. In 2005, the 
mayor of Shanghai asked the 55 chief executives on his 
International Business Leaders Advisory Council to suggest 
how Shanghai might become the world’s leading services 
centre. In 2006, the focus was on innovation, 2007 on 
climate change and planting trees in Shanghai, 2008 
reviewing 20 years of progress in Shanghai and releasing 
sturgeon into the Yangtze River. In 2009, the CEOs reviewed 
the lessons of the past 20 years of the Mayor’s committee in 
preparation for Shanghai Expo and WPP held one of its 2010 
Board meetings in Shanghai around the Expo. Similarly, 
India will seek to be a manufacturing centre for the world 
and not just focused on services. Who would have thought 
that Ratan Tata would buy Corus, the re-branded British 
Steel (the name created by one of our Branding & Identity 
companies), or that the underbidder would be a Brazilian 
company? In addition to Tetley Tea, Tata also acquired 
Jaguar and Land Rover at the top end of the car industry. 
At the bottom end, it launched the Nano in 2009 at
While decoupling has not, in our view, arrived, there is 
probably less coupling. But as the credit crunch demonstrates, 
problems in America still exert a powerful influence on the rest 
of the world. On my most recent trips to Shanghai, Beijing, 
Mumbai, Bangalore (first time), Hyderabad (also first time) and 
New Delhi, many Chinese and Indian companies with national 
and overseas ambitions appeared much more assured and less 
over-awed by the capabilities of Western competition. In 
the past they listened and learned; it clearly has paid off.
We will probably still rely on the strength of the US, 
but increasingly we will see the growth of Asian-based 
multinationals. Not only Japanese-based multinationals like 
Sony or Mitsubishi, or South Korean-based chaebols such as 
Samsung, LG or Hyundai (the Samsung of the car industry), 
but also Chinese multinationals such as Lenovo, Haier, Konka, 
Bird, Bright Dairy, China Mobile, China Unicom and 
CNOOC. Four of the top 10 companies in the world 
by market capitalisation are already Chinese. Just look at 
Millward Brown’s BrandZ™ analysis of China’s top 50 brands. 
Consider also Indian multinationals such as the two Reliances, 
Tata, Mahindra, Bharti, Wipro and Infosys (with whom we 
have a new joint venture in advertising production). The latter’s 
headcount has grown from 40,000 to nearly 128,000 in the 
Worldwide communications services expenditure 2010f1  $m
Advertising
Market
research
Public
relations
Direct &
specialist
communications
Sponsorship
Total
North America
155,362
9,687
3,800
88,215
17,088
274,152
Latin America
28,425
1,763
330
23,000
3,700
57,218
Europe
128,176
13,695
2,360
91,504
12,700
248,435
Asia Pacific
146,957
4,915
3,318
32,700
10,400
198,290
Africa, Middle East 
and Rest of World
15,815
518
118
1,437
2,100
19,988
Total
474,735
30,578
9,926
236,856
45,988
798,083
Source: GroupM
f	 Forecast.
1	 Estimate.
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
83
What we think
The US and traditional media bite back

100,000 rupees ($2,500) – the cheapest car in the world. 
And most recently, Geely, the Chinese car manufacturer, 
acquired Volvo from Ford.
Right here, right now
Understandably, the West has difficulty grasping the scale 
and complexity of Asia Pacific’s potential development. 
China is, after all, not just one country; it consists of more 
than 30 provinces, with so many languages and dialects that 
even Mao Tse Tung had to be accompanied by an interpreter 
when travelling. Incidentally, the population may well be 
closer to 1.5 billion rather than 1.3 billion – a census will 
shortly confirm the real number. The Chinese government 
consistently seems to underestimate its statistics, like those 
for GDP growth, but, whatever the true figure, it is still 
equivalent to four or five Americas. Likewise, India’s 1.2 
billion plus population covers 27 states.
Of course, only 200-300 million Chinese people can 
currently afford the goods and services being marketed to 
them, but even this is already almost equivalent to all of 
America and is a dynamic situation, one that will change 
rapidly in the coming years. There are more than 875 million 
mobile phone subscribers in China. Of those, over 600 
million subscribe to one company, China Mobile (China’s 
top brand, one of the top 10 most valuable world brands 
and the most valuable brand outside the US) – equivalent 
to twice the population of the US.
Furthermore, India, itself equivalent to three to four 
Americas, seems to have been stimulated into more rapid 
growth, driven perhaps by neighbourhood envy and the 
Chinese model of state-directed capitalism – although India 
bills itself as the world’s fastest-growing democracy. Look at 
the dogfight for the Indian phone operator Hutchison Essar, 
which Vodafone won in a market growing now by 15 million 
subscribers a month, even more than China at eight million 
a month. There are now 791 million Indian subscribers, with 
Airtel having 159 million, and Reliance and Vodafone having 
around 130 million each. 
This really is back to the future. In 1820, China and India 
generated around 49% of worldwide GDP. But by the early 
19th century, Meissen and Wedgwood were undermining 
the high-quality, high-price Chinese porcelain industry with 
similar quality, but cheaper products. It is the exact reverse 
today. China and India are heading for the same share of 
world GDP in 2025 that they had in the 18th century, having 
bottomed out at 8% in 1973. China’s development has 
been rapid and will continue, but not without bumps. The 
government is conscious of overheating, and an imbalance 
in rates of development between the coast and the hinterland. 
There has, it is true, been a slowdown in 2008 and 2009, 
but the 2009 Party Congress set an 8% target for GNP 
growth in 2010, which was achieved. The 12th Five-Year Plan 
The 30 largest companies in the world* 
Rank Company
Country
Market 
cap $m
1
Exxon Mobil Corporation
US
414,638
2
Apple Inc.
US
323,866
3
Industrial & Commercial Bank 
of China Ltd
China
278,252
4
PetroChina Co Ltd
China
264,882
5
BHP Billiton Limited
Australia
254,122
6
China Construction Bank Corp
China
225,966
7
Petroleo Brasileiro SA – PETROBRAS
Brazil
225,330
8
Royal Dutch/Shell Group
Netherlands
223,623
9
Microsoft Corporation
US
215,269
10
Chevron Corporation
US
214,355
11
General Electric Company
US
209,715
12
BHP Billiton PLC
UK
209,512
13
International Business Machines 
Corporation
US
197,784
14
Nestlé S.A.
Switzerland
187,057
15
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
US
186,470
16
Google Inc.
US
186,399
17
HSBC Holdings plc
UK
183,555
18
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
US
182,684
19
China Mobile Limited
Hong Kong
181,483
20
Gazprom OAO
Russian 
Federation
180,967
21
Agricultural Bank of China Limited
China
175,025
22
AT&T Inc.
US
170,545
23
The Procter & Gamble Co 
US
170,512
24
Wells Fargo & Company
US
168,262
25
Oracle Corporation
US
164,911
26
Rio Tinto Limited
Australia
164,043
27
Pfizer Inc.
US
162,703
28
Johnson & Johnson
US
161,323
29
The Coca-Cola Company 
US
149,635
30
Vale S.A
Brazil
147,103
Source: CorporateInformation.com
*	 Market values as at end of March 2011.
BrandZ™ Top 10 most valuable Chinese brands
Rank
Category
Brand value US$m
1
China Mobile (telecoms operator)
56,074
2
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China
38,090
3
Bank of China
22,344
4
China Construction Bank
21,676
5
China Life (insurance provider)
18,320
6
Agricultural Bank of China
16,494
7
Petrochina (oil & gas)
14,223
8
Tencent (internet service portal)
12,199
9
Baidu (search engine)
9,715
10
Ping An (insurance provider)
8,443
Source: Millward Brown Optimor
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
84
What we think
The US and traditional media bite back

Contributions to 2011 advertising growth by country
$bn    
Indonesia Russia
India
Brazil
Japan1
China
US
Canada
6
0
1
2
3
4
5
Contributions to 2011 advertising growth by medium
$bn    
Out of home
Print
Internet
TV
Radio
15
0
3
6
9
12
lowered the target rate of growth to 7%, with a shift from 
savings to consumption, a welfare safety net to discourage 
saving and encourage consumption and a charter for services 
growth – all-in-all a five-year plan for the development of 
WPP in China. WPP recently signed a memorandum of 
understanding with SASSAC – the government investment 
holding company, with $1.79 trillion in sales – and Peking 
University to teach branding to state-owned enterprises 
and to provide a curriculum for a new $5 million university 
of advertising in Shanghai. These are just two examples 
of opportunity.
Evidence of China’s arrival on the world stage is 
everywhere – its confidence at former UK Prime Minister 
Brown’s G20 summit in 2009, President Obama’s low bows 
to the Chinese leadership and, most visibly, the Beijing 
Olympics and Shanghai Expo. Few self-respecting 
multinational companies bent on expanding into China 
or national companies seeking to grow inside or outside 
China missed out on the branding opportunity presented 
by Beijing 2008. The Chinese Government committed 
$45 billion of investment around the Games, in contrast 
to London’s $14 billion for 2012. Beijing was a whopper, 
but it did not end there. The Municipality of Shanghai 
invested $3 billion in Expo 2010 and there was the Asian 
Games, in Guangzhou, also in 2010.
Watch out for increasingly subtle Chinese military and 
economic influence, too. Take the recent economic contact 
with Fidel Castro in Cuba to counterbalance Taiwanese 
tensions. Or Chinese investment in Galileo’s GPS systems, 
which drew a coruscating response from the Pentagon. 
Equally, Beijing will not be prepared to rely on America to 
defend its vital and growing energy supply interests in the 
Middle East and Russia, as its recent energy deal with Russia 
showed. It is busily building trade bridges throughout the 
oil- and energy-producing regions of the world, particularly 
Latin America and Africa.
It is in Africa that China is changing trade relations, 
with more than 800,000 Chinese reportedly participating 
in projects there. Increasingly, Africa is the continent of 
opportunity, rather than war, disease and poverty. Although 
recent events have changed the map again, President 
Muammar Gaddafi’s original volte face did energise North 
Africa and Egypt, and China’s focus has drawn the attention 
of Western governments seeking to curry favour, too. We 
at WPP have invested in Smollan and the Jupiter Drawing 
Room in South Africa, and Scangroup and TNS in Central 
and North Africa. In Africa, as well as China, sport plays 
a symbolic role. The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa 
was an iconic event for the African continent and one in 
which our agencies dominated. Stand by for this decade to 
be the decade of Latin America too, as the FIFA World Cup 
in 2014 and Summer Olympics in 2016, both in Brazil, 
will focus increasing attention on the scope for development 
and growth.
Source: GroupM
1	 Prior to events on 11 March 2011.
Source: IMF
f:	Forecast.
1	 Prior to events on 11 March 2011.
Government debt as % of GDP 2008-12f
Percentage point increase
Italy
Germany
France
Euro area
Japan1
UK
Spain
US
Advanced economies
24.4
30.8
19.1
21.9
10.8
13.8
32.8
37.8
32.5
Canada
13.5
Mexico
Brazil
Russia
India
G-20 advanced
G-20 emerging
South Africa
China
Emerging economies
1.0
0.6
0.8
4.3
-3.8
0.9
14.3
25.7
-0.3
30
20
10
0
40
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
85
What we think
The US and traditional media bite back

The growth of China and India might lead some to 
underplay the continuing importance of the US. That would 
be a mistake. Failure to understand its significance remains 
a risky move even in these changing times. Take investment 
banking. A quarter century ago, SG Warburg, Morgan 
Grenfell, Schroders and Flemings could be counted as strong 
European brands. Today, they have all but disappeared. 
Despite recent catastrophes, large American banks, such 
as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, 
JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup (but no longer Bear Stearns 
and Lehman Brothers), dominate the industry, although 
boutiques focusing on investment banking relationships, 
rather than trading, may become fashionable again.
A few years ago, strong European talent might have 
expressed misgivings about working in American 
multinationals. Today, these businesses are more sensitively 
run and still offer more interesting, intellectually-stimulating 
global opportunities and challenges. The European-based 
businesses that remain, such as Deutsche Bank, UBS and 
Credit Suisse, still face the hurdle of establishing a good 
market position in the US.
Neither is it easy to find European-based global 
companies. BP and Shell certainly get it, as do Unilever and 
Nestlé. So does Daimler, although Jurgen Schremp’s global 
strategy has been dismantled. Vodafone, GlaxoSmithKline, 
AstraZeneca, L’Oreal and Sanofi-aventis are other good 
examples, although doubts in some cases remain. There are 
not many more. American influence is still very strong. 
The world has not been globalised in the way the late 
Professor Theodore Levitt forecast, where consumers around 
the world bought similar products, marketed in the same 
way. Indeed, before he died, Levitt admitted as much in an 
interview to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his article, 
saying he was exaggerating to make a point. Truly global 
products only account for around 10-15% of our worldwide 
revenues. In fact, consumers are probably more interesting 
for their differences than their similarities.
Recent political developments support this – the collapse 
of the Soviet Union, the break-up of Yugoslavia, devolution 
in Scotland and Wales, and Basque and Catalonian 
nationalism. Moreover, the European Union is really a 
supply-side led phenomenon, harmonising production and 
distribution, rather than demand. What has been going on 
may well not be the globalisation of world markets, but their 
Americanisation. Not in the sense that upsets the French or 
the Germans, and results in the banning of Americanisms 
from French commercial language – an objection to the 
cultural imperialism of Coke, the Golden Arches or Mickey 
Mouse. More in the sense of the power and leadership of 
the US. In most industries, including our own, the US still 
accounts for almost half of the world market. And given the 
prominence of US-based multinationals, you could argue that 
more than half of the advertising and marketing services 
sector is controlled or influenced from there. If you want to 
There is another challenger to American dominance – the 
Muslim world. Already, Muslims number 1.6 billion people 
or a quarter of the world’s population. By 2020, they will 
account for 2.1 billion or approximately 30% of the world’s 
projected population. The recent struggles in Afghanistan 
and Iraq, continued tension with Iran, and regime changes 
in North Africa really only continue the 1950s’ Suez conflict, 
the oil crisis of the 1970s and the invasion of Kuwait in 
the 1990s. 
Westerners have made little attempt to understand the 
Islamic mind and assume that Muslims share their value 
systems. This is wrong-headed and short-sighted. Muslims 
are different and it will be increasingly necessary to make a 
serious and sincere attempt to understand them – something 
President Obama’s administration clearly grasps. WPP 
announced new Muslim marketing initiatives at the Muslim 
conference in Kuala Lumpur in May 2010.
America back in the game
Past Annual Reports have featured work by artists from 
China, India, Africa and Latin America and, this year, 
Eastern Europe. Last year’s report showed work from the 
acclaimed US painter Wayne Thiebaud. The choice was apt, 
for America was at a crossroads, one not dissimilar to that 
which it faced in the 1980s, and the turnaround we have seen 
in 2010 almost looks like America bites back. 
Top 20 US advertisers 2010 
Ranked by total measured ad spending* $m
2010
rank
2009
rank

Advertiser

2010
2009
%
change
1
1
Procter & Gamble 
3,123.7
2,651.7
17.8%
2
3
General Motors 
2,121.4
2,153.4
-1.5%
3
4
AT&T 
2,083.7
1,859.0
12.1%
4
2
Verizon Communications 
1,806.7
2,135.7
-15.4%
5
6
News Corp
1,364.6
1,235.1
10.5%
6
5
Pfizer 
1,226.6
1,390.0
-11.8%
7
9
Time Warner
1,190.7
1,198.6
-0.7%
8
8
Johnson & Johnson
1,137.1
1,230.4
-7.6%
9
11
Ford Motor Co
1,123.4
1,013.0
10.9%
10
16
L’Oreal 
1,112.1
851.6
30.6%
11
12
Walt Disney
1,071.4
1,068.7
0.2%
12
18
Toyota 
1,069.0
822.5
30.0%
13
13
General Electric
1,018.4
1,020.8
-0.2%
14
7
Sprint Nextel 
991.3
1,183.6
-16.2%
15
19
Berkshire Hathaway 
968.3
829.1
16.8%
16
15
McDonald’s 
892.2
879.0
1.5%
17
14
Macy’s
885.8
901.7
-1.8%
18
•
General Mills 
883.7
763.4
15.8%
19
10
Wal-Mart Stores 
882.3
1,148.3
-23.2%
20
•
Kraft Foods
880.7
738.9
19.2%
Source: Kantar Media
*	 Measured spending in TV; magazines; newspapers; radio; outdoor.
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
86
What we think
The US and traditional media bite back

build a worldwide brand you must establish a big presence 
in the world’s largest market – the US. At WPP, 21 of our top 
50 clients are headquartered in Europe, three in Asia Pacific 
and 26 in the US. Almost all of the latter are located in the 
northeast quadrant created by Chicago, Detroit, New York 
and Washington.
That American strength is based on three factors. 
First, the size and power of the American market: more 
than 300 million people in a relatively homogeneous market. 
The European Union at 500 million is over one and a half 
times that size, but much more heterogeneous. Second, the 
power and size of US capital markets. Recent difficulties 
aside, America is still the cheapest place to raise debt 
or equity capital, although more detailed disclosure 
requirements are discouraging some. Finally, because of 
its strength in technology, it is hard to think of many areas 
where it does not lead. Third-generation mobile phones are 
one, but, given the prices European companies paid for the 
privilege, the distinction is dubious. 
Local vs global: getting the balance right
The world’s multinational companies must develop new 
thinking to deal with the issues described above. As US-
centric corporations, for example, seek to develop their 
businesses and extend their reach into more heterogeneous 
markets, the balance of organisations will shift. This will not 
mean that everything changes. There will continue to be a 
focus on global, max or core brands, with sales of more than 
$1 billion, to counterbalance the power of global retailers 
and allow companies to become less dependent on the US 
markets. For instance, Coca-Cola’s geographic coverage of 
around a third in North America, a third in Asia and Latin 
America and a third in Europe, Middle East and Africa will 
become more the norm, rather than Pepsi-Cola’s 53% in the 
US. At the same time, more sensitive local organisations that 
can respond more readily to national opportunities and 
challenges will be required. 
The past 10 to 15 years have seen, probably quite 
rightly, a diminution of the power of country managers, 
as companies sought to reduce needless duplication and 
stimulate the sharing of knowledge. Eradicating geographic 
silos and fiefdoms made sense. But as country-based 
organisations have become more complex and sizeable, there 
may be a need to develop more focus at a local level. Several 
clients have started to re-build country organisations and 
re-appoint country managers or ambassadors, particularly 
as they need to cultivate governmental or academic influence 
or be more locally sensitive.
As a result, regional management has come under scrutiny. 
With the development of technology and communications, 
organisational span-breakers may not be so necessary. In 
addition, given the complexity of regional tasks, regional 
managers become no more than glorified financial directors. 
The average advertising agency regional director in Europe, 
for example, may have to cover 100 offices in a 250-day 
working year. It would be difficult to add significant value 
while spending an average of one to two days in each office 
a year, even if he or she travelled constantly.
At WPP, we are experimenting with two new 
organisational responses. First, Global Client Leaders to 
manage at least the 30 biggest clients across WPP (which 
account for over 30% of revenues) on a worldwide basis. 
Second, WPP Country Managers focusing on three key 
issues – people, local clients and acquisitions.
Both responses cause angst to our operating company or 
tribal leaders, who continue to have primary organisational 
control. Both cut across traditional organisational structures. 
Both demand new ways of working together, denying turf, 
territory and ego. Both raise questions about motives, 
methods and values. But both are necessary, responding to 
client needs and developments. Organisations are becoming 
more and more networked, less and less pyramidic. It also 
seems to be a nonsense to have a similar country manager 
structure for China and India, as with Singapore and 
Portugal. Maybe the BRICs, at least, should be split off from 
their regions and report in directly to the centre, opening up 
for them to be split up further regionally.
Furthermore, as the balance of economic power shifts, 
there will have to be similar shifts in power within 
corporations. Salary increases, benefits, STIPs, LTIPs, share 
options, restricted stock allocations and capital expenditure, 
for example, will have to be allocated more fairly, as growth 
favours these faster-growing markets. This will mean that 
Anglo-American or American-Western European 
management cliques will have to open up, as, for example, 
Unilever has done, with over 400 Indian managers already 
exported around the world in senior positions. There will 
be more.
Why marketing services grew and grew
Advertising and Media Investment Management – which 
historically has concentrated on areas such as television, 
radio, newspapers, magazines, outdoor and cinema – has 
thrived in recent times, but its overall share has declined. 
In its place, supposedly less sophisticated, less global 
and less-developed marketing services have gained as a 
proportion of our total business. These areas are Consumer 
Insight, Public Relations & Public Affairs, Branding & 
Identity, Healthcare and Specialist Communications – 
particularly direct, interactive and internet communications.
Marketing services have grown more quickly for two 
reasons. First, network television pricing has risen faster 
than inflation in past years, to the disquiet of big advertisers. 
Procter & Gamble, the world’s biggest advertiser, Unilever, 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
87
What we think
The US and traditional media bite back

Outdoor
2006
2007
2008
2009 
2010f 
2011f 
North America
8.5
6.0
-5.9
-4.7
1.5
4.1
Latin America
6.9
0.6
6.6
1.2
11.7
8.6
Western Europe
4.7
3.3
-2.8
-8.7
1.8
1.8
Central & Eastern Europe
34.6
17.7
15.1
-32.1
8.3
8.9
Asia Pacific (all)
14.5
-2.2
6.9
-9.1
4.0
2.6
North Asia1
40.2
-16.6
36.0
-1.9
13.8
8.7
ASEAN2
21.2
12.5
11.7
7.9
6.8
10.7
Middle East & Africa
20.6
68.2
5.0
-5.7
-9.4
-2.7
World
11.7
2.9
2.9
-10.0
3.3
3.2
Internet
2006
2007
2008
2009 
2010f 
2011f 
North America
35.7
26.3
11.6
11.1
10.9
13.0
Latin America
47.7
57.8
53.0
25.7
35.9
32.8
Western Europe
69.2
36.5
23.8
7.3
12.3
10.5
Central & Eastern Europe
69.2
128.1
49.2
7.0
25.3
25.3
Asia Pacific (all)
33.9
32.4
24.6
7.9
18.6
16.6
North Asia1
41.4
51.7
42.6
17.8
27.2
23.8
ASEAN2
38.9
73.0
40.3
33.4
54.2
98.4
Middle East & Africa3
23.7
56.3
88.9
55.6
9.4
6.0
World
42.6
31.7
19.8
9.6
13.9
13.9
Source: GroupM
f:	Forecast.
1	 China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan.
2	 Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam.
3	 Prior to recent events in the region.
(Figures rounded up.)
Growth of media in major markets 2006-2011  % 
Television
2006
2007
2008
2009 
2010f 
2011f 
North America
7.7
-2.2
1.3
-6.1
4.8
2.7
Latin America
13.3
11.0
9.6
6.6
14.4
10.9
Western Europe
2.6
4.4
-3.1
-10.8
7.1
3.1
Emerging Europe
25.2
21.6
13.1
-16.7
13.8
11.4
Asia Pacific (all)
8.5
6.4
5.2
-0.3
10.9
9.8
North Asia1
22.1
13.3
13.8
6.5
10.6
9.3
ASEAN2
13.6
8.0
9.8
10.8
27.2
19.7
Middle East & Africa
14.1
22.5
24.3
11.9
21.6
18.3
World
8.0
4.2
3.4
-4.1
9.1
7.0
Radio
2006
2007
2008
2009 
2010f 
2011f 
North America
1.7
-3.2
-9.8
-6.3
-3.8
0.5
Latin America
5.1
11.0
12.7
9.1
8.9
8.9
Western Europe
1.9
3.9
-1.3
-8.7
0.6
1.2
Central & Eastern Europe
34.4
24.3
11.1
-23.9
-1.2
5.8
Asia Pacific (all)
15.4
5.6
5.2
-0.8
8.6
3.3
North Asia1
n/a
26.1
23.1
8.2
19.0
7.4
ASEAN2
3.3
1.8
9.7
11.9
12.8
5.7
Middle East & Africa
13.9
7.0
21.8
0.1
10.1
8.9
World
5.4
2.1
-1.8
-5.1
1.6
2.6
Newspapers
2006
2007
2008
2009 
2010f 
2011f 
North America
2.5
-4.7
-9.9
-17.9
-6.9
-1.6
Latin America
7.3
14.3
3.7
1.2
13.6
8.0
Western Europe
2.8
3.7
-5.6
-15.0
-1.0
-0.8
Central & Eastern Europe
15.6
10.5
6.6
-25.0
5.2
5.4
Asia Pacific (all)
-4.2
2.7
-1.9
-7.7
7.7
4.8
North Asia1
-13.1
7.1
5.9
1.6
13.2
4.7
ASEAN2
2.1
10.7
10.7
5.4
13.5
9.2
Middle East & Africa
11.1
18.1
12.1
-3.7
-1.1
1.6
World
1.3
1.8
-4.5
-12.8
0.8
1.5
Magazines
2006
2007
2008
2009 
2010f 
2011f 
North America
2.7
3.4
-6.8
-14.8
-3.7
1.9
Latin America
12.1
4.2
17.9
-17.4
5.8
3.0
Western Europe
2.8
1.1
-5.7
-21.8
-1.7
-1.6
Central & Eastern Europe
12.7
11.9
6.9
-35.8
-2.9
8.7
Asia Pacific (all)
2.5
1.1
-3.3
-16.2
1.4
-1.9
North Asia1
18.3
17.0
15.1
-1.8
15.6
4.0
ASEAN2
8.7
-1.7
6.0
0.3
4.3
3.9
Middle East & Africa
14.9
14.7
9.7
-5.8
3.4
4.9
World
3.3
2.8
-4.7
-17.9
-2.0
0.7
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
88
What we think
The US and traditional media bite back

Coca-Cola and American Express have all registered voluble 
protests in recent times. They are sick and tired of paying 
more for less and hence their laser-like focus on value in the 
recession and continuing into the recovery.
Even with the acute economic pressures of 2008, US 
network television may have increased in cost relatively. 
2009 was the only weakening in the trend, as network 
pricing probably fell for the first time for a long time by 
approximately -3%. In 2009, ITV1 pricing may have fallen 
back to levels last seen a decade or more ago, the biggest 
bargain for a long time. In 2010 its pricing rose 16% for 
adults (and 9% across all UK TV) and both are set to turn 
in single-digit growth in 2011. (Yet still remain a bargain 
on the long view.) The upcoming US up-front negotiations 
will probably see high single-digit, low double-digit increases 
in cpms in network and cable.
Nevertheless, the trend is clear. Imagine what would 
happen in the car industry if the price of steel rose 
consistently by 10% against general price inflation of 3%. 
Manufacturers would use less steel or find a substitute. 
That is what is happening in our industry, too. Marketing 
services, digital and even other traditional media such as 
radio, outdoor and cinema advertising are becoming more 
acceptable substitutes.
Don’t expect network television, however, to 
disappear any time soon. It will remain important. If we 
were starting a multinational packaged goods company 
from scratch, we would still use network television to 
influence the largest number of people in the shortest 
time at the lowest cost. In fact, free-to-air viewership has 
actually risen in the last year or two – perhaps a feature 
of recessions. Clients still need reach, but it isn’t what it 
was. In the US, for example, primetime network television 
used to claim 90% of households. A few years ago it was 
50%; today it is perhaps only 33%. There are, of course, 
still programs with significant global or national reach, 
such as the World Cup final (500 million); the Olympics 
(400 million in a normal year – but an audience of over 
two billion for the opening ceremony in Beijing in 2008); 
the Super Bowl (111 million); and the Academy Awards 
(38 million).
The largest regular live event audience, however, is none 
of the above. It is the Chinese New Year Gala on CCTV in 
China, the rest of Asia and elsewhere, watched consistently 
by more than one billion – and maybe similar audiences for 
Indian World Cup cricket matches. These events remain in 
relatively fixed supply, while the pools of money chasing 
them are stable or growing. As a result, their prices are bid 
up. That’s why a 30-second Super Bowl advert still costs 
around $3 million and an Academy Awards slot around $1.7 
million. This is not an easy situation, although it may last.
Principal sources of annual media growth
Contribution %
2010f
2011f
North America
11
22
Canada
5
3
US
6
19
Latin America
13
11
Brazil
7
5
Western Europe
15
10
UK
5
3
Central & Eastern Europe
6
7
Russia
3
4
Asia Pacific (all)
49
43
Australia
7
2
India
2
5
Japan1
5
6
North Asia
26
21
China
19
17
ASEAN
9
9
Indonesia
3
4
Middle East & Africa
5
6
Principal sources of annual media growth
Contribution $bn
2010f
2011f
North America
3,087
6,124
Canada
1,413
919
USA
1,674
5,205
Latin America
3,451
3,021
Brazil
1,913
1,442
Western Europe
3,949
2,767
UK
1,419
705
Central & Eastern Europe
1,743
2,061
Russia
782
1,094
Asia Pacific (all)
13,242
11,981
Australia
1,840
642
Japan1
1,338
1,631
India
437
1,349
North Asia
6,899
5,684
China
5,077
4,781
ASEAN
2,515
2,467
Indonesia
812
1,136
Middle East & Africa
1,479
1,699
World
26,951
27,654
Source: GroupM
f:	Forecast.
1	 Prior to events on 11 March 2011.
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
89
What we think
The US and traditional media bite back

A fragmenting media
There is another reason for the growth of marketing services 
– media fragmentation. The old media have become more 
sophisticated and the new media have proliferated. 
Technology has improved the effectiveness and development 
of cable and satellite television, newspapers and periodicals, 
radio and outdoor, while spawning new media in direct, 
interactive and the internet. Many of these new media are 
more measurable and more targeted.
Media consumption habits change with every generation. 
Even small children know their way round the internet. 
Decision-makers in media owners and agencies tend to be 
in their fifties and sixties; their children and grandchildren 
are shifting in ever greater numbers to multi-tasking on the 
web, personal video recorders (PVRs), video-on-demand, 
smart phones, iPods, video iPods, iPhones, iPads, Kindles, 
mobiles, podcasts and multi-player internet games. 
Declining newspaper readership, particularly among 
younger people and the resultant collapse of established 
titles are alarming trends.
Among the many new technologies, one of the most 
interesting is the PVR. This device enables viewers to 
download television programs on to a hard disk, creating 
their own television channel, recording programs for 
screening when they want to see them, and building a 
library, as an iPod does with music. A PVR also allows you 
to time-shift programs as you watch, stopping for breaks 
when you wish. It cannot be long before they are standard 
equipment in television sets.
What has made observers particularly excited – or 
worried – about the PVR is its ability to fast-forward or 
skip commercials. Market research in the US indicates that 
consumers like to fast-forward advertisements – although 
they stop at beer commercials for fun and car commercials 
for information. We could do most of this previously with 
video recorders, of course. The key question remains the 
amount of time viewers will continue to devote to television. 
In some PVRs, the skip button has been omitted and fast-
forward speeds limited. In others, little boxes on the PVR 
screen will contain details of the ads being fast-forwarded. 
However they develop, such devices will exert more pressure 
on network television and on agencies to create stronger 
programming and sponsorship opportunities, along with 
even more creative advertising ideas. The same will be true 
of video-on-demand, another new and fast-developing 
technology. The premium on creativity can only grow. 
Many executives are in denial. They believe – or hope 
– that radical change will not happen on their watch. Yet 
I know my consumption habits have altered over the past 
few years – more daily newspapers like The Wall Street 
Journal and the Financial Times, fewer periodicals. More 
cable and satellite television, less network. More web 
surfing and BlackBerry e-mail. More continuous streaming 
of CNBC or Bloomberg. More downloading of newspapers 
and books on my Kindle and now the iPad. I am less willing 
to wait for detailed analysis in weeklies or fortnightlies. 
I want news, together with commentary, now. Why should 
I wait 10 days for in-depth analysis of a merger announced 
on Thursday night? By contrast, though, women seem to be 
increasing their magazine readership and The Economist 
powers ahead, having gone well past a one million 
circulation with increasing advertising revenues, even 
in these threatening times. 
Paid-for content: essential for survival
Web activity, broadly defined, currently accounts for well 
over $4 billion of WPP’s revenues, or 29%. It is growing 
rapidly and will continue to challenge us and our clients. 
There are a number of reasons for this.
One is disintermediation, an ugly but useful word. 
Let’s take an example from our own business. More than 
$4 billion of WPP’s revenues (post-TNS) comes from market 
research. Traditionally, research has been done on the phone 
and through the post. The process was long and 
cumbersome. A questionnaire had to be designed, distributed 
and filled in by consumers or interviewers. Then data were 
collected, analysed and conclusions developed. That could 
take three to six months. Many CEOs despaired that by the 
time the solution had been identified, the problem had 
changed. Using the internet, however, the research process 
can be transformed and responses obtained almost instantly. 
WPP’s Lightspeed panel interrogates more than 17 million 
consumers globally and can deliver answers inside 24 hours. 
You may also be disintermediated by lower-cost business 
models. The gambling industry, for instance, has been 
shaken by the emergence of peer-to-peer sports betting sites, 
cutting out the traditional bookmaker. 
Despite the relatively recent vicious compression in 
valuations and consequent losses, the financiers of new media 
and technology companies still focus on sales, sales growth 
and market share, rather than on operating profits, margins, 
earnings per share and return on capital employed. The hour 
of reckoning, however, could be coming for some Web 2.0 
companies. All, or virtually all, depend on advertising 
revenues for their growth and survival. There will be losers 
in the battle to capture those revenues and we may have 
already reached a point in the investment cycle where 
revenues, operating profits and cash flow become paramount. 
Financing institutions and strategic investors may no longer 
continue to support excessive valuations by re-financing 
cash burn, particularly after a financial crisis. Even venture 
capital companies will be more picky about matching or 
raising pricing in the next round of financings and may cut 
off funding altogether and admit their mistake. In 2010, 
AOL sold Bebo, the social network site it bought in 2008 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
90
What we think
The US and traditional media bite back

content – with Murdoch leading the way, Sulzberger and 
others have finally realised the need. Paying for content, 
further media consolidation and the possible subsidy of 
traditional content by government are all current trends that 
will probably continue to develop. The internet has resulted 
in a permanent reduction in the revenues and profitability 
of traditional media owners, but if consumers value content 
they will pay for it.
Clients are re-examining the relative levels of their 
advertising and marketing services investment. The 
econometric analysis of media investment is becoming 
increasingly important. How much should we spend and 
through which media, have become ever more critical 
questions – the Holy Grail of advertising, the answer to 
which half of advertising is wasted.
The application of technology and the data it provides 
are important components to succeed in the new technology-
based media. We had already invested through WPP Digital, 
GroupM, Kantar and our direct and interactive businesses, 
such as Wunderman, OgilvyOne and G2, before purchasing 
24/7 Real Media. This was more than the acquisition of 
a digital agency – such as the acquisition of jewels like 
AGENDA, Aqua, Blast Radius, Bridge, BLUE or Schematic. 
This was about the development of search technology, 
advertiser and publisher websites, the application of 
technology in general and media sales, and followed, on 
a much smaller and less lavish scale, Google’s acquisition 
of DoubleClick and Microsoft’s purchase of aQuantive, 
although all had the same proportional impact on WPP, 
Google and Microsoft.
With enough investment, we can reproduce any of the 
media planning and buying technology developed and have 
already accessed search revenues effectively. Unlike most 
media owners, we are not investing in a single technology 
or making technological bets. We are purveyors of any and 
all media investment alternatives and, as long as we are not 
excluded from any single, powerful technology and have 
the talent to analyse and optimize these alternatives for our 
clients, we will remain not only relevant but increasingly 
valuable to them. In contrast, media owners, unless they 
cover the media waterfront, are exposed to one technology 
or another. Increasingly, our business is about combining the 
full range of our marketing and communications creativity, 
for $850 million, to Criterion Capital Partners for an 
estimated $10 million.
These conundrums, however, are nothing compared 
to those faced by traditional media owners, few of whom 
have managed to deal with new technologies. Take Craigslist, 
for example. Established in 1995 by Craig Newmark, the 
site provides largely free classified advertising to millions 
of users across the globe. The result – a massive reduction 
in classified advertising revenues for the traditional players. 
It is estimated that Craigslist costs newspapers in the San 
Francisco Bay area alone up to $65 million a year in lost 
employment advertising.
The response from traditional classified advertisers is 
to produce their own free classified sites. The effect: a 
permanent reduction in classified advertising revenues, as 
established classified media owners justify their activities 
as necessary cannibalisation. If they don’t eat their own 
children, someone else will. The internet is probably 
the most democratic phenomenon we have seen: free 
information or nearly free information breaking the tyranny 
or monopoly of distance.
Few newspaper or periodical publishers have mastered the 
connection with the new internet platforms. Rupert Murdoch’s 
rapid purchase of internet assets such as MySpace was one 
example, although it quickly lost its lead to Facebook. Similar 
initiatives have come from network television: NBC owned by 
GE with iVillage, and ITV in the UK with Friends Reunited 
(since revoked). Others such as The New York Times have 
made similar moves, but none seem to have been able to 
replace the lost revenues by new ones. For several years in our 
Annual Report we have questioned whether NBC would still 
be a part of GE in a few years. Would it be sold or spun-off? 
Would it merge with Yahoo! or another internet company? 
In 2009, we found out the answer – a sale to Comcast. Will 
even The New York Times survive or face the fate of some 
US newspapers? The Chicago Tribune filed for bankruptcy 
protection in 2008. The San Francisco Chronicle, whose 
owners have warned of a sale or closure, claims to have 
improved its finances with a new business model, while the 
Seattle P-I has gone wholly online. Hence the recent shift 
from Rupert Murdoch to New York Times publisher 
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr for subscription-based models.
It is no longer enough just to be in the newspaper or 
network television business; you have to be in the 
communications business. This idea is not dissimilar to 
Professor Theodore Levitt’s analysis of the horse and buggy 
in the context of the transportation industry. Rupert 
Murdoch is one of the few who seems to understand this. 
Perhaps the mistake was not to charge for newspaper content 
on the web in the first place. It is easier to take the consumer 
down in price, rather than up. If you can’t charge for content 
as strong as Condé Nast’s Vogue or The Wall Street Journal, 
for example, when can you? Now media owners seem to 
have shifted gears, deciding finally to charge for online 
 Increasingly, our business is about 
combining the full range of our 
marketing and communications 
creativity, insights and skills with the 
application of technology and the 
mastery of data
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
91
What we think
The US and traditional media bite back

Global companies using all four platforms
28%
34%
15%
15%
25%
33%
20%
25%
US
Europe
Asia Paciﬁc
Global
35
30
0
5
10
15
20
25
2010
2011
Global companies using at least one 
social media platform
0
20
40
60
80
100
86%
84%
88%
89%
50%
67%
79%
84%
US
Europe
Asia Paciﬁc
Global
2010
2011
Number of accounts per company
7
0
1
2
3
4
6
5
4.2
6.8
1.6
2.7
2.1
4.2
4.2
5.8
Corporate blogs
YouTube channels
Facebook pages
Twitter accounts
2010
2011
Percentage of Fortune Global 100 companies with...
80
70
0
10
20
30
40
60
50
33%
36%
50%
57%
54%
61%
65%
77%
Corporate blogs
YouTube channels
Facebook pages
Twitter accounts
2010
2011
insights and skills with the application of technology and the 
mastery of data.
Warren Buffett used to say in the 1970s, when he invested 
directly in IPG and Ogilvy (at three times earnings), that 
agencies represented a royalty on the international growth 
equity of US-based multinationals. Perhaps today, parent 
company investment also represents a royalty on the growth 
of new media technologies. 
The internet and other new technologies will affect 
another area – recruitment. Young, bright talent will always 
seek out new, flexible, un-bureaucratic, responsive 
companies. Staying with one company for 40 years or so – 
as my father did and my parents advised me to do – no 
longer seems the best career choice. Clearly, the era of 
apprenticeship inside large corporations is finished. It was 
weakened by the corporate downsizing of the 1980s and 
1990s, the final nail in the coffin coming with the internet 
boom of the late 1990s. However, some recent polling and 
attitudinal analysis in the UK shows younger people want 
a better work-life balance. Hedge funds, for instance, have 
until recently proved more attractive than investment banks, 
offering fixed work times and not demanding all-night toil, 
while making massive trades.
After the bankruptcies and failures of Web 1.0, many 
young people returned to the more traditional businesses 
they had left. WPP lost a number of such bright talents and 
later welcomed some back to the fold. I conducted re-entry 
interviews, and hoped to hear that the returnees were 
relieved to have their jobs back. Far from it: few grovelled. 
Worse, they admitted that given the opportunity again, they 
would take it or seize a similar one. And recently, in the last 
year or two, with the emergence of the second internet boom, 
it is clear there is another wave of bright, young people 
attracted to new technologies and opportunities within 
those companies.
Google: a friendlier frienemy
Google’s success is clear and its economic power substantial. 
It has a market capitalisation, despite recent volatility, of 
$190 billion, projected 2011 revenues of around $27 billion, 
approximately 24,500 people and growing, and 75 offices. 
The stock markets are saying something about Google’s 
valuation in relation to our own $16 billion valuation, with 
approximately 60% of the revenues at $14 billion and nearly 
100,000 people (excluding associates) in over 2,000 offices.
Put together the four largest communications services 
parent or holding companies – WPP, Omnicom, IPG and 
Publicis. You will have approximately $41 billion of revenues 
and a $46 billion market capitalisation – almost twice the 
revenue of Google, but only a 20% of the market value.
So is Google a frienemy or froe? On the amicable side, 
we are forecast to spend more than $1 billion this year.
Source: Burson-Marsteller
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Group buying/couponing takes off million unique visitors
Groupon.com
Livingsocial.com
Jan10 Feb
Mar Apr May Jun
Jul
Aug Sep
Oct
Nov Dec Jan11
0
5
10
15
20
Source: Compete.com
Source: Compete.com
Top US websites ranked by unique visitors
Rank
Domain
1
google.com
2
yahoo.com
3
facebook.com
4
youtube.com
5
bing.com
6
wikipedia.org
7
amazon.com
8
live.com
9
msn.com
10
blogspot.com
11
ebay.com
12
microsoft.com
13
ask.com
14
craigslist.org
15
go.com
16
about.com
17
aol.com
18
walmart.com
19
myspace.com
20
ehow.com
Source: Compete.com
As at January 2011
Unique visitors to social networking sites  millions
160
120
80
40
0
Jan11
Jan09
May09
Sep09
Jan10
Sep10
May10
FaceBook 
UVs
Myspace
UVs
Twitter
UVs
That tells you a little about the nature of Google’s 
business. Normally our media market share, according to 
RECMA, the independent organisation that measures scale 
and capabilities in the media sector, is around 25-30%. With 
Google it is around 5%, indicating a long tail and a heavy 
small- and medium-sized business-to-business connection. In 
a sense, Google is a mechanical Yellow Pages – opening up 
advertising to small- and medium-sized companies that 
did not advertise before.
In any event, Google clearly wants to work with us on 
building relationships with our biggest clients. We have run 
joint seminars on both sides of the Atlantic for some of our 
largest and most important clients to try to nurture mutual 
relationships and are building joint sales programs with a 
Google sales team designed specially for us. We have also 
initiated, with Google, Harvard Business School and MIT, 
a $5 million research program on the effectiveness of 
advertising on the internet.
There is no doubt that Google has become friendlier 
as it has focused its business in the teeth of the recession 
and renewed its efforts on the digital areas, where it draws 
its strength rather than the traditional media areas, where 
it had stumbled. Having hired a new CFO and cut $1 billion 
in costs, its renewed focus on search, digital display and 
particularly mobile indicates the future, with the stunted 
launch, for example, of Nexus One (which, by the way, 
disintermediates both the mobile handset industry and 
the mobile operator networks at the same time) and the 
phenomenally and ominously successful launch of the 
Android operating system (probably the most successful 
product launch ever, with the exception of Microsoft’s 
Kinect). On the less friendly side, chairman Eric Schmidt has 
said Google is targeting the advertising sector. Google 
experimented in many traditional areas such as print and 
TV, signing deals with Clear Channel and Echostar, though 
recently scaling back in some traditional areas. It has hired 
creative people to write ads and one of our creative directors 
to head up its creative efforts. It has approached US clients 
to see if it can set up a direct, electronic media-buying 
exchange. Google is also looking at electronic media 
planning and buying models, which can be accessed 
through the web. 
Google has also concluded a billion dollar deal with AOL 
and Time-Warner has indicated in internal memos that it 
planned to co-operate with Google in television, print and 
other media. The opportunity exists, although it is doubtful 
if the traditional Time-Warner operating company verticals 
will be easily persuaded to give up on digital expansion and 
opportunities to meet their budgets and targets. It also offers, 
through Google Analytics, a free analytical service and ‘new’ 
CEO Larry Page is investing heavily.
In 2006, Google made Rupert Murdoch’s purchase of 
MySpace a stunning success with a $300 million per annum, 
three-year deal for internet revenues. This against a purchase 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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Yahoo! in any way has brought greater balance to the 
markets. Our clients and our agencies favour a duopoly 
rather than a monopoly. Google’s poor handling of Chinese 
government relations and withdrawal from the Chinese 
market and issues in the EU with business practices, 
specifically in France, Italy and Germany, do not help, along 
with Federal Trade Commission issues over the AdMob 
acquisition in the US. The latter reflects the emerging battle 
between Google and Apple, highlighted in recent press 
articles that cover the increasingly fractious relationship 
between the companies that are both collaborators and 
competitors –another example where Google has become 
a frienemy.
Perhaps, one of the biggest threats to Google is from 
within. As Warren Buffett once pointed out, if Google 
was worth $250 billion then (more than his own Berkshire 
Hathaway and in the top three US companies by market 
capitalisation after only 10 years), it would have to be 
worth $350-400 billion in two or three years to justify 
that valuation. After that comment, Google’s market 
capitalisation fell, although it has now recovered significantly. 
It may be the frustrations of an 80-year-old (and friend 
of Bill Gates) fuming that it took him 40 years to build a 
company to a value of $200 billion – rather than 10 years. 
What’s more, Sergey Brin and Larry Page were worth 
$14 billion each and only in their mid-30s.
In any event, recent data on click-through rates makes 
even Google look mortal and volatility of market value on 
this scale threatens internal motivation and loyalty. Bright 
young computer engineers may be tempted to try venture 
capital opportunities in Silicon Valley, rather than continue 
to hold vulnerable equity. The answer to the question 
whether Google is a frienemy or froe, is probably both. 
Short-term friend, long-term foe although, more recently, 
Google has become a friendlier frienemy to us while making 
more frienemies on the way. Finally, the regulatory threat 
is growing with decisions and reviews on both sides of the 
Atlantic indicating governmental concerns with monopoly-
like market shares and privacy concerns.
The persuasive way to build a brand
Good editorial cannot be bought, only influenced, making 
one marketing discipline increasingly important – Public 
Relations & Public Affairs. The growth of the internet and 
the growing sophistication of polling techniques play to the 
traditional strengths of Public Relations & Public Affairs, 
where relationships need to be built with opinion formers. 
That does not mean just newspapers. Blogs, social networks 
and customer websites are a new form of editorial, as 
important if not more important than The New York Times. 
Because they are fast and have a more intimate relationship 
with their readers, blogs can cause disproportionate harm to 
price of around $680 million. And then it overcame its lack 
of success with video by buying YouTube for $1.65 billion, 
despite little or no revenues and a bunch of copyright 
lawsuits, part of which were solved by making three music 
companies momentarily YouTube share owners and $50 
million richer on the morning of the sale. Finally, it gave 
Warren Hellman and Hellman & Friedman a return of 
800-900% over two years on DoubleClick, paying over 
$3 billion – 10 times revenues and 30 times EBITDA. Entry 
to the first round of the auction was 13-14 times EBITDA, 
which we could not reach. Through DoubleClick, Google 
may control more than 80% of targeted and contextual 
internet advertising, along with much valuable client and 
publisher data. 
This last transaction awoke the dragon. Microsoft 
initiated a heavy response, not only on regulatory fronts, 
but from transactions, too. 2007’s rumours were confirmed, 
as Microsoft bid for Yahoo! (and then partnered with it in 
search), aQuantive and others. Already, Yahoo! has paid 
an infinite EBITDA multiple for Right Media. Sane strategic 
moves or irrational exuberance?
All in all, Google has opened up an attack on many 
fronts. Perhaps too many, particularly when you consider the 
other theatres it is fighting in, such as book publishing and 
robots to the moon. One gets the impression it was throwing 
a lot of mud against the wall to see if any sticks – maybe 
confining itself to search and mobile search would be best, 
as it now seems to be doing. It also needs to deal with the 
threat from Facebook which now surpasses Google in usage 
if not, most importantly, in revenue. Yahoo! has a different 
approach, working through its agency partners and believing 
in the power of people, rather than Google’s greater focus on 
technology. Certainly, the combination of Microsoft and 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
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The US and traditional media bite back

first place. In such circumstances, differentiation becomes 
critically important and differentiation is what our business 
is about.
Historically, maintaining technical or product differences 
was easier. Today, keeping a technological lead is difficult. 
Product life cycles are being shortened and brand cycles 
lengthened. Here is another example from the car industry. 
Less than a decade ago it took, perhaps, five years to design, 
produce and market a car. Today, it can be done in 18 
months. Facing faster and more aggressive Japanese, South 
Korean and German manufacturers, the Americans have 
been obliged to play catch-up. In future, Chinese and Indian 
manufacturers will stimulate further response.
So intangible differentiation is becoming more important. 
Psychological, lifestyle and emotional differences are 
significant. The suit or dress you wear, the car you drive, 
the holidays you take, how you spend your leisure time – 
all say a lot about your personality and preferences. 
Some say such intangible appeal is unsavoury. Preying on 
people’s vulnerabilities, it is argued, is unethical. Not so. 
We believe that fulfilling people’s desires or dreams is 
almost always justifiable and satisfying for the consumer – 
and it is a key role for the advertising and marketing 
services industry.
a brand – or conversely bring great benefit. PR can influence 
them in a way paid-for advertising cannot.
PR will never replace traditional advertising but in the 
new electronic media, it is a measurable way of building 
a brand. Chinese and Indian manufacturers will need its 
services to bring their products to the West, as they go 
beyond being makers of cheap generic goods to creators of 
value-added brands. Equally, burgeoning global powers will 
need PR to smooth their ways to places of influence in the 
world. And the financial institutions blamed for the credit 
crunch will need to buff up their tarnished reputations. In all 
these cases, PR will help, as we have seen over the past five 
years with the continued growth of our Public Relations & 
Public Affairs businesses.
The world still produces too much
Most sectors are facing problems similar to those in the 
car and truck industry, where companies can still make 
80 million units and consumers buy 60 million. This 
happens even after recent rationalisation among the Big 
Three in Detroit. (Amazingly, it seems that to be successful 
in capitalist America, you have to take government money 
and go into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, emerging shorn of 
pension and healthcare liabilities!) The contraction in supply 
in the US has been balanced by expansion in China, India 
and South Korea. Geely buys Volvo, Tata buys Land Rover 
and Jaguar, Hyundai becomes the new automobile Samsung.
It is difficult to find many cases where overcapacity is not 
a big, long-term issue. Tequila, perhaps, where it takes seven 
years to grow the herb. Or high fashion companies like Rolex 
and Hermes, where historically supply is limited – although 
conspicuous consumption is less acceptable after the fiscal 
crisis. It is also true that commodity-based industries such 
as oil and steel faced undercapacity issues for some time, 
being overwhelmed by Indian and Chinese demand. 
Overcapacity issues are particularly difficult to deal with in 
politically-sensitive industries like automobiles. Governments 
are not enthusiastic about shutting down capacity and 
increasing unemployment. They also like to increase capacity 
by offering inducements to locate new production facilities in 
development regions. Thus the best thing for the European car 
industry would probably have been for GM to absorb Fiat’s 
production capability. But Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s Prime 
Minister, could not countenance more unemployment in the 
Mezzogiorno. The same issue faced the British government 
with Rover, resulting in it subsidising workers to stay in work 
during the 2005 election campaign and it faced the Obama 
administration with GM and Chrysler.
The critical issue in the 19th and 20th centuries was 
how to produce goods and services, and to make sure they 
reached the consumer. In the 21st century, it is convincing 
the consumer to purchase products, services or brands in the 
Source: NVCS
Car
Truck
Industry
Average age of disposed vehicles, US
9
0
3
6
09
2010 Q3
07
08
2006
US sales of new vehicles 1980-2010  units, m
Total car
Total 
light truck
12
2
4
6
8
10
10
92
95
98
01
04
07
89
86
83
80
Source: Ward’s AutoInfoBank
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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What we think
The US and traditional media bite back

to dispose of Chrysler (what did Cerberus do on branding?), 
and the strategies of General Motors and Ford to cut capacity.
Interestingly, Japanese and Korean manufacturers, and 
some German ones too, have tended to resist excessive 
discounting, offering only $1,000 or $2,000. Instead, they 
concentrate on design, new products and branding to build 
a price premium, although even they have problems now.
If you focus on price, you build commodities. If you 
focus on innovation and differentiation, you earn a price 
premium and create brands. This seems to be the approach 
of Alan Mulally at Ford, as he brings a laser-like focus on 
the Blue Oval and has disposed of peripheral brands. 
Conclusive evidence of the inadvisability of discounting 
came when General Motors had to lower its earnings 
forecast for 2008 by 80%. Recent comments and actions 
by GM do indicate a slight difference in approach and a 
shift to more focus on product although, even after having 
taken government money, GM (and Chrysler) entered and 
exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Of the Big Three, only Ford, 
which resisted the siren calls of government aid, looked 
strong. More competition from the Chinese and Indians, 
particularly Tata, will ram the point home. Price promotion 
just does not work. The product is key.
A similarly unfortunate trend is occurring in the food 
industry. Packaged goods companies continue to try to build 
share by discounting and price competition, particularly as 
distribution concentrates. They pay higher trade discounts 
and slotting allowances and fund increased promotional 
activity. Just like the media owners, the food manufacturers 
are being squeezed by two factors – the other is obesity. 
Diabetes is a pandemic and a huge area of public concern. 
Increasingly, commodity-like food companies find themselves 
in a weak position, in contrast to the health-based or 
wellbeing segments of the packaged goods industry, which 
do not suffer from the same phenomenon. Here, companies 
are more focused on product innovation, research and 
development or science, along with branding, to build 
stronger market shares. As a result, brands and margins are 
more robust and volumes greater.
Recent accounting changes in the US forced companies 
to show gross and net sales, at least temporarily. As a result, 
more data is available on the balance between advertising 
and promotional spending. According to Kantar Retail, the 
average consumer packaged goods company spends 16.4% of 
sales on trade promotion (price cuts basically) and only 9.0% 
Bribing customers: a recipe for ruin
In a low-inflation, overcapacity market with little or no 
pricing power, many manufacturers have turned to price 
promotion and discounting. The best example is the car 
and truck industry. General Motors still seemed to believe 
until recently that it had a balance sheet advantage over its 
competitors, particularly in Detroit. Why else would it 
introduce heavily price-based competition such as five-year 
zero-coupon financing or discounts of $4,000 to $5,000 a 
unit? Probably, the most extreme case was Hyundai in Korea 
offering negative interest rates on financing – a form of cash 
giveback. One dealer in America offered a buy one, get-one-
free deal on sports utility vehicles (SUVs). Luckily, it was 
a failure. Even Toyota, with its current recall and branding 
difficulties, has resorted to discounting to maintain 
dealership loyalties and clear excess inventory.
If you give cars away it is only to be expected that 
consumers will buy them. No surprise, then, that the 
American auto market stood at 16 or 17 million units before 
the credit crisis, or that housing markets and house prices 
showed similar buoyancy, when fixed-term money was being 
given away at such low interest rates, despite the shudders 
in the sub-prime markets.
The problem is that consumers grow used to such 
discounting and wait for new car or truck introductions and 
the discounting that goes with them. Auto manufacturers 
face profitless prosperity and break-even economics at full 
capacity. Hence the decision by Dieter Zetsche at Daimler 
 If you focus on price, you build 
commodities. If you focus on innovation 
and differentiation, you earn a price 
premium and create brands
Advertising categories Jan-Sept 2010 vs. 
Jan-Sept 2009  $bn
30
40
10
0
Retail
Comms & IT
Leisure
Financial
Beverage
Food
Personal care
Auto
20
50
23%
Growth
13%
14%
3%
9%
21%
7%
20%
2009
2010
Source: GroupM/Kantar Media
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
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The US and traditional media bite back

trends – subject to client confidentiality. Kantar Retail’s 
analysts and experts in channel management supplement 
and consolidate our knowledge of global retailing.
In addition, OgilvyAction gives WPP an even broader 
distribution offer with its focus on product categories that 
have been denied access to traditional media. Our recent 
investment, Smollan, has around 20,000 people focused on 
retail brand management in South Africa, China, India and, 
next, Brazil. Recent comments by Walmart, for example, 
seem to indicate an even greater focus on global purchasing 
discounts and co-ordination with manufacturers, spelling 
more price pressure and referred pain for suppliers. At the 
same time, Procter & Gamble has taken a minority stake 
in Ocado, the UK’s leading online home shopping, direct 
delivery food network, to move closer to the customer.
The paradox of talent in an age of overcapacity
Attracting, recruiting, developing, training, motivating, 
incentivising and retaining human capital remains crucial. 
While there is certainly too much production and capacity 
in general, one resource is in ever shorter supply in the 21st 
century – talent. Every statistic points to a reduction. The 
slowing birth rate, declining marriage rates, more working 
women, higher divorce rates, more single-parent families, 
smaller families, ageing populations – all these factors are 
reducing the supply of talent. 
Even countries with strong, younger demographics, 
such as Mexico, will face similar situations by 2020. Some 
governments are trying to stimulate the birth rate. The 
Chinese government is said to be reviewing the one-baby 
policy and Russia is worried about its ageing 143 million 
population. Western Europe and Japan face significant 
longer-term economic growth issues as a result of the 
declining proportion of young people and an overall 
population decline. The elected and then rejected Prime 
Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan wanted to stimulate the 
Japanese birth rate, as one way of strengthening the 
economic growth rate. That is one reason why the rapid 
inclusion of Turkey into the EU is so important: another 
source of population growth as well as immigrants to 
stimulate economic growth and provide access to the 
Muslim world.
In a less differentiated world, it will become more and 
more important for companies to stand out through the 
quality and responsiveness of their people. Making sure 
that your people buy into your strategy and structure will 
be increasingly important. Living the brand – operationally 
– will be critical.
on brand-building advertising. Many CEOs know what they 
spend on advertising, but not on trade promotion. Often the 
latter exceeds the former, even in heavy-spending above-the-
line companies.
It may well be that manufacturers will seek to cut trade 
spending and boost brand-building advertising, particularly 
at a time when the trade is consolidating at such a rapid rate. 
Bribing customers for distribution is a recipe for ruin. Again, 
it is branding and product differentiation that must come to 
the fore.
Branding and Big Retail
One of WPP’s media partners sells 10% of its cover sales 
through Walmart. To the media owner, this is life or death. 
To Walmart it is a rounding error and the province of the 
third or fourth level of procurement, making the publisher’s 
life a misery. More people visit Walmart in the US in a week 
than go to church on a Sunday, leading some to suggest that 
the supermarket chain is the new religion. Walmart, with 
$419 billion of sales, is the seventh largest ‘country’ by retail 
sales. It accounts for 10% of US retail sales, while Tesco 
takes 14% of UK retail sales. Both enjoy 30% of grocery 
sales in their domestic markets. At a recent Microsoft CEO 
conference, Lee Scott, then boss of Walmart, targeted a 
doubling of its US market share to almost 20% of retail sales.
Some 16%, or $12 billion, of Procter & Gamble’s 
worldwide sales already go through Walmart. If this was a 
business unit on its own, it would rank among the world’s 
top 50 FMCG companies. Other examples include Kellogg 
at 21%, Kraft at 14% and PepsiCo at 12%.
Influence over, and control of, distribution is not a new 
issue. After all, advertising was developed in the 19th century 
by manufacturers to appeal over the heads of wholesalers or 
retailers direct to consumers. Increasing retail concentration 
– not only in the US but also in Europe and Latin America 
– will emphasise the importance of focusing on product 
innovation and branding, along with better understanding 
of point-of-purchase consumer behaviour and emphasis on 
packaging, display and retail design. As a senior Asia Pacific 
Procter & Gamble executive has said, depending on which 
P&G brand you are talking about, something between 30% 
and 80% of purchasing decisions are made at the point of 
sale. Procter calls it ‘the first moment of truth’.
PepsiCo chief executive Indra Nooyi calls for 
concentration on ‘retail theatre’, rather than lavish, costly 
TV commercials. Other FMCG leaders call for agencies to 
start with the shelf and not a 60-second TV commercial. 
WPP believes an understanding of distribution and retail is 
essential and it is one of our core practice development areas. 
The Store, our global retail practice, links more than 900 
professionals working on retail business and issues around 
the world, updating them on the latest developments and 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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Rates of growth in US government spending were back to 
where they were 35 years ago at the height of the Vietnam 
War. In 2005, the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, and the 
continuing demands of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq 
fuelled the government spending spree. It is no accident that 
governments in many countries are the largest advertising 
spenders: ministries use marketing to reinforce their 
policies and build electoral popularity. Perhaps for political 
reasons, former President Bush failed to deal with the twin 
fiscal and trade deficits. He chose not to raise taxes and 
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke did not hike 
interest rates even further.
All this was thrown into sharp relief by the sub-prime, 
insurance monoline, private equity and house price crises 
that started to hit hard in the third quarter of 2007. 
Everyone but Goldman Sachs seemed caught unawares – 
and, for a short time, even the masters of the universe were. 
Economic policy is in sharp reverse, with massive injections 
of liquidity and significant lowering of interest rates being 
the cornerstones of the new economics, as banks continued 
to refuse to lend to one another and third parties.
Given the massive Keynesian fiscal stimulus of around 
$13 trillion and counting being pumped into the world’s 
economy through government spending and guarantees, 
there was little doubt that the post-Lehman difficulties 
would be overcome in the short term. After all, the US and 
UK have even resorted to quantitative easing or printing 
money, not only once, but several times. But what happens 
in the long term? There seem to be two possible routes. 
First, the hair shirt route of reducing government deficits by 
cutting state spending and increasing taxes, thus increasing 
unemployment and encouraging a higher propensity to save. 
All very painful stuff as we saw on a smaller scale in the 
1970s and 1980s. (The three-day week and rubbish piling 
up in the streets is the nearest we have been to the current 
crisis since the Great Depression.) The UK Coalition 
Government has taken this route, not cutting spending, as 
some suggest, but reducing the rate of increase, as 
government spending will rise from £700 billion in 2010 to 
£740 billion in 2014. In inflation-adjusted terms spending 
falls, but you do not run a business on that basis, do you? 
With a fixed five-year political term to play with, the 
Coalition Government does have the room to deal with the 
deficit and build a comprehensive long-term economic plan 
based mainly on education, infrastructure and technology.
The other route, which is politically easier, is to inflate 
our way out long term. It will be difficult for government or 
even central banks to know when to withdraw the current 
support, particularly as President Obama suffered in the 
mid-term elections in 2010 and faces a Presidential Election 
in 2012. The UK’s ex-Prime Minister Brown suffered in 
the polls in May 2010 and Germany’s Chancellor Merkel 
suffered a crucial state election defeat in the same way. 
It would be very unpopular politically to wear the hair shirt 
Internal unity makes for a powerful army
Probably the biggest block to progress for our clients – and 
indeed ourselves – is internal politics. Turf, territory and ego 
prevent productive change. If the chairmen or CEOs of our 
clients saw what we saw, they would be horrified. If they and 
we devoted half the time that they or we spent on internal 
politics on the consumer, client or competition, they and 
we would be considerably more successful.
You could argue that most of the communication we 
co-ordinate is aimed at internal audiences rather than 
external ones. Some people, such as David Ogilvy and 
Allan Leighton (when long ago he was at retailer Asda) 
have maintained that ensuring your internal constituencies 
are on side is often more important than external ones. 
Only when internal communications are working can your 
company talk positively to customers, potential customers, 
suppliers, potential employees, journalists, analysts, 
investors, government and NGOs.
Building such virtuous circles in a uni-branded company 
is one thing. Inside a multi-branded company such as WPP, 
which has grown by acquisition, our tribes operate 
independently to deal with dis-economies of scale and client 
conflict. Things are far more complicated. Trying to ensure 
100,000 people face in the same direction at the same time 
is not easy. On the other hand, once achieved, internal 
unison and common focus make a very powerful army. 
It may not be fashionable to talk about charismatic or strong 
CEO leadership; the focus is more on the CEO as coach, 
mentor or team leader. But our experience is that the most 
successful companies with which we work have CEOs who 
understand the importance of the brand, have a strong vision 
and implement that through a strong CMO.
After all, at long last, it is understood that all business 
strategy is really marketing strategy, starting with the 
consumer and working backwards from there. Most of our 
companies develop internal communications through 
Advertising, Media Investment Management, Consumer 
Insight, Public Relations & Public Affairs, Branding & 
Identity, and Healthcare and Specialist Communications. 
However, no single operating entity exists within WPP to 
execute internal communications on a worldwide basis. 
Still an opportunity for the future.
Hair shirt or inflation? Two ways out of a deficit
The speculative blowouts around the internet in 2001 and 
2002, and sub-prime and insurance monoline crises starting 
in October 2007 were perhaps inevitable and, given their 
size, lengthy corrections were necessary. Overall, the past 
seven or so years have had their share of pain.
The US economy was in a political cycle in 2004, as the 
government used fiscal spending to stimulate the economy. 
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The US and traditional media bite back

Consolidation among media owners also continues 
unabated. NewsCorp takes and disposes of DirecTV and 
bids for BSkyB, Comcast tried to take Disney and takes 
NBC. Legislation has favoured more consolidation in the 
US and the UK, although recent events and changes in 
administrations may alter that. Even in Brazil, which has 
been fiercely protectionist, you can buy 30% of Globo or 
Editora Abril. And in Australia, recently introduced 
legislation relaxing media ownership rules triggered a media 
asset bidding frenzy. Germany allows foreign ownership of 
TV; Italy concentrates further through the Gasparri Bill. In 
Spain, the government allows a 25% share of the free-to-air 
market and the Polanco family sells a television stake to 
Berlusconi’s Mediaset, and Antenna 3 and La Sexta have had 
on-and-off merger discussions. Clients and media owners are 
not alone: retail consolidates, too. Morrison takes Safeway; 
Boots and Alliance merge and go private shortly thereafter. 
In Latin America, Walmart enters the north east of Brazil 
by acquiring part of Ahold’s interests, Lider consumes 
Carrefour’s Chilean interests, and Jumbo buys Disco in 
Argentina. Rumours surround Walmart and Carrefour 
and Home Depot and Kingfisher.
In line with the laws of big numbers, the challenge to 
Walmart, Tesco and Home Depot will be how they can 
successfully manage expansion outside their home markets. 
Tesco already has over half its square footage outside Britain 
(but much less of its profits) and has sent its UK managing 
by increasing unemployment. Much easier to inflate our 
way out of it, reducing the real value of debt and increasing 
long-term interest rates. It is doubtful, however, that the 
redistributive and healthcare policies of the US president will 
be effective to deal with the debt burden and, in any event, 
may have harmful effects on entrepreneurial motivation and 
corporate activity or eventually be rejected at the ballot box. 
US deficit reduction looks like it will be left until after 2012, 
unless there is a strike in the bond market and Pimco’s 
refusal to buy US Treasuries spreads. If this scenario plays 
out, the high-saving countries – Brazil, Russia (getting its 
act together again as oil prices rise), India, China and even, 
perhaps, Japan – will benefit and pull further away from 
the West.
Inflation, of course, as long as it is controlled, is not bad 
for our clients or us. By giving our clients pricing power, 
branding and innovation become even more important, as 
long as private label does not become too dominant. Another 
consequence of massive government stimulus, effectively state 
directed capitalism (akin to the Chinese model) is government 
as a client. Country branding, foreign direct investment, 
tourism, export stimulation, reinforcement of government 
policy are all examples of marketing needs at government 
level – witness GroupM’s win of the COI’s media buying in the 
UK. The British government was the country’s largest media 
spender but not for long, although there will be recovery.
Consolidation and the law of big numbers
The credit crisis may have slowed activity, but mergers 
continue apace. NewsCorp took Dow Jones, Google took 
DoubleClick, Microsoft snapped up aQuantive, Yahoo! took 
Right Media, Microsoft took Yahoo!, Pfizer took Wyeth, 
Merck took Schering-Plough, InBev took Anheuser-Busch, 
Vodafone went for Hutchison Essar, Danone took Royal 
Numico, Bank of America took Merrill Lynch, Carphone 
Warehouse linked with Best Buy, Thomson Corp merged 
with Reuters, Kraft ate Cadbury.
Announced global M&A activity
10
09
08
07
06
05
04
03
02
01
2.5
2.1
3.0
4.9
4.0
2.8
2.1
1.4
1.2
1.9
50
0
10
20
30
40
Deal 
value $tn
Deal 
volume 000
Source: Thomson Financial as of March 2011
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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What we think
The US and traditional media bite back

director to the West Coast to manage its US expansion as 
Fresh & Easy. It will not be simple; the demands are different 
and the model will be significantly based on rehabilitating 
blighted areas on the West Coast. Early signs are mixed.
It is no surprise that agencies are also consolidating. Havas 
and Aegis, IPG and Publicis, Dentsu selling its 15% stake in 
Publicis in 2012 to buy a global network of its own (effectively 
a rolling $1.2 billion equity put on Publicis by Dentsu), Ipsos, 
GfK and Nielsen being involved in significant consolidation 
activity in market research are all current rumours. Certainly 
in the one area where there are big economies of scale – media 
buying – consolidation is significant. To negotiate with a 
Rupert Murdoch, Sumner Redstone, Mel Karmazin, Bob Iger 
or Brian Roberts, larger scale is essential. Media buying, or 
what we call Media Investment Management, is one of WPP’s 
fastest-growing businesses, driven by clients looking for media-
buying efficiencies – rather than reductions in agencies’ 
commissions. Like-for-like revenue growth in the last four 
years has consistently been well above WPP’s overall like-for-
like growth. Often client savings on gross media budgets of 
5-10% are achievable.
Media savings are driving client centralisations and are 
a quick kill in demonstrating efficiencies, as Nestlé and 
Unilever have shown. The traditional media owners are 
not only having to fend off disintermediation by new 
technologies, but the pricing pressure from significant 
consolidation of media budgets. But even on the creative side, 
voracious procurement departments and ill-judged price 
competition by agencies themselves are driving consolidation 
(the $100 million pitch win headline in Advertising Age or 
Campaign is more satisfying than real revenue). We have seen 
two of our competitors desperately write cheques or subsidise 
account pitches to the tune of $20 to $30 million to retain 
accounts globally or in the UK – one of which decisions has 
been reversed in 18 months in our favour. Competitors seem 
to ignore the exponential risks of going short in markets that 
may be becoming increasing long, by giving undeliverable 
media pricing guarantees and failing to book consequent 
balance sheet liabilities. 
Outsourcing – an opportunity
Growing consolidation in our industry is reducing the 
available resources for clients. It is ever more difficult to find 
co-ordinated resources that can deliver what clients require, 
particularly if they are an international, multinational or 
global company. Smaller, country- or city-based operations 
cannot offer the depth of coverage or breadth of resources.
One interesting recent development is the growing 
interest in outsourcing parts or all of the marketing function. 
Clearly this is an opportunity for us and is being driven by 
CEOs’ focus on costs and their analysis of their investment 
in marketing services. Instead of concentrating solely on 
amounts spent outside the organisation, closer examination 
is being made of amounts spent inside the company. 
WPP has become involved recently in outsourcing projects 
in the automotive and internet services industries. In a 
number of other areas, including advertising, direct 
marketing and research, there is interest in what can be 
done in outsourcing costs. Clearly this tends to make internal 
marketing departments more defensive about their functions. 
We have seen much of this, for example, in the media 
buying area. 
Integrated, global and at a good price
Formed initially in response to the pressures of 
consolidation and to house conflicting accounts, the super-
agencies – or what we at WPP prefer to call the parent 
companies – really represent the full-service agencies of 
the 21st century. Long before the phrase ‘integrated 
communications’ came into common use, integrated 
communications were exactly what such full service 
agencies provided. Over time – and as a result of two 
pressures – these departments became unbundled. Clients 
sought to reduce costs, and the media and craft specialists 
within agencies, feeling under-recognised as members of a 
mother agency’s department, looked for greater recognition 
and reward in free-standing, specialist companies of their 
own. Importantly, this involved a split between the 
creative agency and the media agency, reducing costs from 
approximately 15% of gross media costs to about 12%. 
Good media people left and started independents such 
as Carat, Media Planning Group, CIA and Western 
International, which grew organically and by acquisition.
The same pattern was seen among packaging, market 
research, merchandising, PR and other specialist skills. 
Many such companies have now been re-absorbed into the 
super-agencies, but in an inter-dependent or autonomous 
form. Strong media or marketing services specialists do 
not like, understandably, to be subsumed under advertising 
professionals, particularly when they have enjoyed a 
taste of freedom.
 Clients still require, first and 
foremost, creativity and great creative 
ideas. Second, but increasingly, they 
want better co-ordination. Finally, they 
want it at the lowest possible price
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As the new specialist media investment management 
agencies have grown in power, new media technologies have 
developed and the media agencies have developed strong 
client relationships. The creative agencies have become 
increasingly discomforted and called for re-integration. 
This is not possible in our view; the toothpaste is out of 
the tube. Media agencies have declared UDI and won their 
independence. They will not report again to account, 
planning or creative management. Similarly, media agencies 
should not develop traditional creative capabilities, even 
under the guise of digital. If clients want better co-ordination 
between creative and media agency – which in some cases 
needs to be improved – the best way to do it is by housing 
the media planners in the creative agency, but with them 
remaining employed by the media agency. The creative 
agencies have paid a heavy price for ignoring the importance 
of media. The medium is increasingly becoming more 
important or as important as the message.
Today, the new super-agencies have a big opportunity. 
Clients still require, first and foremost, creativity and great 
creative ideas. Second, but increasingly, they want better 
co-ordination. Finally, they want it at the lowest possible 
price. The challenge is therefore to provide the best ideas in 
the best co-ordinated or integrated way at the lowest cost. 
Until recently, this might have been seen as a fad, but now 
the concept may be taking root. Four major multinational 
clients – three of them with origins or significant parts of 
their business in Asia – invited four or five of the largest 
holding or parent companies to present for their global 
advertising and marketing services business. In all cases 
the presentations included advertising and media 
investment management, and direct – and, in one case, 
research. All these clients were looking for an integrated 
global solution to their needs and for groups that can 
offer alternative solutions – potentially a weakness of the 
single network.
In all four pitches, a group or parent company solution 
was selected. WPP tribes were successful in two of them. 
In the third and fourth, we were constrained by significant 
conflict issues. The CEO of one eliminated parent company 
in the first round of the first pitch declared that this was not 
a trend. After at least four similar pitches, he has changed 
his mind and is pursuing a holding company approach. 
In addition, many other group pitches have taken place – 
particularly in pharmaceuticals, and Public Relations & 
Public Affairs – that have been under the trade papers’ radar. 
The only issue preventing this from being a trend is whether 
clients can be convinced of the benefits.
Our business is polarising between big and small. The 
middle of the road is becoming an increasingly difficult place 
to be, with traffic coming from both directions. Agencies 
excluded from the super-agency pitches because they lack 
the scale and resources must be feeling uncomfortable. 
Procurement and creativity
The days of 15% gross commissions – 17.65% on cost – are 
long gone. Commission levels have receded to around 12% 
gross for full service, including media planning and buying, 
or, as we put it, Media Investment Management. Production 
commissions have largely been reduced or eliminated, 
although there are interesting procurement opportunities 
for agencies themselves in television production.
While commissions persist, fees are becoming more 
popular with clients, although that momentum seems to 
have slowed recently. They now represent at least 75% of 
our business. Usually time-based, with incentives, they are 
used almost exclusively in our marketing services business, 
which accounts for 59% of our revenues. In advertising, 
they account for well over half of our business.
Fees have a number of advantages and, on balance, 
we prefer them. They are not seasonal, in a business where 
spending tends to be concentrated in the second and fourth 
quarters. January, however, has generally become a more 
rewarding month. If clients cut or do not spend or 
continually re-brief us, we still get paid.
Finally, when fee-driven, we tend to plan our annual 
business better. Fees have also tended to dampen volatility 
in our operating margins. 
I cannot remember a time, in the 36 or so years I have 
been in the industry, when clients have been so focused on 
cost. Given overcapacity, low inflation and lack of pricing 
power and high management turnover and, most 
importantly, the shadow of the economic crisis and the near 
Armageddon or Apocalypse Now of the Lehman weekend, 
that is perhaps understandable. However, the question 
remains whether the procurement process can successfully 
purchase creative services in the way door handles or widgets 
are bought. The emphasis on procurement seemed to start 
in the pharmaceutical industry and then moved elsewhere. 
It may work in media buying, where there are clearly 
economies of scale, but not necessarily in media planning 
or other creative areas.
It is true we must improve our processes and eliminate 
waste, but can you buy ideas or our people’s creativity in 
such a mechanical way? Increasingly, pressure on price will 
drive our best creative resources to clients and categories 
where their services are rewarded appropriately. Many 
 The medium is increasingly 
becoming more important or as 
important as the message
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marketing clients still appreciate that great advertising ideas 
and copy deliver outstanding results. Reducing marketing 
costs indiscriminately, particularly in industries with heavy 
fixed production costs, will only result in having to spread 
those costs over fewer unit sales.
The procurement process seems to be based on the idea 
that what we provide is low value-added and that, because 
we are dependent on significant revenues from large clients, 
we can be squeezed. This thinking may be flawed. First, 
what we do is critical. There is a limit to how far costs can 
be reduced; but there is almost no limit (apart from 100% 
market share) to how far you can grow revenues. Second, 
in an increasingly undifferentiated world, what we do – 
differentiate products and services, tangibly and intangibly 
– is becoming more and more important, particularly in the 
slower-growth markets of the US and Western Europe, where 
overcapacity, commoditisation and retail concentration are 
more pressing issues.
Corporate responsibility: an essential 
ingredient in brand-building
Many companies have made an increasingly important virtue 
and value of positioning their brand, goods or services as 
corporately responsible. If you are in the business of building 
brands, products, services or corporate brands in the long 
term, this is surely a given. If you want to build long-term 
profitability, you cannot dismiss the environment, society, 
government, NGOs or the press. Indeed, you would only 
ignore these constituencies if you were in business for a 
quick buck or short-term profit. We already know from our 
market research agencies that consumers and people inside 
companies value socially-responsible companies more highly.
HSBC in banking, and Walmart and M&S in retail are 
good examples of corporate responsibility. However, three 
relatively recent events have heightened the importance 
and significance of CR, or Global Corporate Citizenship, 
and made them very fashionable. First, the deal between 
Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, involving an exchange of 
Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway stocks, to enable the 
Gates Foundation to do even greater charitable work. 
Second, the decision by Sir Richard Branson, at the second 
Clinton Global Initiative in New York, to donate up to 
$3 billion in profits from his Virgin companies to good 
causes. And finally, the decision by James Murdoch at 
BSkyB and his father Rupert Murdoch at NewsCorp to 
espouse carbon neutrality. All of these events have made it 
fashionable for chairmen and CEOs to embrace corporate 
responsibility – and embarrassing for them if they do not.
People will not consume luxury in the way they did until 
recently, particularly in Western markets, at least for some 
considerable time in the future. Responsible consumption 
will become more important, rather than conspicuous 
consumption. Consuming less in a more socially responsible 
way will be crucial – in relation to society, the environment 
and economy. Thus social responsibility will be more 
significant to the consumer, our clients, governments, 
NGOs and all constituencies.
Conclusion
2010 saw a faster recovery than we thought possible. As 
predicted, growth returned in the second quarter, mainly due 
to easy comparatives, but accelerated faster than anticipated 
for the rest of the year and into 2011. Overall, 2011 should 
grow at a similar rate at around 5% like-for-like, as clients 
seek top-line growth in the faster-growing markets and the 
US continues to stabilise. 2012 should be good too, boosted 
by the maxi-quadrennial events of the Summer Olympics in 
London, the European Football Championships in Poland 
and Ukraine, and the US presidential election, which should 
see political spending of at least $4 billion. 2013, however, 
may a tougher year, as the newly re-elected or elected US 
president finally wrestles with the deficit. As we see in 
the differences between US and UK economic policies, 
governments are now faced with a dilemma, a choice 
between the pain of higher taxes combined with government 
cuts to reduce the deficit – or inflating our way out of trouble. 
We can make it easier in the long term by wearing the hair 
shirt now, slashing state spending and raising taxes, with 
the resulting loss of jobs. Or we can make it easier in the 
short term by stoking inflation, with long-term interest rates 
rising. But it is worth pausing to consider this paradox: 
we are being asked to spend and lend our way out of this 
recession. That, surely, is what got us into crisis in the 
first place.
Whatever the conclusion, WPP’s strategy remains 
appropriate. New geographical markets, new media and 
consumer insights will become more important. Furthermore, 
globalisation, overcapacity and the shortage of human capital, 
the web, internal communications, concentrating distribution, 
corporate responsibility, the government as a client, and a 
balance between global and local organisational structures, 
will continue to drive branding and differentiation, and 
advertising and marketing services. 
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On the Incalculable Benefit 
of Not Going Backwards
et’s invent a market: an 
established, low-tech, low-cost, 
repeat-purchase market. Let’s 
call it the greeby market. 
Greebies are used in over 80% 
of households and are bought, on 
average, every three weeks. There 
are five competing national greeby 
brands, with market shares ranging 
from 36% to 9%. Most big retailers 
have their own-brand greebies. By 
volume, the total greeby market has 
been almost static for the last 10 years. 
Every year, the five companies 
making greebies draw up their 
marketing plans and hold sales 
conferences. Every one of those 
companies allocates significant 
marketing funds and sets its annual 
marketing objectives. And every one of 
those objectives is set in terms of some 
measurable market gain: more sales, 
more share or more both. In 2012, 
most of their conferences will be called 
Going for Gold!
Yet, if the last 10 years are anything 
to go by, some of those companies are 
going to be disappointed. Certainly, 
they can’t all come first; they can’t all 
do better than each other. There’s not 
enough room on that centre podium 
for all five contestants. 
When concerned observers – 
both inside and outside marketing 
companies – think about the 
purpose and value of marketing 
expenditures, it is this apparent futility 
that strikes them most. All that effort, 
all that time, all that money: but to 
what end? 

In 1975 at a market research 
conference, Stephen King delivered a 
paper called Practical Progress from 
a Theory of Advertisements* and in it 
he challenged the common assumption 
that all advertising worked in a similar 
way. For example: one typical and 
much-followed model was called 
AIDA and it held that all advertising, 
irrespective of purpose, must begin by 
attracting Attention before arousing 
Interest which in turn creates the 
Desire that finally leads to Action. 
It was Stephen King’s strong belief 
that no one model made universal 
sense and that different advertising 
campaigns worked in markedly 
different ways.
So he concentrated his attention not 
on advertising generally – which is no 
more than an available channel of 
communication – but on the many 
different roles that advertisements can 
play. And he invented a simple way of 
distinguishing between them that he 
called a Scale of Immediacy. 
At the very top of this scale, the 
clear purpose of any advertisement is 
to achieve immediate action. It’s long 
been called direct response. It sets 
out to get people to pick up a phone, 
to write out a cheque, to click on 
‘confirm’: it’s about as immediate as it 
gets. No intervening stage or process 
is required: ad leads directly to action. 
Transparently easy to understand and 
marvellously easy to evaluate, this most 
immediate function of advertising 
is seldom contentious. 
But as the Scale of Immediacy 
progresses, the expectation of 
immediate action becomes more and 
more remote: from ‘Seek information’, 
through ‘Modify Attitudes’ until we 
reach the least immediate of them all 
which King calls ‘Reinforce Attitudes.’ 
And it’s this last role for advertising 
that has always generated more than 
its fair share of academic squabbling, 
social unease, creative posturing and 
financial directors’ bewilderment. 
It also possesses a couple of 
characteristics that make it unlike any 
other and to which we shall return. 
Most commonly employed by brand 
leaders in repeat purchase categories, 
the purpose of advertising campaigns 
designed to Reinforce Attitudes is 
primarily one of brand protection. 
To quote King: “This is one of the 
most common and fundamental roles 
for advertising; yet because it is mainly 
defensive and is dealing with the 
stability and intensity of attitude, 
it is always going to be very hard to 
measure.” It is indeed infuriatingly 
hard to measure; it makes the 
indisputable certainty of an online sale 
confirmed or a cheque received seem 
wonderfully concrete. As Henry 
Higgins (or indeed Lord Leverhulme) 
might have said: “Why can’t all 
advertising be like that?” 
Advertising designed mainly to 
confirm existing users in the wisdom 
of their existing choice suffers from 
another huge disadvantage. As an 
objective, it doesn’t sound very manly.
Let us say you are the marketing 
director of the brand of greebies that 
already enjoys a 36% share. Your first 
responsibility to your board will be to 
By Jeremy Bullmore
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
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What we think

continue to reinvigorate that brand’s 
salience – its fame, its relevance, its 
wantability – and thus protect its 
margins. In other words, you will 
want your advertising to be at least as 
positive an influence on profit as on 
sales volume. You will also, with such 
a healthy brand share, be keen to repel 
raiders; to fight off challenger brands 
and deter any ambitious newcomer 
from invading your territory.
These are all extremely respectable 
– indeed, commercially essential – 
objectives. If your R&D department 
continues to ensure that your particular 
greeby’s functional performance 
continues to be competitive, then the 
right advertising backed by the right 
amount of money will certainly help you 
achieve them. The trouble is, such wholly 
admirable objectives may not go down a 
storm at your national sales conference. 
Marketing’s favourite word is aggressive. 
All objectives have to be pursued 
aggressively. Setting out to reinforce 
existing attitudes (with absolutely no 
mention of any incremental behaviour) 
lacks a bit of bite.
“By the end of this year, guys and 
girls, thanks to your own quite 
extraordinary efforts and after the 
expenditure of a record-breaking 
marketing budget, I am utterly 
confident that we shall be able to report 
that we haven’t gone backwards.” 
All around you, your competitors 
are inspiring their workers into 
Going for Gold; and you’re 
attempting to whip your own team 
into a frenzy of enthusiasm for going 
nowhere. No wonder one of the most 
valuable roles for advertising goes 
relatively unhonoured. 
But, however unhonoured, this role for 
advertising offers creative challenges, 
creative opportunities and creative 
rewards unlike any other: and they 
stem from its very nature. Much 
advertising (though not as much as 
some have claimed) very properly sets 
out to convert: from non-user to user
or from occasional user to regular
user. And advertisements aiming for
a conversion effect naturally tend 
towards the rational; competitive
verbal claims often play a major part.
When setting out to reinforce 
existing attitudes, however – when 
the aim is to raise a brand’s profile, 
differentiate through style rather than 
function and inspire irrational affection 
in the hearts of millions – then 
emotional factors should always be 
predominant. (Seventy years ago James 
Webb Young** called this function 
“adding a value not in the product.”) 
When putting a definitive rational 
argument for a brand, the conventional, 
paid-for advertisement faces little 
competition from other forms of 
marketing communication. But when 
the goal is the bestowing of an almost 
indefinable personality onto an 
inanimate object, then today’s marketing 
director has a vast and colourful box 
of toys from which to choose.
Attitudes are affected more by 
simple association than by argument. 
Brand values are absorbed 
unconsciously rather than noted 
and remembered. It’s not so much 
persuasion as anthropomorphism. 
Great packaging, almost certainly 
under-rated as a contributor to brand 
equity, has always worked this way.
Today, and particularly for this 
specific marketing need, marketing 
companies and their agencies are 
faced with a range of choices both 
exhilarating and deeply daunting. 
The traditional, paid-for 
advertising campaign is probably still 
the standard-bearer; but it needs an 
inspired creative approach. Moreover, 
its commercial logic may not be 
immediately apparent and almost 
by definition it will be formidably 
difficult to pretest and prejustify. 
But sponsorship – the right 
sponsorship – can do this job as well; 
and so can branded content; and so can 
product placement; and so can stunts 
and events; and so can thoughtfully 
designed PR; and so can a precisely 
tailored presence on social media. (As 
always, a brand’s choice of medium will 
itself say something important about 
that brand’s personality and its attitude 
to life.)
Reinforcing and reinvigorating 
attitudes, over a great many years, may 
provide a marketing company’s most 
profitable return on its communications 
investment; but that return may never 
be totally measurable. And because of 
this harsh fact – and because it’s not 
overtly aggressive, because it deals 
more with the emotions than with 
the reason, and because much of it 
is designed to protect rather than 
conquer – it is this category of brand 
communication that provides the 
fiercest test of marketing talent. In no 
other aspect of marketing is personal 
judgement both so critical and at the 
same time so exposed. 
Jeremy Bullmore is a member 
of the WPP Advisory Board




*	 Practical Progress from a Theory of Advertisements, 
Market Research Society Conference, 1975. The resulting 
paper can be found in full, with an introduction by 
Simon Clemmow, in A Master Class in Brand Planning: 
The Timeless Works of Stephen King, edited by Judie 
Lannon and Merry Baskin, John Wiley, 2007.
**	How to Become an Advertising Man, James Webb 
Young, 1963. 
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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What we think
On the Incalculable Benefit of Not Going Backwards

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
106
Non-executive chairman
Philip Lader
Chairman of the Nomination Committee
Member of the Compensation Committee
Executive directors
Sir Martin Sorrell
Chief executive
Paul Richardson
Finance director 
Chairman of the Corporate Responsibility Committee
Mark Read
Strategy director
Chief executive, WPP Digital 
Non-executive directors
Colin Day
Member of the Audit Committee and Compensation Committee
Esther Dyson
Member of the Compensation Committee and 
Nomination Committee
Orit Gadiesh
Member of the Nomination Committee
Ruigang Li
Stanley (Bud) Morten
Senior independent director (until April 2010)
Koichiro Naganuma 
Lubna Olayan 
Member of the Nomination Committee
John Quelch 
Jeffrey Rosen 
Chairman of the Compensation Committee
Member of the Audit Committee
Senior independent director (from April 2010)
Timothy Shriver
Member of the Compensation Committee
Paul Spencer
Chairman of the Audit Committee
Sol Trujillo
Member of the Audit Committee
Members of the Advisory Board
Jeremy Bullmore
John Jackson
Richard Rivers
Company Secretary
Marie Capes
Board of Directors
Philip Lader Non-executive chairman Age 65
Philip Lader was appointed chairman in 2001. The US 
Ambassador to the Court of St James’s from 1997 to 2001, 
he previously served in several senior executive roles in the 
US Government, including as a Member of the President’s 
Cabinet and as White House Deputy Chief of Staff. Before 
entering government service, he was executive vice president 
of the company managing the late Sir James Goldsmith’s US 
holdings and president of both a prominent American real 
estate company and universities in the US and Australia. 
A lawyer, he is also a Senior Advisor to Morgan Stanley, 
a director of Marathon Oil, AES and Rusal Corporations, 
a trustee of the Smithsonian Museum of American History 
and the Atlantic Council and a member of the Council on 
Foreign Relations.
Sir Martin Sorrell Chief executive Age 66
Sir Martin Sorrell joined WPP in 1986 as a director, 
becoming Group chief executive in the same year. He is a 
non-executive director of Formula One  msorrell@wpp.com
Paul Richardson Finance director Age 53
Paul Richardson became Group finance director of WPP in 
1996 after four years with the Company as director of treasury. 
He is responsible for the Group’s worldwide functions in 
finance, information technology, procurement, property, 
treasury, taxation, internal audit and corporate responsibility.
He is a chartered accountant and fellow of the Association 
of Corporate Treasurers. He is a non-executive director of 
CEVA Group plc, Chime Communications PLC and STW 
Communications Group Limited in Australia, the last two being 
companies associated with the Group  prichardson@wpp.com
Mark Read Strategy director and CEO, WPP Digital Age 44
Mark Read was appointed a director in March 2005. He has 
been WPP’s director of strategy since 2002 and is also chief 
executive of WPP Digital. He is a member of the Supervisory 
Board of HighCo and a director of CHI & Partners. He 
worked at WPP between 1989 and 1995 in both parent 
company and operating company roles. Prior to rejoining 
WPP in 2002, he was a principal at the consultancy firm 
of Booz-Allen & Hamilton and founded and developed 
the company WebRewards in the UK  mread@wpp.com
Who runs WPP

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Who runs WPP
Colin Day Non-executive director Age 56
Colin Day was appointed a director in July 2005. He is the 
chief executive of Filtrona plc and a non-executive director 
of Amec. He was the group finance director of Reckitt 
Benckiser plc, until April 2011, having been appointed to its 
board in September 2000. Prior to joining Reckitt Benckiser 
he was group finance director of Aegis Group plc and 
previously held a number of senior finance positions with 
ABB Group plc and De La Rue Group plc. He was a non-
executive director of Vero Group plc until 1998, Bell Group 
plc until 2004, Imperial Tobacco plc until February 2007, 
easyJet plc until 30 September 2005 and Cadbury plc until 2010.
Esther Dyson Non-executive director Age 59
Esther Dyson was appointed a director in 1999. In 2004 she 
sold her company, EDventure Holdings, to CNET Networks, 
the US-based interactive media company now owned by CBS. 
She left CNET at the end of 2006 and now operates as an 
independent investor and writer, again under the name of 
EDventure. She has been highly influential for the past 
20 years on the basis of her insights into online/information 
technology markets and their social impact worldwide, 
including the emerging markets of Central and Eastern 
Europe and Asia. 
An active investor as well as an analyst/observer, she 
participated in the sale of Flickr to Yahoo! and of Medstory 
and Powerset to Microsoft. She sits on the boards of non-
listed start-ups including Evernote (US), 23andMe (US), 
Airship Ventures (US), Eventful.com (US), Meetup Inc. 
(US), NewspaperDirect (Canada), Voxiva (US) and Yandex 
(Russia). She is also active in public affairs and was founding 
chairman of ICANN, the domain name policy agency, from 
1998 to 2000. She currently sits on the board of the Sunlight 
Foundation, which advocates transparency in government.
Orit Gadiesh Non-executive director Age 60
Orit Gadiesh was appointed a director in April 2004. She is 
chairman of Bain & Company, Inc. and a world-renowned 
expert on management and corporate strategy. She holds an 
MBA from Harvard Business School and was a Baker Scholar. 
She is a member of the International Advisory Board at 
Haute Ecole Commerciale in France, as well as a member 
of the Foundation Board for the World Economic Forum 
and the Board of Directors of The Peres Institute for Peace. 
She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and 
a trustee for Eisenhower Fellowships.
Ruigang Li Non-executive director Age 41
Ruigang Li was appointed a director in October 2010. He is 
President of Shanghai Media Group (SMG) a multimedia 
conglomerate based in Shanghai. Since 2002, under Ruigang’s 
leadership, SMG has maintained the most complete portfolio of 
media and related businesses, including television, radio, print 
media, digital media, home shopping, content distribution, 
performing arts, training, and has become the largest content 
and service provider and distributor of Chinese language 
programs in the Chinese Mainland. Ruigang is also the 
Chairman of China Media Capital (CMC), China’s first and 
only sovereign private equity fund dedicated to the media sector 
both within China and abroad. CMC recently announced a 
partnership with News Corporation’s Star China to develop 
their joint interests in developing growth opportunities in the 
operational and investment platforms in China and overseas 
markets. Prior to his current role, Ruigang was a visiting scholar 
at Columbia University in New York.
Stanley (Bud) Morten Non-executive director Age 67
Bud Morten was appointed a director in 1991. He is 
a consultant, private investor and one of the five public 
members of the Investment Advisory Council of the State 
of Connecticut. From 2003 to 2009 he was the Independent 
Consultant to Citigroup/Smith Barney with responsibility 
for its independent research requirements. 
Previously he was the chief operating officer of Punk, 
Ziegel & Co, a New York investment banking firm with 
a focus on the healthcare and technology industries. Before 
that he was the managing director of the equity division 
of Wertheim Schroder & Co, Inc. in New York. He is a 
former non-executive director of Register.com, which 
was sold to a private equity firm in November 2005. 
He is also a non-executive director of The Motley Fool, 
Inc., and of Darien Rowayton Bank, both of which are 
private companies.
Koichiro Naganuma Non-executive director Age 66
Koichiro Naganuma was appointed a director in February 
2004. He is chairman of the Board of Asatsu-DK Inc., 
also known as ADK. He is also vice chairman of Japan 
Advertising Association. Joining the agency in 1981, 
he was president and Group CEO from 1991-2010.
ADK is Japan’s third largest advertising and 
communications company, and 10th largest in the world.

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Who runs WPP
Timothy (Tim) Shriver Non-executive director Age 51
Tim Shriver was appointed a director in August 2007. He is 
Chairman and CEO of Special Olympics, serving over three 
million Special Olympic athletes and their families in 180 
countries. In recent years, he has produced films for Disney, 
Dream Works and Fox Searchlight and Hallmark Hall of Fame. 
He co-founded the Collaborative for Academic, Social 
and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and currently chairs the 
CASEL Board. He is a member of the Council on Foreign 
Relations and is also a non-executive director of the Malaria 
No More, Neogenix Oncology, and he is the founder and 
President of the Center for Interface Action on Global Poverty. 
Paul Spencer Non-executive director Age 61
Paul Spencer was appointed a director in April 2004. 
He is a financier with 20 years’ experience in the financial 
management of a number of blue-chip companies, including 
British Leyland PLC, Rolls-Royce PLC, Hanson PLC and 
Royal & Sun Alliance PLC. 
He has held a number of non-executive directorships 
including until 2009 chairman of NS and I (National 
Savings). He is currently chairman of State Street Managed 
Pension Funds and chairs audit at TR Property Investment 
Trust PLC. He is the independent Trustee of the BAT, BT, 
BA and Rolls-Royce Pension Funds. In the 2010 Honours 
he was awarded a CBE for services to the financial services 
industry. He is a governor of the charity Motability.
Sol Trujillo Non-executive director Age 59
Sol Trujillo was appointed a director in October 2010. He is 
a highly experienced international business executive, who 
brings 30 years of international business experience to the 
Board, having served as CEO on three continents in media 
communications organisations: US West (now Qwest), 
Orange (now France Telecom) and Telstra, the Australian 
communications company. Recognised as a broadband and 
wireless pioneer, he has a reputation as an innovator in the 
digital space, described by President Reagan’s science advisor 
as “the nation’s first digital telecom CEO”. He has managed 
operations and remains active in business affairs in both 
developed and fast-growing markets from China and 
South Asia to Europe, North America, Africa and the 
Middle East… more than 20 countries around the world. 
He is a member of corporate boards in the US, EU and 
China – including in the US, Target and Promerica Bank; 
in Europe, Weather Investments S.p.A in Italy; and in Asia, 
Silk Road Technologies in China, where he is board chairman.
In the public sector, Mr Trujillo served as a trade policy 
advisor to the Clinton and Bush administrations and remains 
active on public policy issues related to immigration, trade, 
productivity and fiscal affairs.
Lubna Olayan Non-executive director Age 55
Lubna Olayan was appointed a director in March 2005.
Ms Olayan is the deputy chairperson and chief executive 
officer of the Olayan Financing Company, a subsidiary and 
the holding entity for the Olayan Group’s operations in the 
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.
Ms Olayan is a Board Member of two publicly listed 
companies, the Saudi Hollandi Bank and  Schlumberger, 
and on the International Advisory Board of Akbank, 
Rolls-Royce and the National Bank of Kuwait. She is on the 
Board of Trustees of Cornell University, INSEAD and 
KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and 
Technology) and on the Board of DSCA (Down Syndrome 
Charitable Association) and Al Fanar, the first Arab venture 
philanthropy organisation in the Arab region. 
John Quelch Non-executive director Age 59
John Quelch was appointed a director in 1988. He is the Dean, 
Vice President and Distinguished Professor of International 
Management at the China Europe International Business 
School. Between 2001 and 2011 he was the Lincoln Filene 
Professor of Business Administration and Senior Associate 
Dean at Harvard Business School. Between 1998 and 2001 
he was Dean of the London Business School. Between 2002 
and 2011 he served as chairman of the Massachusetts Port 
Authority, honorary counsel general of the Kingdom of 
Morocco in New England and as honorary chairman of 
the British American Business Council of New England. 
Professor Quelch’s writings focus on global business 
practice in emerging as well as developed markets, 
international marketing and the role of the multinational 
corporation and the nation state. He is a non-executive 
director of Alere, Inc and a member of the Council on 
Foreign Relations. He served previously on the boards 
of Blue Circle Industries plc, easyJet plc, Pentland Group plc, 
Pepsi Bottling Group and Reebok International Limited.
Jeffrey A. Rosen Non-executive director Age 63
Jeffrey Rosen was appointed a director in December 2004. 
He is a deputy chairman and managing director of Lazard. 
He has over 30 years’ experience in international investment 
banking and corporate finance. He is a member of the Council 
on Foreign Relations and is President of the Board of Trustees 
of the International Center of Photography in New York.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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Who runs WPP
Advisors to the Board
Stockbrokers
Merrill Lynch International 
Corporate Broking
2 King Edward Street
London EC1A 1HQ
Auditors and accountancy advisors
Deloitte LLP
2 New Street Square
London EC4A 3BZ
Ernst & Young LLP
1 More London Place
London SE1 2AF
KPMG LLP
1 Puddle Dock
London EC4V 3DS
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
1 Embankment Place
London WC2N 6RH
Remuneration consultants
Towers Watson
71 High Holborn
London WC1V 6TP
Property advisors
CB Richard Ellis
200 Park Avenue
New York NY 10166
Cushman & Wakefield 
1290 Avenue of the Americas 
New York NY 10104-6178 
James Andrew International
72/75 Marylebone High Street
London W1U 5JW
Jones Lang LaSalle
22 Hanover Square
London W1A 2BN
Investment bankers
Citigroup
Citigroup Centre
33 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London E14 5LB
Goldman Sachs International Ltd
Peterborough Court
133 Fleet Street 
London EC4A 2BB
HSBC
8 Canada Square
London E14 5HQ
Merrill Lynch International
2 King Edward Street
London EC1A 1HQ
Morgan Stanley & Co Limited
20 Bank Street
Canary Wharf
London E14 4QA
Legal advisors
Allen & Overy LLP
One Bishops Square
London E1 6AO
Davis & Gilbert LLP
1740 Broadway
New York NY 10019
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
65 Fleet Street
London EC4Y 1HS
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
1 New York Plaza
New York NY 10004
Squire Sanders Hammonds
7 Devonshire Square
Cutlers Gardens
London EC2M 4YH
Mourant du Feu & Jeune
22 Grenville Street
St Helier
Jersey JE4 8PX

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
111
Review of the Company’s governance 
and the Nomination Committee
Dear share owner
O
ur chief executive has described the business environment of recent 
years as “untidy”, if not “brutal”. And the world continues to witness 
an extraordinary array of natural, geopolitical and economic challenges. 
In such a tumultuous context, your Board is particularly pleased to report the 
encouraging results of the Group’s 25th anniversary year and our prospects 
for 2011.
Management’s indefatigable entrepreneurship – notwithstanding the Group’s 
substantial size, global scope and industry position is, we believe, central to 
these results. Our articulated long-term strategy – geographic and product 
diversification and investment in digital and consumer insight businesses – is 
unwavering. The past year’s results underscore the soundness of these objectives. 
Yet they also evidence the fact that the Group, while continuing to strengthen 
its advertising and media management competencies, has essentially become 
a comprehensive communications services company, one with an increasing 
focus on the power of proprietary data and analytics.
Day-to-day operations were, of course, no less important to these results. 
We are heartened by WPP companies’ new-business wins and leading position in 
serving the world’s major clients. We congratulate managers at every level for their 
adroit calibration of personnel and expenses in an especially demanding 
environment. We recognise the critical role of parent company colleagues whose 
Once again, this year the Directors’ report 
includes reviews from the chairmen of three 
Board committees: Philip Lader, as chairman of 
the Company and its Nomination Committee; 
Paul Spencer, as chairman of the Audit 
Committee; and Jeffrey Rosen, as chairman of 
the Compensation Committee. It also contains 
an analysis of the Company’s compliance 
with statutory and regulatory requirements.
How we behave
Directors’ report

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
112
How we behave
Directors’ report
operating company leaders, professional advisors and share 
owners, among others, met innumerable times during the 
year. Few weeks go by without some gathering or 
teleconference of your directors; never a day passes without 
directors exchanging emails with each other, me and/or the 
Group’s CEO, always with his legendary instant response.
In response to 2010’s specific challenges, your Board 
undertook a series of initiatives exceeding our customary 
governance disciplines. For example, we:
	 increased the frequency of consultation with the Group 
chief executive and finance director regarding responses to 
uncertain and fragile economic and financial market 
conditions, with income statement and balance sheet issues 
addressed frequently;
	 reviewed closely the integration and performance of TNS 
and other recent and prior acquisitions, all examined in the 
context of our diverse portfolio of complementary companies’ 
contributions to attainment of the Group’s strategic objectives;
	 sought to further our understanding of rapidly-growing 
geographic markets, especially with regular briefings on 
WPP’s activities in Asia, the aforementioned Board meeting’s 
focus on China, and the addition of two new directors, one 
a prominent Chinese media business leader, and the other 
a former chief executive who has led telecommunications 
companies on several continents;
	 strengthened the Board’s and senior management’s 
grasp of new media, their commercial and social dimensions, 
and the ways in which they are transforming consumer 
behaviour, as well as the global communications and 
marketing services industry;
	 dedicated many hours to the formulation and 
management of performance-driven remuneration programs 
– ranging from the Group chief executive’s to those of more 
than 50 key personnel – an undertaking which is essential 
to the Group’s recruitment, motivation and retention of the 
talent that in turn is critical to WPP’s success programs 
that align employees’ interests with those of share owners 
and optimises the budgetary flexibility of our variable 
personnel costs;
	 reviewed and approved financial statements, critical 
accounting policies upon which they are based, and 
supporting systems of reporting and internal controls; 
analysing not only the systems’ accuracy, but their 
responsiveness to liquidity and financing requirements in 
stressful circumstances;
	 at Board meetings throughout the year, routinely engaged 
in intense give-and-take and informal discussions with WPP 
business leaders, such as the CEOs of the Group’s major 
brands and scores of key personnel, as well as clients, 
government officials, executives of relevant companies 
and securities analysts; and
	 examined operating companies’ illustrative creative 
products, client services and key personnel transitions. 
The Group chief executive continued the Brand Check 
talent and treasury management, acquisitions and cross-
operating company leadership have contributed substantially 
to this anniversary year’s considerable achievements.
As we trust our fellow share owners would agree, 
the manner, intensity and breadth of WPP’s corporate 
governance met standards consistent with the operating 
team’s superb performance. We have sought to exercise:
	 rigorous, ‘common-sense’ Board oversight, modelled 
on the evolution of best practices, particularly the increasing 
focus on all aspects of risk management;
	 unceasing re-evaluation of management’s tactical 
implementation of the Group’s strategic objectives and the 
operating companies’ financial and creative performance;
	 diligent assessment and review of finance, industry 
and operations indicators; and
	 vigilant stewardship of WPP’s considerable assets, 
tangible and intangible.
The Group’s 2011 is promising… and we trust will likely 
be considerably more stable than the last several years. But 
there will be no relaxation of these standards.
As one measure of your Board’s commitment, we met, as 
a full Board or in committees, 30 times in 2010. Our regular 
full Board meetings were in Dublin and New York; but to 
enhance our understanding of the increasing importance of 
WPP’s Asian activities, we met with the Group’s regional 
leaders, major clients and public officials in Shanghai, too. 
Additionally and informally, directors, senior management, 
Report by Philip Lader (above)
Chairman of the Company 
and chairman of the Nomination Committee

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
113
How we behave
Directors’ report
Lists of the world’s leading business women routinely include 
the three women who serve on your Board – Esther Dyson 
– the prominent internet pioneer, investor and commentator, 
Orit Gadiesh – chairman of global management consultants, 
Bain & Company, and Lubna Olayan – chief executive of the 
multinational Olayan Financing Company. Marie Capes 
serves as Company Secretary. Currently, 54% of the Group’s 
employees are female; as are 48% of WPP’s senior 
management. Your Board, the Group’s chief executive and 
this chairman are committed to continuing to seek the 
benefits of a wide diversity of backgrounds and perspectives 
throughout the Group.
As examples of the continuing broadening of current 
directors’ experience, congratulations are in order for John 
Quelch and Colin Day. Professor Quelch’s global leadership 
in the academic field of marketing has long been recognised 
as London Business School Dean and Harvard Business 
School senior associate Dean and professor, as well as a 
past director of such companies as Pepsi Bottling, Reebok, 
easyJet and Blue Circle Industries. He was recently named 
Dean of the prestigious China Europe International Business 
School and was presented with an Honorary Doctorate from 
The University of Hanoi. 
Colin Day’s work as Reckitt Benckiser’s finance director 
since 2000 has been widely applauded; his prior experience 
as Aegis plc’s finance director has been directly relevant to 
WPP’s media investment management business; and his prior 
board experience has included Cadbury and Imperial 
Tobacco. In his new role as chief executive of Filtrona plc, the 
international supplier of specialty plastic and fibre products, 
Colin will continue to expand the range of his valuable 
insights for our Board.
Among the various other honours received by directors 
of the Company this year, none was more well-deserved 
than the award of the rank of Commander of the Order 
of the British Empire (CBE) to Paul Spencer in recognition 
of his contributions to the financial services industry. 
Paul’s extensive experience in financial management and 
supervision – including his current service as chairman of 
State Street Managed Pension Funds and as the Independent 
Trustee of the BAT, BT, BA and Rolls-Royce Pension Funds 
– is reflected in the exacting standards he maintains as 
chairman of your Board’s Audit Committee.
Just as we observe the transitions in our Board colleagues’ 
professional lives, WPP’s directors devote considerable 
attention to succession planning for the Group’s CEO and 
other key executives. For the past eight years, and again in 
2010, your entire Board devoted major parts of two meetings 
to management development for some 200 senior managers 
and ‘rising stars’. Some of the Group’s operating companies, 
if independent, would rank among our industry’s largest, 
and we are therefore fortunate to have an impressive roster 
of seasoned executives who are capable of undertaking 
parent company or other key roles.
practice, at every Board meeting, not only highlighting 
significant issues relating to talent, clients and competitors, 
but also inviting non-executive directors’ detailed, far- 
ranging consideration of individual operating companies’ 
performance, geopolitical and industry-specific phenomena, 
and potentially disruptive or beneficial events and trends. 
Business risks are gauged at every meeting reflecting the fact 
that risk management continues to be at the forefront of your 
Board’s attention.
Effective risk management, as well as strategy 
development and operations ovesight are best achieved 
through the focused concern of broad-gauged directors. 
The men and women who serve on your Board are broadly 
recognised as remarkably independent-minded; they reside 
and have worked across the globe; their current and past 
professional roles have been international in scope; their 
present responsibilities range from Wall Street and the 
City of London, to international management consulting, 
asset management, telecommunications and media, angel 
investing, academia, advertising, internet start-ups, 
consumer-products, energy, manufacturing, government 
and global non-profit organisations.
And we continue to refresh the composition, and benefit 
from the ever-broadening perspectives, of our Board. The 
appointment as a non-executive of Ruigang Li, a graduate 
of Fudan University and former resident scholar at Columbia 
University, emphasizes our Group’s recognition of the 
importance of Asia and China particularly, to our business, 
this industry and international commerce. President of 
Shanghai Media Group since 2002, he leads China’s most 
comprehensive portfolio of television, radio, digital, home-
shopping, content distribution, and performing arts 
businesses and is the largest content and service provider of 
Chinese language programs in the Chinese mainland. He is 
also chairman of China Media Capital, his country’s first 
and only sovereign private equity fund dedicated to media 
within China and abroad.
Our other newly-appointed director, Sol Trujillo, 
brings to our Board 30 years of senior management 
experience in international media and communications. 
Former chief executive of US West (now Quest), Orange 
(now France Telecom) and Telstra (the Australian 
telecommunications company), he is acknowledged to 
be a broadband and wireless pioneer. An exceptionally 
experienced corporate director – having served on the 
boards of PepsiCo, EDS, Bank of America, and Gannett, 
among others – he remains active in business affairs in 
China and South Asia, Europe, North America, Africa 
and the Middle East and is chairman of China’s Silk Road 
Technologies and a director of Target, Promerica Bank, 
and Italy’s Weather Investments.
The governance community has increasingly addressed 
the value of women’s contributions to corporate boards, and 
your Board has, indeed benefitted from such perspectives.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
114
How we behave
Directors’ report
Your Board and the Group’s chief executive have 
exchanged candid, specific, current opinions about the 
candidates, internal and external, best qualified to succeed 
him; and on several structured and informal occasions, 
the non-executive directors, have separately addressed the 
appropriate selection process and succession candidates. 
Although we have every expectation of Sir Martin’s 
continued, vigorous and effective leadership of the Group, 
the Board’s responsibility for succession planning is taken 
extremely seriously. We continue to adhere to the position, 
however, that – lest public discussion of this subject foster 
speculation and distraction – the content of these ongoing 
deliberations should remain strictly confidential.
In light of the financial community’s experience since 
2008, your Board concurs with the general calls for 
intensified corporate governance and believes that our 
rigorous practices have evidenced this. We continue to be 
attentive, nonetheless, to the many reviews and reports on 
this subject; and on my colleagues’ behalf, I have personally 
participated in a variety of such studies. Given WPP’s global 
operations and complexity, your Board welcomes meaningful 
and beneficial engagement with share owners to convey 
our governance practices. To that end, we hope that our 
communications throughout the year and this Annual Report 
provide a comprehensive, clear picture of how the Board and 
the Group operate.
For governance to be genuinely effective, however, every 
board must tailor best practices and innovations to the 
particular demands of its organisation’s industry, culture, 
operations, regions, and personalities – without diminishing 
the rigorous execution of oversight responsibilities. Of WPP’s 
exceptions from some advisory groups’ preferences, one 
example that is occasionally referenced is our position that 
a director’s ‘independence’ should be determined on a 
factual, rather than mere chronological, basis.
Some institutional investors and their representative 
bodies contend that directors who have served for more than 
nine years should no longer be considered ‘independent’; nor, 
by definition, should the Group chairman. We respectfully 
assert that a worldwide enterprise of WPP’s scale and range 
of commercial activities benefits enormously from long-term 
directors who are actively engaged in the Group’s governance 
and that ‘independence’ should be determined not by such 
arbitrary standards as tenure, but on a case-by-case basis, 
with full disclosure to share owners of any appearance of 
conflict with published guidelines. 
Similarly, your Board does not view my position as 
non-executive chairman, my chairmanship of the Nomination 
Committee and membership on the Compensation Committee, 
or my nine years’ service as compromising my independence. 
It is their considered judgement – formally reviewed on an 
annual basis – that such continuity helps ensure co-ordination 
of related Board matters and practicable, informed 
management of our governance work. By invitation of the 
Audit Committee’s chairman, I also attended all of its meetings 
in 2010 and, with his consent, will continue this practice to 
stay fully abreast of the Committee’s and our auditors’ findings.
To ensure that a majority of our share owners concur 
with these positions as to ‘independence’ as well as to review 
each director’s performance more frequently, your Board has 
recommended that WPP directors’ terms be limited to one 
year. Such practice, consistent with the UK Corporate 
Governance Code, will provide share owners with the right 
to review our individual performance and elect each member 
of your Board annually.
The aforementioned appointments of new directors 
evidence your Board’s conviction that occasional change 
and renewal are healthy for any Board. Furthermore, we 
continually seek to introduce new thinking into each 
Committee’s deliberations. To this end, Sol Trujillo has 
joined the Audit Committee; Tim Shriver moved from the 
Audit to the Compensation Committee, to which Colin Day 
was also added. 
The Nomination Committee – comprised of Esther 
Dyson, Orit Gadiesh, Lubna Olayan and me – has now 
been charged with overview of Corporate Responsibility, 
with employee issues remaining with the Compensation 
Committee. At each meeting, our Committee invites the 
participation, in whole or in part, of the Group chief 
executive, the Company Secretary, and the Group chief 
counsel. In 2010, we formally met three times and more 
frequently conversed informally to assess the Board’s and 
committees’ composition and to consider potential new 
members, identified from a variety of both internal and 
external sources. The changes made in 2010 reflect our 
thinking as to how your Company’s progress toward 
achieving its long-term strategic objectives and its month-by-
month performance can best be assessed by the collective 
experience of directors.
In addition to evaluating the relevance of your Board’s 
composition to the Group’s strategic objectives, the 
Nomination Committee’s 2010 work complied with 
governance duties ranging from the implementation of rules 
addressing the disclosure and approval of directors’ conflicts-
of-interest and the review of committees terms of reference 
to the oversight of succession planning and the Board 
self-evaluation. The Board again completed, in 2010, as 
part of its commitment to rigorous standards of corporate 
governance, a thorough self-evaluation. All directors 
completed a confidential questionnaire in this regard 
and identified opportunities for improvement. Separate 
conversations were then held between each director and 
either the chairman or the senior independent director, 
Jeffrey Rosen, who also led the non-executive directors’ 
assessment of my performance as chairman. Based on 
this process, we continued our tradition of implementing 
changes to enhance the Board’s performance of 
its responsibilities.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
115
How we behave
Directors’ report
I cannot exaggerate how ‘independent-minded’ your 
Board is. Each Board and committee meeting challenges 
well-tested assumptions, long-standing practices and even 
iconic executives. We thereby seek to comply with – and 
throughout the financial year ended 31 December 2010, 
WPP plc did so or surpassed – the requirements of the 
Combined Code and the UK Corporate Governance Code, 
NASDAQ’s rules, US Sarbanes-Oxley requirements and, 
where practicable, guidelines issued by institutional investors 
and their representative bodies.
Even without a large-scale new acquisition, your Board’s 
responsibilities as non-executive directors continued to 
increase substantially in 2010. We do not shrink from these; 
nor do we take them lightly. Those voluminous packs of 
WPP reading materials keep streaming to us; our iPhones 
and BlackBerrys hum with near-daily messages from 
colleagues. Directors freely and frequently share reactions 
to news-of-the-day. My Board colleagues, as well as our 
Company Secretary and Group chief counsel, devote 
enormous amounts of time, frequently with personal sacrifice 
to tasks beyond any narrow definition of their roles. And 
our effectiveness depends, to a significant degree, on the 
oft-unsung efforts of those at WPP who directly support our 
work and the highly competent professionals who meet the 
never-ending flow of legal, regulatory, tax, accounting and 
administrative demands.
A more benevolent economy for 2011 is forecast and – 
notwithstanding earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear accidents, 
insurrections, revolutions, national fiscal imbalances and 
political discord – early signs are encouraging. Yet for this 
Group to achieve its mission and Business Plan collectively 
in more than 100 counties and some 2,400 offices, the 
disciplined, co-ordinated efforts of our 146,000 people 
is paramount in importance. The individuals profiled 
in this Annual Report are critical to our success; so too are 
the thousands of individuals across the globe who each day, 
create value for our clients and thereby our share owners. As 
laudable as the Group’s 25-year record is, we cannot forget 
that there is a continuing competition, every day, with other 
firms and with our own past creativity. The intelligence, 
imagination, diligence and plain hard work of all these 
people are what truly achieved these 2010 results. And only 
such professionalism and dedication can generate strong 
returns for our share owners in this and future years.
For that and for our fellow share owners’ trust in 
our stewardship of your Company, we directors are 
most thankful.
Philip Lader
18 April 2011

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we behave
Directors’ report
Review of the Audit Committee
Report by Paul Spencer
Chairman of the Audit Committee 
Dear share owner
D
uring 2010, Jeffrey Rosen, Colin Day, Sol Trujillo 
and Tim Shriver were my colleagues on the 
committee. Tim Shriver stepped down from the 
committee in July 2010 and Sol Trujillo was appointed to 
the committee in October 2010.
We held nine meetings during the year, which were also 
attended (by invitation for all or part of any meeting) by 
the external auditors, the Company’s chairman, the Group 
finance director, Bud Morten, the director of internal audit, 
the Group chief counsel, deputy Group chief counsel and the 
Company Secretary. Preparatory meetings were also held 
with the internal and external auditors as well as members 
of the Company’s senior management including the heads 
of the Tax, Treasury, Legal and Group Reporting teams. 
The committee received presentations from the heads of Tax, 
Transaction Services and Treasury. The committee also 
received reports from the Disclosure Committee in relation 
to the Disclosure Committee’s review and work on financial 
reports. The Board received regular reports on all matters 
of particular significance arising at the committee meetings. 
The committee’s terms of reference, which are reviewed 
with the Board annually and most recently in April 2011, 
are available for inspection on the Company’s website at 
www.wpp.com and are on display prior to and at all general 
meetings of the Company.
During the year, the committee and its members were 
formally assessed by the chairman of the Company for their 
technical suitability to be members of the committee and 
also for the committee’s overall effectiveness. The Board 
has designated me as the committee’s financial expert for 
Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) purposes and as having recent 
and relevant financial experience for the purposes of the 
Combined Code and the UK Corporate Governance Code.
The committee has once again overseen the progress 
towards compliance with Section 404 of SOX for 2010, 
through regular status reports submitted by the internal 
and external auditors.
The committee received and reviewed regular reports 
on both our Right to Speak helpline, which is made available 
to our people to enable them to communicate confidentially 
on matters of concern and the actions taken in response to 
those calls.
The committee has established a policy regarding non- 
audit services that may be provided by the external auditors, 
which prohibits certain categories of work in line with 
relevant guidance on independence, such as ethical standards 
issued by the Auditing Practices Board and SOX. Other 
categories of work may be provided by the auditors if it is 
appropriate for them to do so. The provision of such services 
and associated fees are pre-approved by the committee, 
either as individual assignments or as aggregate amounts 
for specified categories of services. All fees are summarised 
periodically for the committee to assess the aggregate value 
of non-audit fees against audit fees. The level of fees for 2010 
is shown in note 3 on page 163.
In line with the committee’s responsibility to review and 
appoint the external auditors and approve their remuneration 
and terms of engagement, in 2010 the committee monitored 
Deloitte’s independence, objectivity and performance with 
reference to frequent reports from Deloitte during the year 
covering the overall audit strategy and the progress and 
results of the audit. The committee recommends the 
reappointment of Deloitte.
Other work carried out by the committee in 2010 included:
	 monitoring the integrity of the Company’s 
financial statements and reviewing significant financial 
reporting judgements;
	 reviewing internal financial control and internal 
audit activities;
	 assisting the Board in meeting its responsibilities in 
respect of reviewing and reporting on the systems and key 
elements of risk management as they affect the Group;
	 reviewing the Group Treasury policy with particular 
focus on debtors, funding and the continued ability of the 
Group to adopt the going concern basis in preparing 
financial statements;
	 reviewing reports on any material litigation or 
regulatory reviews involving Group companies;
	 reviewing the Group’s mergers and acquisitions strategy, 
any significant acquisitions, due diligence procedures and 
integration processes and the debt financing by the Group;
	 reviewing new business models proposed by 
Group companies;
	 reviewing the Group’s Code of Business Conduct and 
supporting training programs;
	 reviewing the Group’s tax strategy; 
	 monitoring the accounting and legal reporting 
requirements, including all relevant regulations of the UK 
Listing Authority, the SEC and NASDAQ and the Jersey 
Financial Services Commission with which the Company 
must comply; and 
	 reviewing the procedures and supporting training 
programs being implemented by the Group in response to 
the UK Bribery Act and US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act 
and increased regulatory focus.
I would like to thank my colleagues on the committee, the 
parent company executives and the external advisors for their 
help in another challenging year.
Paul Spencer
18 April 2011

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we behave
The Board of Directors
The Board is collectively responsible for promoting the 
success of the Company by directing and supervising 
the Company’s policy and strategy and is responsible to 
share owners for the Group’s financial and operational 
performance. Responsibility for the development and 
implementation of Group policy and strategy and for 
day‑to‑day management issues is delegated by the Board 
to the Group chief executive and the other executive directors.
For the year under review, Philip Lader continued as 
chairman of the Board, responsible for the leadership of 
the Board. Sir Martin Sorrell, as the Group chief executive, 
continued to be responsible for the development and 
implementation of policy and strategy and for the day-to-day 
operations of the Group. The biographies of the current 
Board members appear on pages 106 to 108.
All directors are fully briefed on important developments 
in the various business activities which the Group carries 
out worldwide and regularly receive extensive information 
concerning the Group’s operations, finances, risk factors and 
its people, enabling them to fulfil their duties and obligations 
as directors. The directors are also frequently advised on 
regulatory and best practice requirements which affect the 
Group’s businesses on a global basis.
During 2010, the Board met six times formally and 
held 24 committee meetings throughout the year. With the 
exception of Lubna Olayan, Tim Shriver, Esther Dyson and 
Orit Gadiesh (each absent for one meeting), and Koichiro 
Naganuma (who was only able to attend two meetings), 
there was full attendance at all formal meetings of the 
Board during 2010.
The Board was composed of 16 directors in 2010 
(following the appointment of Ruigang Li and Sol Trujillo on 
12 October 2010). Three members are executive directors and 
12, plus the chairman, are non-executive directors. The Board 
considers that 10 of the 12 non-executive directors, in 
addition to the chairman, are independent. John Quelch 
and Koichiro Naganuma are the only non-executive directors 
the Board considers are not independent.
The shareholdings of non-executive directors are set out 
on page 147. Non-executive directors do not participate in 
the Company’s pension, share option or other incentive plans, 
but may receive a part of their fees in ordinary shares of the 
Company and may participate in the Company’s deferred 
compensation program.
The Board considers that the non-executive directors’ 
remuneration conforms with the requirements of the 
Combined Code and the UK Corporate Governance Code.
The fees payable to non-executive directors represent 
compensation in connection with Board and Board 
committee meetings and where appropriate for devoting 
additional time and expertise for the benefit of the Group 
in a wider capacity.
Details of directors’ remuneration and service contracts 
form part of the report of the Compensation Committee 
which commences on page 135.
Election of directors
In accordance with the UK Corporate Governance Code, all 
of the directors will submit themselves for annual re-election 
at each Annual General Meeting. Directors may be appointed 
by share owners by ordinary resolution or by the Board on 
the recommendation of the Nomination Committee and 
must then stand for re-election at the next Annual General 
Meeting where they may be re-elected by ordinary resolution 
of the share owners.
The Board recommends that share owners vote in 
favour of the resolutions to elect or re-elect all of the 
directors of the Company and sets out their reasons for 
this recommendation in the Appendix to the Notice of the 
Annual General Meeting.
Conflicts of interest
The Company’s Articles of Association permit the Board 
to consider and, if it sees fit, to authorise situations where 
a director has an interest that conflicts, or may possibly 
conflict, with the interests of the Company (Situational 
Conflicts). The Board has a formal system in place for 
directors to declare Situational Conflicts to be considered 
for authorisation by those directors who have no interest in 
the matter being considered. In deciding whether to authorise 
a Situational Conflict, the non-conflicted directors must act 
honestly and in good faith with a view to the best interests 
of the Company and they may impose limits or conditions 
when giving the authorisation, or subsequently, if they think 
this is appropriate. 
Any Situational Conflicts considered, and any 
authorisations given, are recorded in the relevant minutes. 
The prescribed procedures have been followed in deciding 
whether, and on what terms, to authorise Situational 
Conflicts and the Board believes that the systems it has in 
place for reporting and considering Situational Conflicts 
continue to operate effectively.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we behave
The Board of Directors
and Latin America. The Company provides a preliminary 
announcement, an interim management statement at the 
end of the first and third quarters which includes a trading 
update, an interim report at half year and a trading update 
and presentation at the Annual General Meeting.
The Company ensures that it has a proper dialogue 
with share owners and their representative bodies through 
executive and non-executive directors in relation to 
remuneration and corporate governance matters as and 
when appropriate. The chairman provides feedback to 
the Board on issues raised with him by share owners.
WPP’s website, www.wpp.com, provides current and 
historical financial information, including trading statements, 
news releases and presentations and the Company’s 
statement of its corporate governance practices.
Internal control
WPP operates a system of internal control, which is 
maintained and reviewed in accordance with the UK 
Corporate Governance Code and the guidance in the 
Turnbull Report as well as Rules 13a-14 and 15 under the 
Securities Exchange Act 1934. In the opinion of the Board, 
the Company has complied throughout the year and up to 
the date of the approval of this Annual Report and Accounts 
with the Turnbull Report and has also complied with the 
relevant provisions of the Securities Exchange Act 1934.
The Board (which receives advice from the Audit 
Committee) has overall responsibility for the system of 
internal control and risk management in the Group and has 
reviewed the effectiveness of the system during the year and 
up to the date of this report. In the context of the scope and 
complexity of this system, the Board can only give reasonable, 
not absolute, assurance against material misstatement or loss. 
The system of controls is designed to manage, but may not 
eliminate, the risks of failure to achieve WPP’s objectives. 
For certain joint ventures and associates, WPP operates 
controls over the inclusion of their financial data but places 
reliance upon the systems of internal control operating within 
our partners’ infrastructure and the obligations upon partners’ 
boards relating to the effectiveness of their own systems.
The principal elements of internal control are 
described below.
Control environment
The quality and competence of our people, their integrity, 
ethics and behaviour are all vital to the maintenance of 
the Group’s system of internal control. 
The Code of Business Conduct (which is regularly 
reviewed by the Audit Committee and the Board) and was 
updated in 2010, sets out the principal obligations of all 
employees. Directors and senior executives throughout the 
Group are required each year to sign this Code. The WPP 
Committee meetings
The attendance of non-executive directors at meetings of the 
committees of the Board during 2010 was as follows:
Nomination
Committee 
Audit
Committee
Compensation
Committee
Philip Lader1
3
9
11
Bud Morten2
3
9
12
Jeffrey Rosen
n/a
9
12
Paul Spencer
n/a
9
n/a
Esther Dyson
3
n/a
11
Orit Gadiesh
2
n/a
n/a
Colin Day3
n/a
7
1
Lubna Olayan
3
n/a
n/a
Tim Shriver4
n/a
3
5
Sol Trujillo5
n/a
2
n/a
1	 By invitation, the chairman attended all of the Audit Committee meetings.
2	 By invitation, Bud Morten attended all of the Audit, Compensation and Nomination 
Committee meetings.
3	 Colin Day was appointed to the Compensation Committee in December 2010.
4	 Tim Shriver retired from the Audit Committee and joined the Compensation Committee 
part way through 2010.
5	 Sol Trujillo was appointed to the Audit Committee in October 2010.
During 2010, the Corporate Responsibility Committee, 
chaired by Paul Richardson, met once on a formal basis and 
had many informal discussions. Their report for 2010 starts 
on page 125.
The Disclosure Committee, which met four times during 
2010, is comprised of senior executives from Group financial 
reporting, internal audit, treasury, legal, tax, human resource 
and investor relations departments. The purpose of the 
Disclosure Committee is to add further assurance to the 
Board and its committees in relation to the content of major 
financial public statements and advises the Audit Committee 
and the Board on their disclosure obligations generally and 
the Disclosure and Transparency Rules so as to enable the 
Board to comply with all relevant provisions. 
Share owner relations
The relationship with share owners, potential share owners 
and investment analysts is given the highest priority by 
the Company.
The Company has a well-developed and continuous 
program to address the needs of share owners, investment 
institutions and analysts for a regular flow of information 
about the Company, its strategy, performance and 
competitive position. Given the wide geographic distribution 
of the Company’s current and potential share owners, this 
program includes regular visits to investors, particularly by 
the Group chief executive, the Group finance director, the 
deputy Group finance director and the head of investor 
relations, in the UK, Continental Europe and the major 
financial centres in North America and also in Asia Pacific

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we behave
The Board of Directors
and up to the date of this report. These are described in 
alphabetical order on pages 120 to 122 As set out above, 
the Group has specific policies in place to ensure that risks 
are properly evaluated and managed at the appropriate 
level within the Group.
Control activities and monitoring
Policies and procedures for all operating companies are set 
out and communicated in the WPP Policy Book, internal 
control bulletins and accounting guidelines. The application 
of these policies and procedures is monitored within the 
individual businesses and by the Company’s director of 
internal audit and the Group chief counsel.
Operating companies are required to maintain and 
update documentation of their internal controls and 
processes. This documentation incorporates an analysis 
of business risks, detailed control activities and monitoring, 
together with controls over security of data and the provision 
of timely and reliable information to management. IT and 
financial controls are also included.
The internal audit department was responsible for reviews 
and testing of the documentation and the relevant controls 
for a majority of the Group during 2010, the results of which 
were reported to the Audit Committee.
Financial reporting
Each operating company annually updates a three-year 
strategic plan which incorporates financial objectives. 
These are reviewed by the parent company’s management 
and are agreed with the chief executive of the relevant 
operating company.
The Group operates a rigorous procedure for the 
development of operating company budgets which build 
up the Group’s budget. During the final quarter of each 
financial year, operating companies prepare detailed budgets 
for the following year for review by the parent company. 
The Group’s budget is reviewed by the Board before being 
adopted formally. Operating company results are reported 
monthly and are reviewed locally, regionally and globally 
by the business groups and by Group management on a 
consolidated basis and ultimately by the Board. The results 
are compared to budget and the previous year, with full-year 
forecasts prepared and updated quarterly throughout the year. 
The Company reports to share owners four times a year.
At each year-end, all operating companies supply their 
full-year financial results with such additional information as 
is appropriate. This information is consolidated to allow the 
Group to present the necessary disclosures for International 
Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) including International 
Accounting Standards (IAS).
The Disclosure Committee gives further assurance that 
publicly-released information is free from material omission 
or misstatement.
Policy Book (which also is regularly updated) includes the 
Code of Business Conduct and human resource practices, 
as well as guidance on practices in many operational areas. 
Breaches or alleged breaches of this Code of Conduct are 
investigated by the director of internal audit and the Group 
chief counsel.
The Group has an independently operated helpline, Right 
to Speak, to enable our people to report issues that they feel 
unable to raise locally. A number of issues have been raised 
during 2010 through 42 calls to this helpline, all of which have 
been followed through and investigated where appropriate and 
reported to the Audit Committee.
Risk assessment
Risk monitoring of all of the Group’s operations throughout 
the world is given the highest priority by the Group chief 
executive, the Group finance director, the chairman of 
the Audit Committee and the Board, as it is essential to 
the creation and protection of share owner value and the 
development of the careers of our people. The Board realises 
that WPP is a service company and its ongoing prosperity 
depends on being able to continue to provide a quality service 
to its existing and potential clients in a creative, efficient and 
economic way.
At each Board meeting, the Group chief executive 
presents a Brand Check review of each of the business’ 
operations, including an assessment of the risk in each 
business, providing feedback on the business risks and details 
of any change in the risk profile since the last Board meeting.
The Brand Check covers such issues as:
	 the possibility of the win or loss of major business (e.g. as 
a result of a change of senior management at a major client);
	 the addition or loss of a key executive of the Group;
	 introduction of new legislation in an important market;
	 corporate responsibility;
	 political instability in an important market; and
	 changes in accounting or corporate governance practice.
Each operating group undertakes monthly and quarterly 
procedures and day-to-day management activities to review 
their operations and business risks. These are formally 
communicated to the Group chief executive, other executive 
directors and senior executives in monthly reports and 
quarterly review meetings and, in turn, to the Board.
The Board is firmly of the opinion that the monitoring of 
risk is strongly embedded in the culture of the Company and 
of the operating companies, in a manner which the Board 
considers goes beyond the Turnbull recommendations and 
the requirements of Rules 13a-14 and 15 under the Securities 
Exchange Act 1934. 
Principal risks and uncertainties
The Board has considered the principal risks and 
uncertainties affecting the Group as at 31 December 2010

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we behave
The Board of Directors
Principal risks and uncertainties
Issue
Potential impact
How it is managed
Clients
The Group competes for clients in a 
highly competitive industry and client 
loss may reduce market share and 
decrease profits.
Competitors include large multinational advertising and 
marketing communication companies and regional and 
national marketing services companies. 
New market participants include database 
marketing and modelling companies, telemarketers 
and internet companies.
Service agreements with clients are generally terminated 
by the client on 90 days’ notice and many clients put 
their advertising and communications business up for 
competitive review from time to time. The ability to 
attract new clients and to retain existing clients may also 
in some cases be limited by clients’ policies about conflicts 
of interest.
Operating companies seek to establish reputations 
in the industry that attract and retain clients, 
including by improving the quality of their 
creative output.
The Group’s different agency networks limit 
potential conflicts of interest and the Group’s cross-
discipline team approach seeks to retain clients.
Brand Check at every Board meeting.
The Group receives a significant portion 
of its revenues from a limited number 
of large clients and the loss of these 
clients could adversely impact the 
Group’s prospects, business, financial 
condition and results of operations.
A relatively small number of clients contribute a significant 
percentage of the Group’s consolidated revenues. The 
Group’s 10 largest clients accounted for almost 18% of 
revenues in the year ended 31 December 2010. Clients 
generally are able to reduce advertising and marketing 
spend or cancel projects on short notice. The loss of one or 
more of the Group’s largest clients, if not replaced by new 
client accounts or an increase in business from existing 
clients, would adversely affect the Group’s 
financial condition.
Global client account managers seek
to ensure the Group maintains partnership 
relationship with major clients. Operating 
companies seek to establish reputations
in the industry that attract and retain clients 
and key talent.
Brand Check at every Board meeting
and regular dialogue between directors
of the Company and directors of the Group’s 
largest clients.
CR issues
The social and environmental impact 
of our work for clients.
The operating companies across 107 countries may not 
always consider the social and environmental impact 
of their work.
Opportunities to advise clients on marketing 
with a social or environmental dimension are 
identified by our companies.
Damage to WPP’s reputation from 
undertaking controversial client work.
The operating companies may undertake controversial 
client accounts and may not always consider the impact 
on the Group.
Upward referral within operating companies 
and consideration at WPP ethical review 
meetings and WPP Business Code of Conduct.
Marketing ethics, compliance with 
marketing standards, and 
increasing transparency about 
our marketing practices.
Our work may not always comply with all laws and 
industry codes governing marketing material. 
Managed by our companies with referral to 
WPP Business Code of Conduct and WPP 
directors as necessary to improve standards 
and measurement in marketing practices.
Compliance with privacy and data 
protection regulations. 
Increased regulation unless the operating companies 
meet best practice standards, contribute to the debate 
on privacy, increase transparency for consumers on how 
their data are obtained and used.
The Group assists our companies in developing 
principles on privacy and compliance with 
local laws. Our key digital marketing and 
research companies have nominated senior 
executives to provide leadership on privacy 
and to work with other companies in the Group.
Employment, including diversity and 
equal opportunities, business ethics, 
employee development, remuneration, 
communication and health and safety.
Failing to meet standards on diversity and gender would 
impact the perception of the Group and quality of work.
Human resources policies are set and 
implemented at operating company level. 
WPP’s chief talent officer assists the companies in 
attracting, developing and retaining our talent.
Climate change, including the emissions 
from energy used in our offices and during 
business travel.
Negative cost and reputational impact if the Group failed 
to meet target to reduce per head carbon intensity to 
1.2 tonnes by 2020 (from 3.3 tonnes in 2006). 
Cross-functional, Group-wide Energy Action 
Teams and a network of company Climate 
Champions help implement our climate change 
strategy. Some companies have appointed 
environmental managers. 
Economic
The Group’s businesses are subject 
to economic and political cycles. 
Many of the economies in which 
the Group operates have significant 
economic challenges. 
Reduction in client spending or postponing spending on 
the services offered by the Group or switching of client 
expenditure to non-traditional media and renegotiation 
of contract terms leading to reduced profitability 
and cash flow.
Reduction in headcount and overhead. 
Ensuring that variable staff costs are a significant 
proportion of total staff costs and revenue.
Increased controls over capital expenditure 
and working capital.
Strategic focus on BRICs, the Next 11, 
new media and consumer insight.
Brand Check at every Board meeting.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we behave
The Board of Directors
Issue
Potential impact
How it is managed
Financial
Currency exchange rate fluctuations 
could adversely impact the Group’s 
consolidated results.
The Company’s reporting currency is pounds sterling. Given 
the Group’s significant international operations, changes in 
exchange rates cause fluctuations in the Company’s results 
when measured in pounds sterling.
The balance sheet and cash flows of the 
Company are hedged by borrowing in 
the currency of those cash flows.
The Company publishes and explains its results 
in constant currency terms, as well as in sterling 
and on an actual dollar basis.
Changes to the Group’s debt issue ratings 
by the rating agencies Moody’s Investor 
Services and Standard and Poor’s Rating 
Service may affect the Group’s access to 
debt capital.
The Company’s long-term debt is currently rated Baa3 
and BBB by the rating agencies respectively and the 
Company’s short-term debt obligations P3 and A2 
respectively. If the Company’s financial performance 
and outlook materially deteriorate, a ratings downgrade 
could occur and the interest rates and fees payable on 
certain of the Company’s revolving credit facilities could 
be increased.
Active dialogue with the rating agencies to 
ensure they are fully apprised of any actions 
that may affect the Company’s debt ratings. 
The Company also seeks to manage its financial 
ratios and to pursue policies so as to maintain 
its investment grade ratings.
The Group may be unable to collect 
balances due from any client that files for 
bankruptcy or becomes insolvent.
The Group is generally paid in arrears for its services. 
Invoices are typically payable within 30 to 60 days. 
The Group commits to media and production purchases on 
behalf of some of its clients as principal or agent depending 
on the client and market circumstances. If a client is unable 
to pay sums due, media and production companies may 
look to the Group to pay such amounts to which it committed 
as an agent on behalf of those clients. 
Evaluating and monitoring clients’ ongoing 
creditworthiness and in some cases requiring 
credit insurance or payments in advance.
Mergers & Acquisitions
The Group may be unsuccessful in 
evaluating material risks involved in 
completed and future acquisitions 
and may be unsuccessful in integrating 
any acquired operations with its 
existing businesses.
The Group regularly reviews potential acquisitions of 
businesses that are complementary to its operations and 
clients needs. If material risks are not identified prior to 
acquisition or the Group experiences difficulties in 
integrating an acquired business, it may not realise the 
expected benefits from such acquisition and the Group’s 
financial condition could be adversely affected.
Business, legal, tax and financial due diligence 
carried out prior to acquisition to seek to identify 
and evaluate material risks and plan the 
integration process. Warranties and indemnities 
included in purchase agreements.
Audit Committee oversight of acquisition and 
Board oversight of material acquisitions and 
review of the integration and performance of 
recent and prior acquisitions.
Goodwill and other intangible assets 
recorded on the Group’s balance sheet 
with respect to acquired companies may 
become impaired.
The Group has a significant amount of goodwill and other 
intangible assets recorded on its balance sheet with respect 
to acquired companies. The Group annually tests the 
carrying value of goodwill and other intangibles for 
impairment. The estimates and assumptions about results 
of operations and cash flows made in connection with 
impairment testing could differ from future results of 
operations and cash flows. Future events could cause the 
Group to conclude that the asset values associated with 
a given operation have become impaired which could 
have a material impact on the Group’s financial condition.
Regular impairment testing which is a recurring 
agenda item for the Audit Committee.
Operational
The Group operates in 107 countries 
and is exposed to the risks of doing 
business internationally.
The Group’s international operations are subject
to exchange rate fluctuations, restrictions and/or taxation 
on repatriations of earnings, social, political and economic 
instability, conflicts of laws and interpretation of contracts.
Affiliate, associate and joint venture structures 
with local partners used in developing markets.
Brand Check at every Board meeting.
Uniform approach to internal controls to seek to 
ensure best practice employed in all jurisdictions.
People
The Group’s performance could be 
adversely affected if it were unable 
to attract and retain key talent or 
had inadequate talent management 
and succession planning for key 
management roles.
The Group is highly dependent on the talent, creative 
abilities and technical skills of our personnel as well as their 
relationships with clients. The Group is vulnerable to the loss 
of personnel to competitors and clients leading to disruption 
to the business.
The Group’s incentive plans are structured to 
provide retention value for example by paying 
part of annual incentives in shares that vest
two years after grant and having a five-year 
performance period for LEAP.
Operating companies seek to establish 
reputations in the industry that attract and retain 
key personnel, including by improving the quality 
of their creative output.
Succession planning of key executives
is a recurring agenda item of the Board
and Nomination Committee.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we behave
The Board of Directors
Issue
Potential impact
How it is managed
Regulatory/Legal
The Group may be subject to regulations 
affecting its activities.
Governments, government agencies and industry 
self-regulatory bodies from time to time adopt statutes 
and regulations that directly or indirectly affect the form, 
content and scheduling of advertising, public relations and 
public affairs and market research or otherwise limit the 
scope of the activities of the Group and its clients which 
could have a material adverse impact on our financial 
position. Changes in tax laws or their application may 
also adversely affect the Group’s reported results.
The Group actively monitors any proposed 
regulatory or statutory changes and consults 
with government agencies and regulatory 
bodies where possible on such proposed changes.
Regular briefings to the Audit Committee of 
significant regulatory or statutory changes.
Group representation on a number of industry 
advisory bodies.
The Group may be exposed to liabilities 
from allegations that certain of its clients’ 
advertising claims may be false or 
misleading or that its clients products 
may be defective.
The Group may be, or may be joined as a defendant, in 
litigation brought against its clients in respect of services 
provided by the Group.
The Group seeks to comply with all laws and 
industry codes governing marketing material.
Upward referral procedure within operating 
companies and to WPP ethical review meetings.
The Group operates in 107 countries and 
is subject to increased anti-corruption 
legislation and enforcement not only in 
the US and UK.
The Group may be exposed to liabilities in the event of 
breaches of anti-corruption legislation.
On-line and in country ethics and anti-bribery 
and corruption training on a Group-wide basis 
to raise awareness and seek compliance with 
the WPP Code of Conduct.
Confidential help-line for WPP staff to raise any 
concerns which are investigated and reported 
to the Audit Committee on a regular basis. 
Due diligence on selecting and appointing 
suppliers and acquisitions. 
Gift and hospitality register and approvals process.
Sarbanes-Oxley section 404
The provisions of section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley 
Act require the Company’s management to report on the 
effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting 
in its Annual Report on Form 20-F which is filed with 
the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The 2009 
assessment and related report from the external auditors 
confirmed that the Company’s internal control over 
financial reporting was effective and included in the 
Company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year 
ended 31 December 2009. The 2010 assessment and related 
report will be included in the Company’s Annual Report 
on Form 20-F due to be published in April 2011.
Going concern
The directors are required to consider whether it is 
appropriate to prepare the financial statements on the 
basis that the Company and the Group are going concerns. 
As part of its normal business practice, the Group prepares 
annual and longer-term plans and in reviewing this 
information and in particular the 2011 three-year plan 
and budget the directors believe that the Company and the 
Group have adequate resources for the foreseeable future. 
Therefore the Company and the Group continue to adopt 
the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.
Further details of the Group’s financial position 
and borrowing facilities are described in note 10 of the 
financial statements.
Responsibilities in respect of the preparation 
of financial statements
The directors are responsible for preparing the financial 
statements in accordance with applicable law and 
regulations. The directors have elected to prepare 
financial statements for the Group in accordance with 
International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted 
by the EU (IFRSs) and have also elected to prepare financial 
statements for the Company in accordance with UK 
accounting standards. Company law requires the directors 
to prepare such financial statements in accordance with 
the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991. 
International Accounting Standard 1 requires that 
financial statements present fairly for each financial 
year the Company’s financial position, financial 
performance and cash flows. This requires the faithful 
representation of the effects of transactions, other events 
and conditions in accordance with the definitions and 
recognition criteria for assets, liabilities, income and 
expenses set out in the International Accounting Standards 
Board’s ‘Framework for the Preparation and Presentation 
of Financial Statements’. 
In virtually all circumstances, a fair presentation will be 
achieved by compliance with all applicable IFRSs. Directors 
are also required to: 
	 properly select and apply accounting policies; 
	 present information, including accounting policies, 
in a manner that provides relevant, reliable, comparable 
and understandable information;

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we behave
The Board of Directors
	 provide additional disclosures, when compliance with the 
specific requirements in IFRSs is insufficient to enable users 
to understand the impact of particular transactions, other 
events and conditions on the entity’s financial position and 
financial performance; and
	 make an assessment of the Company’s ability to continue 
as a going concern.
The directors are responsible for keeping proper 
accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy 
at any time the financial position of the Company, for 
safeguarding the assets, for taking reasonable steps for the 
prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities 
and for the preparation of a Directors’ report and directors’ 
remuneration report. 
The directors are responsible for the maintenance 
and integrity of the Company website. Jersey legislation 
and UK regulation governing the preparation and 
dissemination of financial statements differs from legislation 
in other jurisdictions. 
The directors confirm that so far as they are aware, there 
is no relevant audit information of which the Company’s 
auditors are unaware. Each director has taken all the steps 
that he or she ought to have taken, as a director, in order 
to make himself or herself aware of any relevant audit 
information and to establish that the Company’s auditors 
are aware of that information.
The following information, together with the letters 
from the chairmen of the Nomination, Audit and 
Compensation Committees, the statements regarding directors’ 
responsibilities and statement of going concern set out above 
and the directors’ remuneration and interests in the share 
capital of the Company set out on pages 142 to 145, are 
included in the Directors’ report, which also includes 
the sections ‘Letter to share owners,’ ‘Who runs WPP’ 
and ‘What we think’.
Substantial share ownership
As at 18 April 2011, the Company is aware of the following 
interest of 3% or more in the issued ordinary share capital:
Legal & General
3.78
The disclosed interest refers to the respective combined 
holdings of this entity and to interests associated with it.
The Company has not been notified of any other holdings 
of ordinary share capital of 3% or more.
Profits and dividends
The profit before tax for the year was £851.3 million 
(2009: £662.6 million). The directors declared a second 
interim dividend of 11.82p (2009: 10.28p) per share to be 
paid on 4 July 2011 to share owners on the register at 3 June 
2011 which, together with the first interim ordinary dividend 
of 5.97p (2009: 5.19p) per share paid on 8 November 2010, 
makes a total of 17.79p for the year (2009: 15.47p). 
Charitable donations
Our head office made charitable donations of £266,100 
(2009: £191,000). Collectively, WPP companies together 
with the parent company made an estimated £5 million of 
charitable donations in 2010 in kind. More detailed 
information regarding the Group’s support of charities is set 
out in the section dealing with corporate responsibility on 
pages 132 to 133. 
It is the Company’s policy not to make payments 
for political purposes.
Significant agreements and change of control
In addition to the financing agreements to which the 
Company is a party, details of which are given in note 24 
on page 173, the Company is a party to an agreement with 
Asatsu-DK Inc dated 3 August 1998 pursuant to which 
WPP subscribed for 20% (at that time) of the share capital 
of Asatsu and Asatsu subscribed for approximately 4% 
(at that time) of the issued share capital of WPP. The 
respective shareholdings may only be transferred following 
a procedure set out in the agreement. WPP and Asatsu are 
each entitled to nominate a non-executive director to the 
board of the other subject to retaining its shareholding in 
the other.
Each of the €600 million 4.375% bonds due in 
December 2013, the £400 million 6% bonds due in 
April 2017, the €500 million 5.25% bonds due in January 
2015, the €750 million 6.625% bonds due May 2016, the 
£200 million 6.375% bonds due November 2020, the 
£450 million 5.75% convertible bonds due May 2014 and 
the $600 million 8% bonds due September 2014, contain 
provisions which are triggered on a change of control of 
the Company. The holders of such bonds (other than the 
£450 million 5.75% bonds) have the right to repayment at 
par (except for holders of the $600 million 8% bonds where 
the holders have the right to redeem the bonds at 101% 
of par) if the Company is non-investment grade at the time 
of the change of control or becomes non-investment grade 
within 120 days of the announcement of the change 
of control.
In addition the Group has a $1.6 billion Revolving Credit 
Facility due August 2012 and a £200 million Revolving 
Credit Facility agreement expiring July 2011, the terms of 
which require the consent of the majority of the lenders if 
a proposed merger or consolidation of the Company would 
alter its legal personality or identity.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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The Board of Directors
The impact of a change of control on WPP’s incentive 
plans is dealt with on page 141.
Articles of Association
There are no restrictions on amending the Articles of 
Association of the Company other than the need to pass 
a special resolution of the share owners.
Group activities
The principal activity of the Group continues to be the 
provision of communications services worldwide. The 
Company acts only as a parent company and does not trade.
Share capital
The Company’s authorised share capital consists solely 
of 1,750,000,000 ordinary 10 pence shares. The Company 
operates an American Depositary Receipt program. The 
rights and obligations relating to the ordinary share capital 
are outlined in the Articles of Association; there are no 
restrictions on transfer, no restrictions on voting rights 
and no securities carry special voting rights with regard 
to control of the Company. 
At the Annual General Meeting in June 2010, share 
owners passed resolutions authorising the Company, in 
accordance with its Articles of Association, to allot shares 
up to a maximum nominal amount of £45,609,991 of 
which £6,285,768 could be allotted for cash free of statutory 
pre-emption rights. In the year under review no shares were 
issued for cash free from pre-emption rights. Details of share 
capital movements are given in note 26 on pages 176 to 179.
Authority for purchase of own shares
At the Annual General Meeting in 2010 share owners 
passed a special resolution authorising the Company, in 
accordance with its Articles of Association, to purchase up 
to 125,496,212 of its own shares in the market. In the year 
under review, 6,895,690 ordinary shares of 10 pence each 
were purchased at an average price of £6.730 per share.
Supplier payment policy
The Company has no trade creditors because it is a parent 
company and does not generate trading revenues. 
Accordingly, no disclosure can be made of year-end trade 
creditor days. However, the Group’s policy is to settle the 
terms of payment with suppliers when agreeing the terms 
of each transaction and to ensure that suppliers are made 
aware of the terms of payment and to abide by the terms 
of payment. The average trade creditors for the Group, 
expressed as a number of days, were 42 (2009: 45).
Auditors
Deloitte LLP were appointed as auditors of the Company on 
incorporation and the directors will propose a resolution at 
the Annual General Meeting to re-appoint them.
By Order of the Board:
Marie Capes
Company Secretary
18 April 2011
*	 The sections headed ‘Letter to share owners’, ‘Who we are’ and ‘What we 
think’ should be read in conjunction with and as part of the section headed 
Directors’ report.

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How we behave
The rise and rise of CR
As Western economies moved out of recession in 2010, the 
focus of major brand owners has returned to managing their 
reputation and, in particular, positioning themselves as 
responsible members of society and stewards 
of the environment. A movement that began in Europe 
more than a decade ago is now being rapidly adopted by 
US corporations. 
Awareness of corporate responsibility is not confined 
to the West. Governments and corporations in faster-
growing economies are increasingly recognising the need to 
raise standards and to meet the changing requirements of 
customers and investors. 
This global development of corporate conscience is 
creating opportunities for our companies, from research to 
advice to communications and marketing. Our companies 
have responded, developing skills and services to meet the 
needs of clients aiming to establish credentials for 
environmental, social and ethical excellence.
WPP’s status as the first mover in CR in our sector is now 
helping our companies enter the new green and ethical 
markets with confidence and credibility. We have a CR Policy 
of 10 years’ standing, a track record of eight years of CR 
reporting and established programs to manage marketing 
standards, ethics, human resources, environment and 
community performance.
In addition to enhancing WPP’s business opportunities, 
our CR program supports the Company’s strategic objectives 
as follows:
	 Attracting and retaining the best people 
There is strong competition for talent in our industry and 
questions relating to CR are frequently raised by our people 
and new candidates during job interviews. The future 
generations that will eventually become our talent pool view 
CR issues as central to business. Creating a diverse company 
culture, adopting leading talent practices and demonstrating 
our commitment to social and environmental issues is key to 
our companies’ ability to attract and retain the best people. 
A diverse workforce also enhances our understanding of 
consumers in all markets. 
	 Reputation risk management
We reduce the risk of adverse publicity by ensuring that 
our work complies fully with regulations and marketing 
standards. We also carefully evaluate the risk associated 
with new commissions. Our pro bono work and support 
for charities and community organisations reinforces our 
reputation for making a positive contribution to society.
	 Meeting investor expectations
WPP share owners continue to show interest in our CR 
practices and we aim to respond constructively to their 
requests for information (see below).
	 Improving efficiency
Our climate change strategy is reducing costs associated 
with business travel and energy use in offices. Investment in 
videoconference facilities enables an increasing number of 
meetings to be held without the cost and carbon footprint 
of flights. 
Socially responsible investors
During the 10-year history of our CR program we have 
seen a steady increase in the number of investors assessing 
environmental, social and governance (ESG) information. 
What was once a niche sector providing screened investments 
for church groups, trade unions and wealthy philanthropists 
has broadened its remit into the mainstream and is now 
estimated to influence the investment strategy of $5 trillion 
of funds.
We assist investors to understand the issues material to 
our business and provide information on CR performance 
whenever this is available. Consequently, WPP is included in 
the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, the FTSE4Good Index 
and is ranked first out of eight in our sector by Triodos Bank. 
We were also ranked 22nd out of 350 in the FTSE CDP 
Carbon Strategy 350 Index.
In 2010 we responded to engagement by the following 
investment organisations: 
	 BNP Paribas
	 Carbon Disclosure Project
	 Dow Jones Sustainability Index
	 Ethical Investment Research Service (EIRIS)
	 EthiFinance
	 FTSE4Good
	 Goldman Sachs
	 Trucost
	 ROBECO
	 Sustainanalytics
	 Vigeo
CR management
Our CR activity enables us to take advantage of new 
opportunities and to manage social and environmental 
risks connected to our business strategy. Our key corporate 
responsibility risks are explained on page 120, and include 
the impact of our work for clients, marketing ethics, privacy 
and data protection, employment practices and climate 
change. Providing sustainability marketing services to clients 
is our most significant CR opportunity, see page 126.
Paul Richardson, WPP’s Group finance director, is the 
Board director responsible for corporate responsibility. 
He chairs WPP’s Corporate Responsibility Committee, 
established in 2003. The committee is made up of senior 
Corporate responsibility

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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Corporate responsibility
representatives from Group functions and our companies 
and met once formally in 2010 when the main topics 
discussed were:
	 Sustainability marketing services
	 Environment and procurement
	 Marketing ethics and risk management
	 Human resources
	 Privacy and security
Paul Richardson provides an annual assessment of 
corporate responsibility risks and performance to the Audit 
Committee. From 2011 the annual assessment will be 
provided to the Nomination Committee. This is in addition 
to the business and financial reporting risks process 
described on page 119.
At each Board meeting, the Group chief executive 
presents a Brand Check review of each of the business’ 
operations, including an assessment of the risk in each 
business. This includes CR risks such as employment risks 
and marketing ethics risks. 
WPP’s Code of Business Conduct and CR Policy set out 
the standards we expect our companies and our people to 
meet in their work. They provide guidance in dealing with 
a wide range of ethical, social and environmental subjects. 
Both documents are publicly available on our website, 
www.wpp.com. The senior management of each of our 
businesses complete an annual statement of compliance 
with the Code of Business Conduct.
We have established a set of key performance indicators 
(KPIs) relating to employment, social investment, 
environment and climate change. We report performance 
against these in our annual Corporate Responsibility Report.
CR data are collected quarterly through our Group 
financial reporting system. Reviews of CR risks such as those 
relating to employment policies, privacy and data security, 
marketing and business ethics may be included in the scope 
of internal audits (and some SOX audits). Significant findings 
are related to the Audit Committee. 
Reporting
We will publish our ninth Corporate Responsibility Report 
in June 2011. The report provides a detailed account of our 
CR performance. A summary of our progress is provided 
on the following pages.
The impact of our work
The social and environmental impact of the work we 
undertake for clients is one of our most important CR issues. 
Our goal is for WPP to be a centre of excellence for 
sustainability communication, giving our clients the best 
advice and enhancing consumers’ understanding of 
sustainability issues. We will not underwrite ‘greenwashing’ 
and recognise the challenges in distilling complex 
sustainability issues into simple marketing messages. 
Consumer concern about environmental and social issues 
is causing brand owners to assess the sustainability issues 
pertinent to their products and to improve their performance 
and competitive standing. Sustainability is being adopted as a 
‘brand value’ and is increasingly part of our marketing briefs.
We also create social marketing campaigns, usually for 
government or NGO clients, tackling issues related to public 
health, safety or the environment. They are designed to raise 
awareness or encourage people to change their behaviour. 
Many of our companies have developed bespoke 
sustainability services for clients. These include JWT Ethos, 
Hill & Knowlton’s CR & Sustainability Communications 
offering, Ogilvy Earth, P&G’s S-Team (including Added 
Value, Bridge, FITCH, G2, The Futures Company, 
Hill & Knowlton, Landor and Penn Schoen Berland); 
and PSB Green.
Marketing ethics
As a minimum our companies are expected to comply with 
all laws, regulations and codes of marketing practice. All 
advertising produced by WPP companies should present 
products fairly and accurately, comply with the relevant laws 
and marketing codes, and reflect changing public attitudes 
to questions of taste and decency or marketing of sensitive 
products. This includes not producing work for our clients 
that ‘greenwashes’ the environmental performance of their 
company or brands.
Our Code of Business Conduct and CR Policy set out our 
approach and provide guidance to our companies and our 
people on the standards we expect. 
“We will not knowingly create work which contains 
statements, suggestions or images offensive to general public 
decency and will give appropriate consideration to the 
impact of our work on minority segments of the population, 
whether that minority be by race, religion, national origin, 
colour, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or 
expression, age or disability. 
We will not undertake work which is intended or 
designed to mislead, including in relation to social, 
environmental and human rights issues. 
We will consider the potential for clients or work to 
damage the Group’s reputation prior to taking them on. 
This includes reputational damage due to participating in 
business activities that abuse human rights. WPP companies 
will not undertake work designed to mislead in any respect, 
including social, environmental and human rights issues. 
WPP companies will comply with applicable regulations 
and self-regulatory codes of practice in the countries in 
which they operate.”

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Corporate responsibility
Our privacy approach
We expect our companies to comply with all applicable 
privacy and data protection laws and marketing codes 
of practice. Many of our companies have policies and 
procedures covering how data (including protected types 
personal data) should be handled, and some have developed 
their own technology and tools to improve transparency. 
We held a series of privacy roadshows for employees 
around the Group during 2010 to improve their 
understanding of privacy issues and changes in regulation. 
We communicate regularly with clients on privacy issues 
to explain our approach and to help them keep abreast of 
current thinking and best practice. For example, during 2010 
Kantar delivered a number of joint training sessions with key 
clients to raise awareness of privacy issues among client and 
agency teams. 
We are reviewing the privacy and data protection clauses 
in our supplier and client contracts to clarify our respective 
roles and responsibilities and to make sure these are 
appropriate and consistent. 
We collaborate with others in our industry to 
improve privacy standards and ensure that information 
is accessible to consumers. For example, a number of 
our agencies are members of the online Behavioural 
Advertising Self Regulation Coalition (BASRC). Our 
digital and research companies meet with regulators and 
participate in consultation exercises to give their views 
on proposed regulation. 
More information is available in our Corporate 
Responsibility Report. 
WPP as an employer
We draw on the talents and creativity of the Group’s 
employees to meet and exceed our clients’ expectations. 
There is strong competition for talent in our industry and 
we anticipate this will increase. 
To enable us to recruit the best, WPP companies invest 
a significant proportion of revenues in developing and 
rewarding employees. They offer competitive remuneration 
and innovative, high quality training and development 
programs. The Group and its companies are committed to 
creating an inclusive workplace culture where people from 
all backgrounds can flourish. 
We believe that a reputation for environmental and social 
responsibility enhances the appeal of our companies to 
prospective recruits. 
WPP’s chief talent officer, Mark Linaugh, and our talent 
team assist our companies to attract, develop and retain our 
talent. Human resources policies are agreed and implemented 
Few campaigns that we produce for clients provoke 
complaint, but occasionally complaints do occur relating to 
matters of taste or fact. In most countries these are arbitrated 
by government or industry organisations. More information 
is available in our Corporate Responsibility Report.
Ethical issues in client work
Where we operate, who we work for and the type of work 
we undertake can give rise to ethical issues. Examples 
include: work undertaken for government clients; operating 
in countries with a poor human rights record; and marketing 
for sensitive or controversial products.
In cases where work may present a potential risk to 
WPP’s reputation, employees are required to elevate the 
decision to the most senior person in the relevant office and 
then to the most senior executive of the operating company 
in the country concerned, who will decide if further referral 
to a WPP director is required. All employees must take our 
online ethics training which includes a module on risks 
associated with client work and a wide range of issues 
including privacy, diversity, responsibility to stakeholders, 
and avoiding misleading work.
When required we hold review meetings for senior 
managers at Group level to discuss cases of concern and 
identify new risk areas. The internal audit program of work 
now incorporates a review of the considerations given by 
management to possible impacts on the Group’s reputation 
prior to accepting new clients.
Privacy
Privacy and data protection are key issues for all our 
companies and we aim to meet best practice standards. 
Some of our companies collect and use consumer data to 
study attitudes and purchasing habits and to create targeted 
digital and direct marketing campaigns. 
Privacy is a complex issue to manage. Regulation and 
standard practices vary significantly between the many 
different markets we operate in and depending on the type 
of data collected. Changes in technology can also have 
implications for how data are collected, processed, used 
and stored. In many markets there is growing awareness 
of privacy issues and some consumers and interest groups 
are concerned about the collection and use of personal 
data for marketing purposes, including practices such as 
behavioural targeting. 
Our approach to privacy is guided by three priorities: 
maintaining consumer trust in marketing; reducing legal 
and financial risks to WPP; and enabling our clients to use 
consumer data appropriately to enhance their marketing.

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Corporate responsibility
WPP’s Board and a female Company Secretary, Group 
communications director and Group chief counsel.
Data on ethnicity and nationality are provided in our 
Corporate Responsibility Report. 
Development and training
We invest in high-quality training to enable our people to 
gain new skills, keep up with changes in our industry (such 
as the development of digital marketing) and to advance their 
careers within the Group. Our goal is for our people at all 
levels to receive regular performance appraisals.
Gender diversity 2006-2010  %
Total employees
Female
10
09
08
07
06
100
0
25
50
75
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Senior managers
10
09
08
07
06
100
0
25
50
75
Board members/
executive leaders
10
09
08
07
06
100
0
25
50
75
48.9m
50
0
10
20
30
40
Staff training and welfare  £m
48.9
39.9
42.6
38.6
38.2
10
09
08
07
06
at operating company level. WPP employs over 146,000 
people (including employees in our associate companies) in 
almost 2,400 offices in 107 countries. 
Diversity and inclusion
Workplace diversity enables us to better understand the 
interests and expectations of consumers in the many different 
countries we operate in. An inclusive workplace culture helps 
us to attract talented people from all backgrounds and to 
create an environment where they can do their best work.
Our non-discrimination policy, introduced in 1992, 
commits all WPP companies to select, develop and promote 
people based on merit and regardless of factors such as race, 
religion, national origin, colour, sex, sexual orientation, 
gender identity or expression, age or disability. Policies on 
harassment and non-discrimination are included in our 
Code of Conduct. Where existing employees become 
disabled, our policy is to provide continuing employment 
and training wherever practicable.
Our people can report any concerns or suspected cases 
of discrimination or misconduct confidentially (and 
anonymously if desired) through our Right to Speak helpline.
All of our major companies have internal programs 
to promote diversity and inclusion in their workforce. 
These include:
	 Partnerships: our companies work with diversity 
organisations and participate in initiatives to encourage 
diversity. In the US, these include Diversity Best Practices; 
The Leadership, Education and Development Program in 
Business; The National Black Public Relations Society; 
National Association of Black Journalists; National 
Association of Hispanic Journalists; City College of 
New York; the LAGRANT Foundation and the 
American Association of Advertising Agencies’ (AAAA) 
Operation Success. 
	 Internships: In the US, several companies participate in
the AAAA’s Multicultural Advertising Internship Program 
(MAIP) (NY City Capital Internship Program) and other 
initiatives that allow minority students to gain experience
in the marketing industry. In many countries our companies 
have developed partnerships with local schools to encourage 
students from a wider range of backgrounds to consider 
a career in marketing services. 
	 Targeted recruitment: to help diversify their 
recruitment pools, many of our companies use specialist 
recruitment agencies and publications and attend minority 
recruitment fairs. 
	 Raising employee awareness: training and awareness 
campaigns help employees understand the importance 
and business benefits of diversity and inclusion. 
In 2010, women accounted for 31% of board members/
executive leaders, 48% of senior managers and 54%
of total employees. There are currently three women on

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
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How we behave
Corporate responsibility
Communication
Regular communication helps our people in all markets 
to keep up-to-date with Group news and changes in the 
business. We encourage employees to provide feedback 
through regular surveys. Communications channels include:
	 WPP’s public website (www.wpp.com), Group intranet 
site, social media channels and professional knowledge 
communities. 
	 WPP’s multi-award winning global newspaper and 
eBook, The WIRE.
	 WPP’s public monthly online news bulletin – e.wire. 
	 WPP’s annual journal of original thinking, the 
Atticus Journal.
	 The WPP Reading Room, an extensive online library 
of thinkpieces (both public and original) from WPP 
professionals worldwide. 
	 Our multi-award winning Annual Report & Accounts, 
financial statements and Corporate Responsibility Report, 
which are distributed across the Group and are available 
on our websites. 
	 Regular FactFiles profiling specialist services and 
resources within the Group. 
	 Regular communication on Group initiatives such as 
the Worldwide Partnership Program, BrandZ™, the Atticus 
Awards, the WPPED Cream awards, the WPP Marketing 
Fellowship Program and professional development workshops. 
	 Periodic reports from Sir Martin Sorrell on topics 
of importance. 
	 Formal and informal meetings at operating company level. 
Health and wellbeing
Our companies invest in initiatives to improve the health 
of their workforce and to mitigate any health and safety 
risks. This contributes to employee productivity and reduces 
the costs of people taking time off work due to illness. 
As an office-based business, the main health and safety 
risks to our workforce are injuries connected to workstation 
ergonomics and work-related stress. Ensuring our 
workstations follow good practice design reduces problems 
such as repetitive strain injury or back problems. Our 
companies assess the risk of work-related stress through 
regular staff surveys and by monitoring issues raised via 
our Right to Speak helpline, Employee Assistance Programs 
and during exit interviews.
Initiatives to combat workplace stress vary by company 
but include: 
	 Employee Assistance Programs – a source of confidential 
advice, support and counselling. 
	 Flexible benefit programs, including subsidised childcare. 
	 Flexible work arrangements enabling people to work 
part-time or from home. 
	 Medical checks and health screening. 
	 Training on stress and time management. 
Several thousand people take part in training and 
professional development opportunities each year at both the 
parent and operating company levels. These cover all aspects of 
company business and creative skills. In 2010, WPP companies 
invested £48.9 million in training and wellbeing, a 22% 
increase over the previous year. 
Executive education helps our senior talent develop creative, 
client and personal leadership skills. Our flagship program is 
Maestro: Orchestrating Client Value – a five-day course aimed 
at strengthening the ability of our most senior client leaders 
to be valued and trusted advisers to their clients, colleagues 
and teams; and how to orchestrate the many talents our 
organisation possesses, so that our clients are best served. 
Since the program’s inception in 2003, it has been held in 
19 countries, has reached more than 2,100 participants 
and involved 80 different WPP companies.
WPP has its own ‘Mini MBA’ program, designed to build 
functional knowledge and abilities. It combines online tutorials 
and simulations with instructor-led classroom training. 
Business disciplines covered are growing and winning business, 
strategy, marketing, people and organisational development, 
commercial acumen and working across cultures. 
Approximately 800 people have participated in the program.
We also provide focused training and mentoring to help 
women and diverse employees progress to senior positions. 
For example, ‘The X Factor’ is a senior mentoring and 
development program, led by the former global CEO of 
Ogilvy & Mather and chairman of JWT, Charlotte Beers, 
which prepares high-potential women in our operating 
companies for the next level of leadership. So far, 36 women 
have completed the program.
In 2010, WPP’s Executive Development program was 
recognized with an award of excellence from the American 
Society for Training and Development (ASTD), the world’s 
largest professional association dedicated to the training and 
development field.
Remuneration and share ownership
Given the competition for talent in our industry, providing 
competitive remuneration is essential. We regularly 
benchmark our compensation against other companies in our 
sector to ensure our packages are competitive. Performance-
related remuneration is provided for most employees in 
addition to basic salaries, and senior employees are eligible 
for incentives based on their performance against annual or 
multi-year goals for the operations they lead.
Share ownership gives our people a financial stake in the 
company and a share in its success. WPP’s Worldwide 
Ownership Plan, introduced in 1997, typically makes share 
awards to approximately 45,000 eligible employees per year in 
over 76 countries and, since inception, has made awards to over 
97,714 of our people.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
130
How we behave
Corporate responsibility
Our previous target was based on the Group’s absolute 
carbon footprint. We challenged ourselves to reduce this by 
20% by 2010 and 40% by 2020, matching advice from the 
IPCC on the required scale of global emissions reductions 
(against the 2006 baseline). At the end of 2010, we achieved 
a 7% reduction over our 2006 baseline, (adjusted for 
acquisitions), missing our 20% target.  
This is due to a number of factors including organic 
growth in our businesses and difficulties in accurately 
adjusting our baseline to reflect the full impact of frequent 
acquisitions around the Group. 
We believe our carbon intensity target is more 
appropriate for WPP, as Group headcount is closely linked 
to levels of business activity. Using an intensity measure 
also allows us to reflect the impact of acquisitions and 
disposals without needing to adjust our baseline.
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
Carbon intensity
(Tonnes CO2 per person)
3.28
2.76
2.54
2.55
2.51
2012
2015
2020
Carbon intensity targets
(Tonnes CO2 per person)
1.8
1.6
1.2
Figures based on rating renewable energy purchased as zero carbon.
We will continue to measure and report our absolute 
carbon footprint which in 2010 was 261,004 tonnes of 
CO2 (rating renewable energy as zero emissions), an 
increase of 4% over 2009. The main contributors to our 
carbon footprint are office energy use 54% and business air 
travel 33%. The footprint of our offices reduced by 1.4% 
but emissions from air travel increased by 12.8% reflecting 
the upturn in business as the global economy emerged 
from recession.
When calculated with renewable energy rated as normal 
grid electricity, our total carbon footprint in 2010 was 
289,767 tonnes of CO2. We report our greenhouse gas 
emissions to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a 
collaboration of institutional investors, and participate in 
the CDP’s Supply Chain Leadership Collaboration. In the 
UK, WPP met its current obligations under the UK CRC 
Energy Efficiency Scheme and achieved the Carbon 
Trust Standard.
WPP’s carbon footprint (rating renewable energy as zero emissions)
CO2 emissions (tonnes)
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
Office energy use
144,354 124,335
121,572 143,154
141,113
Air travel
81,733
92,269
89,500
76,073
85,848
Other (includes 
unmeasured impacts, 
e.g. couriers and taxis)
33,913
32,491
31,661
32,884
34,044
Total
260,000 249,095 242,733
252,111 261,004
Employee external appointments
We recognise that our companies’ executives may be invited 
to become non-executive directors of other companies, 
and that such experience may be beneficial to the Group. 
Consequently, executives are allowed to accept non-executive 
appointments with non-competing companies, subject to 
obtaining the approval of the Group chief executive in the 
case of senior executives, the Group chief executive and 
chairman in the case of Board members and the approval 
of the Nomination Committee in the case of the chairman 
or Group chief executive. Any fees receivable out of such 
appointments may be retained by the individuals concerned.
Environment
Our environmental impact is modest. However, we view our 
efforts to reduce it as an opportunity to demonstrate what 
can be achieved in a service sector organisation and to show 
to clients that we have strong environmental principles. 
Our priority is to reduce our carbon footprint – mainly from 
office energy consumption and business flights – and we 
are starting to co-ordinate plans for waste reduction and 
water management in regions of water scarcity. We look for 
opportunities to purchase more sustainable goods and services, 
and to work with suppliers who meet high standards on CR. 
Energy and climate change strategy
Our strategy is to reduce our carbon emissions by:
	 Improving energy efficiency in our buildings and IT.
	 Reducing non-essential flights by promoting 
videoconferencing.
	 Purchasing renewable energy where available.
To implement our strategy, we have established Energy 
Action Teams in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and 
Latin America. These include members of our IT, real estate 
and procurement functions. Their job is to identify energy-
saving measures and provide technical guidance to our 
agencies. They are supported by a network of on-the-
ground Climate Champions, who help to implement these 
measures in our companies.
Having gained five years’ experience measuring our 
carbon footprint and implementing programs to reduce it, we 
have decided to make carbon intensity (measured per person) 
our lead performance indicator. The Group headcount is 
closely linked to the level of business activity and the intensity 
measure allows for the effects of acquisitions and disposals 
to be seamlessly integrated in our carbon reduction target.
In 2010, the carbon footprint per head was 2.51 tonnes, 
down 1.7% on 2009 and 23% lower than 2006. Our target 
for carbon intensity is 1.2 tonnes by 2020, a 63% reduction 
on our 2006 baseline. We have set interim targets for 2012 
and 2015 to help us track progress.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
131
How we behave
Corporate responsibility
However, it is our intention to increase the percentage of 
electricity purchased from renewable sources to 20% by 2015.
Green electricity sourcing
Country
% renewable
UK
70%
Italy
57%
Switzerland
28%
Ireland
26%
Austria
20%
Germany
19%
Norway
17%
Peru
15%
US
15%
Belgium
14%
New Zealand
12%
Indonesia
8%
Australia
7%
Travel and videoconferencing
Business flights account for a significant part of our carbon 
footprint and are a major cost to the business. We encourage 
our people to meet via videoconferencing, saving carbon 
emissions and money. 
By the end of 2010, we had installed 75 shared high-
definition videoconferencing (VC) units around the world 
which can be used by any WPP company. These are linked to 
an additional 175 VC units exclusive to individual operating 
companies. Videoconferences can be booked between any of 
the rooms and external VC locations via the WPP intranet.
In 2010, a total of 11,000 hours of conferences were held 
using the network, about 50% of which involved external 
links to clients.
Carbon offset
In 2010, we offset 70,000 tonnes of CO2 through support for 
renewable energy projects. This is equivalent to the majority of 
our emissions from business air travel. We reduced the amount 
of carbon offset we purchased this year, to enable us to focus 
investment on improving energy efficiency in our offices and IT. 
All carbon offset projects supported by WPP are 
renewable energy projects arranged by the CarbonNeutral 
Company. We currently fund seven projects, including wind 
farm and hydroelectric projects in China and wind and solar 
generation in India. We do not support forestry offset.
Waste and recycling
In 2010, we focused our waste and recycling efforts on 
establishing preferred suppliers of recycling services for 
paper, office consumables and electronic waste across our 
top 18 markets (representing 70% of headcount).
WPP’s office energy use (megawatt hours)
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
Energy use
297,406 272,545 284,930 340,647 350,724
Office energy efficiency
In 2010 we continued to operate smart meters at 55 of our 
top strategic locations. These provide detailed monthly 
energy use reports and typically help us to achieve energy 
savings of 5-10% in each building.
Where possible, we aim to ensure that any properties we 
lease or purchase meet advanced environmental standards, such 
as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) 
and BRE Environment Assessment Method (BREEAM). 
For example, a new location, Central St Giles in London, 
will house Mindshare and Burson-Marsteller. The building 
has a BREEAM Excellent rating and we are using the Ska 
rating methodology to make our fit-out as green as possible. 
Group Real Estate has also developed a scorecard which 
is used to assess the environmental performance of new 
offices over 25,000 square feet which have not been certified 
to standards such as LEED or BREEAM.
Sustainable IT
WPP’s personal and network IT equipment accounts for a 
large proportion of our energy use. We aim to cut the energy 
used by our computers and have introduced requirements to 
improve the energy efficiency of our IT equipment. Through 
our data centre consolidation program, server virtualisation 
program and the use of new energy-efficient blade-based 
server technology, we aim to achieve up to 40% reduction 
in power consumption for key IT applications. 
Group IT is also undertaking printer rationalisation at 
major locations in key markets that we expect to reduce 
paper, toner and energy consumption by 20% to 30%. 
Currently more than 13,000 employees are covered in 
this program.
Renewable energy
We purchase renewable energy where we can, and regularly 
review energy sourcing across all markets to identify new 
opportunities. 
We estimate that around 16% of the total electricity we 
purchase is generated from renewable sources. The table 
below shows the main countries in which we source green 
electricity and the percentage purchased. Our renewable 
electricity purchases reduce our total carbon footprint by 
28,763 tonnes of CO2.
Green electricity contracts are usually for a fixed period 
and may not be available at competitive prices in future.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
132
How we behave
Corporate responsibility
We are in the process of appointing a global IT vendor 
to manage our obsolete IT equipment, including laptops, 
desktops, phones and servers. Our goal is for obsolete 
IT equipment to be refurbished and sold for reuse or; if this 
is not possible to be broken down for recycling. Disposal is 
a last resort, and must be done in compliance with local 
environmental regulations and data security best practice.
WPP mobile phones can be recycled through an 
agreement with Regenersis in offices across Europe. 
We have similar arrangements for mobile phone recycling 
in Asia Pacific.
Water use
As an office-based company, WPP is not a major water user. 
However, we recognise the importance of water conservation, 
particularly in water-scarce areas. 
In 2009 we launched a water conservation strategy that 
targets our largest locations in water-scarce regions. This will 
ensure that our investment in water management produces 
the most environmental benefit. At these locations we will:
	 Measure and report water consumption. 
	 Establish programs for water conservation. 
In 2010, we measured our water use at all identified 
locations. We set a baseline and a target to reduce 
consumption by 20% per capita by 2015. We launched a 
water conservation guide and nominated Water Champions 
at each location. We will use what we learn at these sites to 
inform how we manage water in other locations. 
Sustainable sourcing 
WPP spends around £3.7 billion ($6 billion) with suppliers 
each year. We want to do business with suppliers that meet 
high standards on environment and employment practices. 
We are committed to managing CR risks in our supply chain, 
both for ourselves and for our clients.
We focus our CR efforts on preferred suppliers that 
provide centrally-purchased goods and services such as IT, 
travel, telecommunications, professional services (e.g. 
consultancy and recruitment) and facilities management.
WPP’s Global Procurement Policy contains ethical and 
environmental criteria, which our Group procurement teams 
use in supplier selection and management. We thoroughly 
evaluate companies against a set of business requirements 
before they can become a preferred supplier. These include 
assurance of supply, quality, service, cost, innovation and 
CR. We do not have a standard weighting for each criteria 
and they may vary from project to project. As part of this 
process we ask potential suppliers to complete a simple 
five-point CR questionnaire to raise awareness and make 
our requirements clear.
In 2010, Group Procurement developed and implemented 
a CR Charter of definitions and targets for five key supply 
areas: paper, recycled paper, office waste recycling, IT waste 
reuse and recycling and green electricity. Our target is 
to have preferred supplier agreements available for these 
services in all major markets. To date, we have 35% of 
these markets covered, with a further 32% under way.
Our target is to source 50% of the paper we use for 
copying and printing from recycled sources by 2015. 
We have identified preferred paper suppliers in 89% of our 
major markets which our companies are encouraged to use. 
On average, in 2010, 32% of the paper purchased by WPP 
companies contained recycled content.
We have also set up procurement contracts with furniture 
and carpet suppliers to ensure the products we purchase 
come from sustainable sources and can be disposed of in 
a responsible manner.
Social investment
In 2010, the total value of our social investment was 
£14.3 million compared with £14.9 million in 2009. This 
is equivalent to 1.7% of reported profit before tax and 
includes direct cash donations to charities of £5.0 million 
and £9.3 million worth of pro bono work. These figures 
are based on fees the organisations would have paid for our 
work. In addition, WPP media agencies negotiated free media 
space worth £20.2 million on behalf of pro bono clients.
* Excludes free media space donations.
Pro bono work
Our companies have a long tradition of pro bono work – 
providing communications services to charities at little or no 
cost. This work can be invaluable – helping raise money and 
awareness for hundreds of good causes every year.
It also benefits WPP by showcasing our creative skills 
and ability to create compelling communications on a wide 
range of social and environmental issues. Our people gain 
a breadth of experience and the chance to contribute to 
their communities.
Social investment 2006-2010*  £m
Charitable donations
10
09
08
07
06
25
0
5
10
15
20
Pro bono work
14.3m

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
133
How we behave
Corporate responsibility
Examples of recent pro bono work by our companies are 
included in our Corporate Responsibility Report.
WPP the parent company 
WPP, the parent company, supports a range of charities 
and non-profit organisations, with a particular focus on 
education, the arts and young people. These include:
	 INSEAD Trust for European Management Education 
	 NABS (a charity which offers financial, practical and 
emotional support to those in the advertising industry) 
	 The London Business School 
	 The National Portrait Gallery 
	 The Natural History Museum 
WPP is also a member of:
	 Business in the Community (an organisation that 
promotes responsible business practice) 
	 Employers Forum on Disability 
	 The Media Trust
	 The Institute of Business Ethics 
Many senior WPP executives also give pro bono advice 
and support. Sir Martin Sorrell is an active participant in 
programs at the following international business schools: 
London Business School; IESE, Spain; Indian Business 
School; and Harvard Business School. He is also chairman 
of the Executive Committee of the World Economic Forum 
International Business Council and a member of the Business 
Council in the US. He is a Trustee of the British Museum, a 
member of the corporate Advisory Group of the Tate Gallery,  
deputy chairman of the Mayor of Shanghai’s International 
Business Leaders Advisory Council, and on the International 
Advisory Board of The Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. 
Pro bono work 2010  %
Local community 
23.2
Education 
11.9
Health 
21.6
Environment 
5.2
Arts 
7.8
Alcohol abuse 
0.1
Other 
30.2

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
135
Dear share owner
F
ollowing a very challenging 2009, the performance of 
the Group improved considerably in 2010. The design 
of compensation policy at WPP ensures that there is a 
clear and direct link between the performance of the Group 
and executive compensation throughout the Group. In 2010, 
the strong performance of the Group therefore resulted in both 
increased incentive levels for management and strong returns 
for share owners. The use of performance-driven compensation 
ensures the continued alignment of share owner and executive 
interests and is essential to enable the Company to attract, 
retain and motivate the most gifted talent in the industry.
2010 highlights
The committee’s work during 2010 included:
	 a review of the total compensation packages of the executive 
directors relative to the marketplace to ensure competitiveness;
	 the approval of all stock plan awards used to attract, 
retain, reward and motivate employees;
	 a review of the fees of the chairman and the non-executive 
directors;
	 the approval of all incentive payments, payable in cash 
or in shares, for senior executives throughout the Group 
and setting appropriate performance targets for the Group 
chief executive and the other executive directors; 
	 approving the deferral and further deferral of significant 
share incentive awards by the Group chief executive; and
	 implementation of clawback provisions in the Company’s 
senior management share incentive plans.
How we’re rewarded
Compensation Committee report 
on behalf of the Board
What changed in 2010?
Details of all elements of compensation and any changes 
made to them are set out in the following pages. To summarise, 
the key decisions and changes to compensation during the 
year were as follows:
	 the fees of the chairman and the non-executive directors, 
all of which have been in place since 1 January 2007, were 
increased with effect from January 2011; 
	 bonuses for 2010 performance were larger than those in 
2009, reflecting the strong Group performance over the year. 
In accordance with the Company’s policy, a substantial 
proportion of the 2010 bonus was paid in the form of 
deferred shares that vest two years after grant;
	 changes to the compensation packages for the executive 
directors were considered and increases in base salary for 
both Paul Richardson and Mark Read were agreed and 
implemented, with effect from January 2011; and
	 a review of the Group chief executive’s overall incentive 
structure commenced and is continuing. The committee 
intends to consult share owners on this subject before the 
proposals are finalised. The final changes agreed will be 
disclosed in the 2011 Compensation Committee report.
As always, I would like to thank my fellow committee 
members, Philip Lader, Esther Dyson, Tim Shriver and 
Colin Day, as well as Bud Morten, the former chairman of 
the committee, for their continued support. The committee’s 
thanks also go to Marie Capes (the Company Secretary), 
Mark Linaugh (the chief talent officer) and Derek Steptoe 
(the worldwide compensation & benefits director).
Jeffrey Rosen
Chairman of the Compensation Committee
18 April 2011

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
136
How we’re rewarded
Compensation Committee report
For this reason, the design of all executive compensation 
at WPP is governed by three guiding principles:
	 competitiveness;
	 performance-driven reward; and
	 alignment with share owner interests.
These three principles are themselves derived from both 
our mission statement (see page 12) and our six business 
objectives (see pages 24 to 29).
The Compensation Committee regularly reviews fixed 
and variable compensation against appropriate benchmarks 
both internal and external. When making decisions on 
executive compensation, the committee is briefed on the 
remuneration levels within the Group. This includes, for 
example, the consideration of actual and budgeted salary 
increases across the organisation when determining executive 
salary increases. In addition, the committee approves the 
design of incentive plans and reviews all the awards made 
under those incentive plans.
The chart below shows the proportion of total 
compensation for executive directors which is variable (due to 
the linkage to performance) compared to fixed compensation.
WPP is committed to aligning executive performance and 
reward with share owner interests. From a compensation 
perspective, this is encouraged in a number of ways:
	 Total Shareholder Return (TSR) has been chosen as the 
performance measure for the LEAP plans as it represents 
the best objective measure of the success of the Company 
as far as share owners are concerned;
	 share ownership is encouraged for the WPP Leaders 
(approximately the top 200 executives), all of whom have 
stretching ownership goals;
	 all eligible employees are given a share ownership 
opportunity through participation in the Worldwide 
Ownership Plan; and
	 the majority of the compensation package of executive 
directors is paid in the form of shares comprised of deferred 
share bonus and long-term incentive awards under the 
LEAP plans.
0
20
40
60
80
100
Fixed
Variable
Mark Read
Paul Richardson
Sir Martin Sorrell
Split between ﬁxed and variable compensation  %
Composition of the Compensation Committee
During 2010, the Compensation Committee comprised 
the following:
	 Jeffrey Rosen (chairman of the committee);
	 Esther Dyson;
	 Philip Lader;
	 Tim Shriver (from 29 June 2010); and
	 Colin Day (from 1 December 2010).
No member of the committee has any personal financial 
interest (other than as a share owner as disclosed on page 147) 
in the matters to be decided by the committee, potential 
conflicts of interest arising from cross-directorships or 
day-to-day involvement in running the Group’s businesses.
The terms of reference for the Compensation Committee 
are available on the Company’s website and will be on 
display at the AGM, as set out in the Notice of AGM.
Advisors to the Compensation Committee 
The Compensation Committee regularly consults with Group 
executives, particularly the Group chief executive (who is not 
present when matters relating to his own compensation or 
contracts are discussed and decided), the chief talent officer 
and the worldwide director of compensation & benefits. 
The latter two individuals provide a perspective on 
information reviewed by the committee and are a conduit for 
requests for information and analysis from the Company’s 
external advisors. Towers Watson are the committee’s 
appointed compensation advisors; they did not provide any 
other material services to the Group. Squire Sanders 
Hammonds advises the committee on legal and tax issues 
relating to compensation and benefits, and provides legal 
advice on a range of matters to the Group. 
The Compensation Committee receives external advice 
on all matters pertaining to the determination of fair and 
appropriate compensation packages for the executive 
directors. This advice covers competitive practice in 
comparator companies, tax and regulatory changes 
and governance issues related to the role of the 
Compensation Committee. 
The link between compensation and 
business objectives
WPP competes on the basis of its intellectual capital. This 
intellectual capital is created entirely by its people, and the 
committee endeavours to strike the right balance of fairness 
between employees and share owners.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
137
How we’re rewarded
Compensation Committee report
*	 Measured on a common currency basis.
Key elements of short- and long-term 
remuneration
The principal elements of WPP executive remuneration 
currently comprise the following:
	 base salaries and fees (fixed);
	 short-term incentives paid both in cash (payable 
immediately) and shares which vest in the medium-term, 
usually after two years (variable); and
	 long-term incentives paid in shares (variable, subject 
to performance conditions, and in the case of LEAP, 
co-investment conditions).
Pension contributions, life assurance, healthcare and 
other benefits are also provided.
Compensation packages for the most senior people at 
WPP are normally reviewed every 24 months. These reviews 
are undertaken within the context of:
	 the mix of fixed and variable compensation;
	 the performance of the relevant business unit;
	 pay and employment conditions elsewhere in the 
Group; and
	 general market conditions.
In determining suitable benchmarks, the Compensation 
Committee looks at the compensation of executives holding 
similar roles in competitor organisations and, if appropriate, 
general industry data for organisations of comparable size 
and complexity.
Base salary and fees
Current salary and fees
Effective date
Sir Martin Sorrell
£1,000,000
1 Jan 2007
Paul Richardson
$925,000 and £100,000
1 Jan 2011
Mark Read
£425,000
1 Jan 2011
As reported in previous years, fees of £100,000 are paid 
to each of the executive directors in respect of their 
directorships of WPP plc and are included in the 
numbers above.
Sir Martin Sorrell’s base salary was last increased on 
1 January 2007. It was due to be reviewed in November 
2008 with any change to be implemented from January 
Relative TSR Rebased to 31 December 2005*
31.12.10
31.12.09
31.12.08
31.12.07
31.12.06
31.12.05
WPP
200
0
50
100
150
FTSE 100
Omnicom
Interpublic
Publicis
The role of the Compensation Committee 
in improving risk management
The Compensation Committee is always sensitive to the 
requirement that the decisions that it makes and the 
compensation programs the Group has in place serve to 
improve the management of risk in the Group. In particular:
	 the incentive plans take into account performance across 
a broad range of financial and non-financial measures;
	 Compensation Committee meetings are generally held at 
the time of Board meetings, at which the committee members 
are usually given a comprehensive briefing on issues and 
risks facing each of the business units as well as the Group 
as a whole;
	 one of the single biggest challenges for WPP is attracting 
and retaining key talent. Incentive plans are designed to be 
attractive in the marketplace and provide as much retention 
value as possible, such as the use of deferred share bonuses 
that normally vest after two years, and the use of restricted 
stock awards that vest after three years; and
	 the clawback provisions that have been added into key 
share incentive plans (i.e. those other than the all-employee 
plans) give the Compensation Committee the right to cancel 
or reduce unvested share awards should this be justified by 
a participant’s acts or omissions.
TSR performance
The Company’s TSR for the period from 31 December 2005 
to April 2011 is shown on the graph above right. The FTSE 
100 is the index the Board considers most relevant for the 
purpose of comparison as WPP is a mid-ranking FTSE 100 
company. WPP considers its key competitors to be Omnicom, 
Interpublic and Publicis and it is the performance of these 
companies with which the Company’s own performance is 
most commonly compared. For that reason, values for those 
three companies are also displayed.
Cash
Shares
Split between cash and share-based compensation  %
Mark Read
Paul Richardson
0
20
40
60
80
100
Sir Martin Sorrell

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
138
How we’re rewarded
Compensation Committee report
In a similar way, the Compensation Committee sets 
objectives for Sir Martin Sorrell and the other executive 
directors. The extent to which these objectives are met will 
determine the size of both annual cash bonuses (under the 
STIP) and Executive Share Awards (ESAs, the portion of the 
annual bonus paid in shares which normally vest a further 
two years after grant). 
No changes were made in 2010 to the levels of short-term 
incentive payouts that would be payable for achieving either 
target or maximum performance. The target and maximum 
cash bonus and ESA awards for each of the three executive 
directors in 2010 were as follows (shown as a percentage 
of salary):
Cash
ESA
Target %
Max %
Target %
Max %
Sir Martin Sorrell
100
200
67
100
Paul Richardson
80
120
100
133
Mark Read
50
75
67
100
Consistent with previous years, for 2010 the performance 
of each executive director was measured in the three areas 
shown below:
	 Group financial objectives: Examples of measures include 
margin improvement and operating profit growth.
	 Individual strategic objectives: Examples of measures 
include relative financial performance, advancing CSR 
strategy, improving back office synergies and integrating 
digital assets.
	 Key business achievements: Examples of measures include 
improving creative reputation and developing digital strategy.
Each of these three elements is equally weighted for bonus 
purposes (i.e. one-third of the bonus is payable for the 
achievement of each objective). Except for the Group 
financial objectives, the exact measures differ for each 
individual executive director.
After considering each of these areas and the respective 
measures for each executive director, the committee assessed 
the following levels of performance:
2010 achievement as % of target
2009
2008
Cash
Financial
Strategic
Business
Total
Total % 
of target
Total % 
of target
Sir Martin Sorrell
200
170
200
190
41
125
Paul Richardson
150
105
150
135
58
100
Mark Read
150
105
150
135
72
125
2010 achievement as % of target
2009
2008
ESA
Financial
Strategic
Business
Total
Total % 
of target
Total % 
of target
Sir Martin Sorrell
150
127
150
142
82
112
Paul Richardson
133
93
133
120
62
100
Mark Read
150
104
150
135
72
125
2009; however, Sir Martin informed the Compensation 
Committee that an increase would not be appropriate in 
light of business conditions. His salary and directors’ fees 
therefore remained unchanged throughout 2008, 2009 
and 2010. As part of the extensive review of the executive 
directors’ compensation at the end of 2010, the committee 
considers that an increase in base salary and adjustments to 
incentive opportunities are appropriate. Consideration of 
these issues has continued during 2011 and the committee 
intends to consult share owners before the proposals are 
finalised. The final changes agreed will be disclosed in the 
2011 Compensation Committee report.
As a result of the review, and being mindful of the time 
that has elapsed since the last salary increases, the committee 
decided to increase the base salary of the other two executive 
directors. Paul Richardson’s base salary was increased from 
$830,000 plus £100,000 fees to $925,000 plus £100,000 
fees. The committee believed that Mark Read’s package of 
base salary and fees at £325,000 was uncompetitive and, 
given the increased importance of digital strategy to the 
Group and Mr Read’s continuing personal development, an 
increase to his remuneration was in order. As a result, Mark 
Read’s package of base salary and fees was increased to 
£425,000. These increases were the first increases since July 
2008 and January 2009 respectively, and both increases were 
implemented with effect from 1 January 2011.
Retirement benefits
All pension benefits for the Company’s executive directors 
are currently on a defined contribution basis. Only the 
aggregate of base salary and director fees is pensionable. 
Details of pension contributions for executive directors for 
the period under review are set out on page 142.
Short-term incentives
Each year WPP sets stretching performance targets for 
each operating company. Performance against these targets 
determines the size, if any, of the incentive pool for that unit. 
In aggregate, incentive payments in 2010 were higher than 
in 2009 due to improved performance. This trend was also 
reflected in the bonuses paid to executive directors.
Individual targets (both financial and strategic) for the 
operating company CEOs are set by WPP and in turn, these 
CEOs set similar targets for employees who report directly 
to them. Payment is in the form of both cash bonuses and 
deferred shares, being Performance Share Awards (PSAs), 
which vest a further two years after grant. The grant of 
PSAs typically occurs three months after the end of the 
financial year.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
139
How we’re rewarded
Compensation Committee report
Leadership Equity Acquisition Plan III
In 2010, awards under LEAP III were made to 18 of the 
Group’s key executives. Details of the awards made to the 
executive directors can be found on page 144.
Participants have to commit and retain investments 
in WPP in order to receive awards under LEAP III. Such 
investments are in the form of WPP shares (investment 
shares) and, at the invitation of the Compensation 
Committee, also in the form of options over WPP shares 
purchased from an independent third party (investment 
options). LEAP III awards provide participants with the 
opportunity to earn additional WPP shares to match their 
investments (matching shares). The number of matching 
shares that a participant can receive at the end of the 
investment and performance period depends on the 
Company’s TSR performance measured over five years and 
compared with a peer group weighted by market capitalisation.
Following the end of a performance period, the 
Compensation Committee is required to perform a ‘fairness 
review’ on the basis of which it may, in exceptional 
circumstances, decide to vary the number of matching shares 
that will vest. This is because relative TSR may not always 
reflect the true performance of the Company. Factors the 
committee considers in its fairness review of any award 
include, amongst others, multiple measures of the Group’s 
financial performance (such as growth in revenue and in 
earnings per share), and any evidence of distortions in the 
share price of either WPP or the peer group (such as bid 
price premiums).
Vesting of the 2005 and 2006 LEAP awards
As previously reported in the 2009 Compensation 
Committee report, the 2005 award vested in March 2010 
with a match of 2.50. 
As described above, the Compensation Committee is 
required to perform a ‘fairness review’ before any awards 
can vest. When performing this fairness review in the context 
of determining the level of vesting of the 2006 award, the 
committee reviewed a broad range of factors in its 
consideration of whether the relative TSR achievement was 
a fair reflection of the performance of the Group over the 
five-year performance period or whether there were factors 
that required the result to be adjusted. For the vesting of the 
2006 award, the committee considered the following factors:
	 the constituents of the peer group and whether there 
were any events that had an undue impact on their TSR 
performance in either a positive or negative way;
	 the impact of changes in exchange rates on the TSR 
calculation; and
	 the financial performance of the Company, relative to 
its peers, covering a wide range of measures including EPS, 
PBIT, margin, revenue and several other factors.
These achievement levels resulted in the following 
bonus payments:
Cash bonus
ESA bonus
Actual %
of target
Actual 
£000
Actual %
of target
Actual 
£000
Sir Martin Sorrell
190
1,900
142
950
Paul Richardson
135
682
120
757
Mark Read
135
219
135
293
The executive directors are eligible, but decided not, to 
participate in a cash bonus deferral plan whereby they can 
defer receipt of part of their bonus for four years, and receive 
a 25% match in the form of WPP shares (subject to 
continuous employment). 
In conjunction with the committee’s review of total 
compensation for the executive directors, the committee 
decided to adjust the levels of short-term incentive awards 
available for executive directors. The target and maximum 
levels for both Paul Richardson and Mark Read have been 
adjusted for 2011 in order to better balance the cash and 
share incentive elements of their remuneration, and to reflect 
market practice, and are shown below (as a percentage 
of salary):
Cash
ESA
Target %
Max %
Target %
Max %
Paul Richardson
100
150
100
150
Mark Read
67
100
67
100
As mentioned in the Base salary and fees section, a 
decision regarding adjustments to Sir Martin Sorrell’s 
incentive opportunities is pending the outcome of share 
owner consultation.
Long-term incentives
During the latter part of 2010, the Compensation Committee 
reviewed the long-term incentive plans to assess whether they 
continued to meet the strategic objectives of the Company 
particularly given the increased competitive pressures that 
have been fuelled by the general economic recovery and 
competitors’ behaviour. The committee reviewed grant levels, 
performance criteria and vesting schedules. The conclusion 
of the review was that the grant levels and vesting schedules 
remained appropriate and well suited to the nature of the 
business. While the committee believes that the relative TSR 
measure that has been used for a number of years continues 
to be the most appropriate performance measure, the 
committee periodically reviews whether the plans would be 
strengthened by the addition of one or two further non-
market measures in order to balance TSR.
Other than stock options, all awards will be satisfied out of 
WPP shares held in treasury or one of the Company’s employee 
share ownership plans (ESOPs). The proceeds from any of the 
cash or share-based equity plans are not pensionable.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
140
How we’re rewarded
Compensation Committee report
Following the fairness review, the committee concluded 
that the relative TSR result fairly reflected the performance 
of the Company over the five-year investment period, and 
that no adjustment was deemed necessary. The relative TSR 
performance of the Company resulted in a match of 4.14 for 
each investment share committed to the program despite the 
fact that on a local currency basis the match was 4.80.
Restricted Stock Plan
Other than to satisfy awards under the short-term incentive 
plans (ESAs and PSAs), the principal use of the Restricted 
Stock Plan is for awards under the WPP Leaders and Partners 
program. This program is used to reward, retain and align 
the interests of about 1,250 of our key executives with the 
interests of share owners.
In the program, awards are made to participants that 
vest three years after grant, provided the participant is still 
employed within the Group. Executive directors are ineligible 
to participate in this plan.
Executive Stock Option Plan
In order to attract or retain key talent it is sometimes 
necessary to make special grants of options. No awards 
were granted in 2010 to any employee or executive director 
(1 award was granted to an employee in 2009). However, the 
Compensation Committee is conscious that stock options 
remain a powerful motivator and, in certain circumstances, 
it might be necessary to make awards to a broader 
population under the Executive Stock Option Plan.
Worldwide Ownership Plan
The Worldwide Ownership Plan is an all-employee plan that 
makes annual grants of stock options to employees with two 
years of service who work in wholly-owned subsidiaries. 
During 2010, awards were made to over 45,000 employees. 
By 31 December 2010, options under this plan had been 
granted to approximately 97,700 employees over 43.4 million 
shares since March 1997. Executives who participate in one 
of the other share plans described above are ineligible to 
participate in this plan.
Share incentive dilution for 2000 to 2010
The share incentive dilution level, measured on a 10-year 
rolling basis, has declined to 4.4% at 31 December 2010 
(4.6% – 2009). It is intended that awards under all plans, 
with the exception of the Worldwide Ownership Plan, will 
all be satisfied with purchased shares held either in the 
ESOPs or in treasury.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
141
How we’re rewarded
Compensation Committee report
Key elements of short- and long-term remuneration
Objective
Participation
Performance
period
Conditions
Change of control
Short-term
Base salary
To maintain 
package 
competitiveness 
at all levels 
within the Group.
All employees.
n/a
Salary levels are 
determined by taking 
a number of relevant 
factors into account, 
including individual 
and business unit 
performance, level 
of experience, scope 
of responsibility and 
the competitiveness 
of total remuneration.
n/a
Cash bonus
To incentivise 
delivery of 
value at all levels 
within the Group.
Approximately 10% 
of employees are 
eligible to receive a 
performance bonus.
1 year
Achievement 
of challenging 
performance goals 
(financial and 
non-financial) at 
the individual and 
business unit level.
The cash bonuses of executive directors do not 
crystallise on a change of control.
Performance 
share awards
To incentivise 
delivery of value 
and to align 
with interests 
of share owners.
Key operating 
company 
executives.
1 year
Achievement of 
challenging 
performance goals 
(financial and 
non-financial) at 
operating company 
level. Further two-year 
retention period.
See note below for Restricted Stock Plan.
Executive share 
awards
To incentivise 
delivery of value 
and to align 
with interests 
of share owners.
Key head office 
executives and 
executive directors.
1 year
Achievement of 
challenging individual 
annual bonus objectives. 
Further two- or three-year 
retention period.
See note below for Restricted Stock Plan.
Long-term
LEAP III and 
Renewed LEAP
To incentivise 
long-term 
performance by 
comparing WPP’s 
TSR against the TSR 
of key comparators 
(which are 
weighted by market 
capitalisation in the 
case of LEAP III), 
and to maximise 
alignment with 
share owner 
interests through 
a high level of 
personal financial 
commitment.
Participation offered 
only to those key 
executives (currently 
no more than 20 
people) whose 
contributions 
transcend their 
day-to-day role, 
including executive 
directors.
5 years
Relative TSR 
performance against 
a group of key 
communication 
services comparator 
companies, 
(weighted by market 
capitalisation in the 
case of LEAP III), 
subject to a fairness 
review by the 
Compensation 
Committee.
On a change of control, the investment period 
for all outstanding awards ends, the number 
of vesting shares is determined at that date 
(pro-rated in the case of LEAP III) and any other 
rights cease. The number of shares that vest 
may be reduced to prevent adverse US tax 
provisions applying. The Compensation 
Committee may determine that outstanding 
awards are exchanged for equivalent awards.
Restricted Stock 
Plan
To encourage a 
share ownership 
culture and 
long-term retention 
as well as 
supporting 
recruitment.
Directors and 
senior executives 
of the operating 
companies and 
senior head office 
executives.
n/a
Typically three-year 
retention period.
The vesting period for all outstanding awards is 
deemed to end. The Compensation Committee 
may determine that outstanding awards are 
exchanged for equivalent awards or that 
outstanding awards are unaffected by the 
change of control.
Executive Stock 
Option Plan
To provide a tool to 
promote retention 
and recruitment.
Occasional use only 
to deal with special 
situations.
3 years
Conditions, if any, are 
determined at the time 
of grant of the award.
The number of shares or ADRs is pro-rated 
down in accordance with the change of control 
date. The Compensation Committee may 
determine that outstanding awards are 
unaffected by the change of control.
Worldwide 
Ownership Plan
To develop a 
stronger ownership 
culture.
Employees with 
at least two years’ 
employment. 
Not offered to 
those participating 
in other share 
programs or to 
executive directors.
n/a
Three-year vesting 
period.
The number of shares or ADRs is pro-rated 
down in accordance with the change of control 
date. The Compensation Committee may 
determine that outstanding awards are 
unaffected by the change of control.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
142
How we’re rewarded
The following tables and information are either required by statute or recommended by best practice guidelines. All information 
in this section has been audited.
Executive directors’ emoluments
The value of salary and fees, benefits, pension contributions and annual incentives paid both in cash (under the STIP) and 
shares (ESAs) for the year ending 31 December 2010 are set out in the table below. The table also shows comparative numbers 
for 2009. In the case of the STIP and ESAs, the figures shown are the value of the awards in respect of the year in question 
(although they were received in the following year). Benefits include such items as healthcare, life assurance, spouse travel and 
allowances for cars and housing. Both Sir Martin Sorrell and Paul Richardson currently receive part of their remuneration 
in pounds sterling and part in US dollars. Any US dollar amounts received in 2010 have been converted into sterling at an 
exchange rate of $1.5461 to £1 ($1.5667 for 2009).
Salary and fees
Other benefits
Short-term
incentive plans
(annual bonus)
Value of ESAs
Total annual
remuneration
Pension
contributions
2010
£000
2009
£000
2010
£000
2009
£000
2010
£000
2009
£000
2010
£000
2009
£000
2010
£000
2009
£000
2010
£000
2009
£000
Executive directors
Sir Martin Sorrell1,2,3
1,009
 1,007 
374
 345 
1,900
406
 950 
 546 
 4,233 
 2,304 
 400 
 401 
Paul Richardson 
637
 630 
106
 101 
682
290
 757 
 389 
 2,182 
 1,410 
 191 
 189 
Mark Read
325
 325 
2
 1 
219
117
 293 
 157 
 839 
 600 
 33 
 33 
Total remuneration
 1,971 
 1,962 
 482 
 447 
 2,801 
 813 
 2,000 
 1,092 
 7,254 
 4,314 
 624 
 623 
1	 During 2010 an amount of £6,813 was paid to Sir Martin Sorrell in respect of tax liabilities incurred by him on expenditure on various items considered by the UK Tax authorities 
as benefits in kind but which the committee consider to be essential to his ability to deliver his services successfully to the Group (£8,323 in 2009).
2	 Payments made in accordance with the approval granted by share owners of amounts equal to the dividends that would be payable (totalling £1,081,172) were made to Sir Martin 
Sorrell during 2010 (£856,687 during 2009) in respect of the shares reflected in the UK and US Deferred Stock Units Awards Agreements (which are the agreements that now comprise 
the awards granted under the Capital Investment Plan in 1995).
3	 Benefits include other items such as healthcare, life assurance, spouse travel, allowance for cars and housing.
Policy on directors’ service contracts, notice periods, termination payments and external appointments
The Company’s policy is that contracts should be on a rolling basis and will not include either a fixed term or liquidated 
damages provisions. Sir Martin Sorrell’s service contract may be terminated by the Company or by Sir Martin without, 
in either case, notice needing to be given – a so-called ‘contract at will’. This means that the Company may terminate 
Sir Martin’s service contract without the need to pay compensation for any notice period.
Executive director
Effective from 
Notice period
Sir Martin Sorrell
19 Nov 2008
‘At will’
Paul Richardson
19 Nov 2008
12 months
Mark Read
19 Nov 2008
6 months
Executive directors are permitted to serve as non-executives on the boards of other organisations. If the Company is a share 
owner in that organisation, non-executive fees for these roles are waived. However, if the Company is not a share owner in 
that organisation, any non-executive fees can be retained by the office holder.
Directors’ remuneration 
and other statutory information

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
143
How we’re rewarded
Directors’ remuneration
Options held by executive directors
The options held by Mark Read at 31 December 2010 were granted prior to him becoming a director of the Company.
Grant/ 
award date
End of 
exercise 
period
Exercise 
price
At 1 Jan 
2010 (no. of 
shares)
Granted 
(lapsed) 
2010 (no. of 
shares)
Exercised 
2010 (no. of 
shares)
Share price 
on exercise
Value on 
exercise
At 31 Dec 
2010 (no. of 
shares)
Share price
31 Dec 20101
Mark Read 
17.11.2003 17.11.2013
£5.595
10,615
–
–
–
–
10,615
£7.895
29.10.2004 29.10.2014
£5.535
9,879
–
–
–
–
9,879
£7.895
1	 Share price 12-month high/low: £7.95/£5.725.
ESAs and Restricted Stock Awards held by executive directors 
All awards made under the Restricted Stock Plan are made on the basis of satisfaction of previous performance conditions 
and are subject to continuous employment until the vest date. The table includes awards that vested during 2010, awards 
that remained outstanding during 2010 and, by way of additional information, awards that have been granted since 
31 December 2010.
 
Award
date
Share
plan
Share/ADR 
price on 
grant date
No. of 
shares/
ADRs 
originally 
awarded
Value on
grant day
000
Additional
shares
granted
in lieu of
dividends
Total
shares
vesting
Vesting
date 
Share
price on
vesting
Value
on
vesting
£000
Sir Martin Sorrell 2007 ESA Award
03.03.08 
ESA
£5.9025
149,851
£885
10,582 160,433
06.03.10
£6.455
1,036
2008 ESA Award
09.03.09
ESA
£3.83625
196,285
£753
 – 
 – 06.03.11
 – 
 – 
2009 ESA Award
04.05.10
ESA
£6.7775
80,560
£546
 – 
 – 06.03.13
 – 
 – 
2010 ESA Award
31.03.11
ESA
£7.6825
123,657
£950
–
–
06.03.13
–
–
Paul Richardson
2007 ESA Award
03.03.08
ESA
£5.9025
 96,094 
£567
 6,785 102,879
06.03.10
£6.455
664
2008 ESA Award
09.03.09
ESA
£3.83625  143,369 
£550
 – 
 – 06.03.11
 – 
 – 
2009 ESA Award1
04.05.10
ESA
$51.59
11,813
$609
 – 
 – 06.03.13
 – 
 – 
2010 ESA Award1
31.03.11
ESA
$61.76
19,121
$1,181
–
–
06.03.13
–
–
Mark Read
Def Bonus 2005
16.03.06 Deferred bonus
£6.7950
 3,601 
£24
1,2802
4,881
16.03.10
£6.5452
32
Def Bonus 2006 
27.04.07 Deferred bonus
£7.4775
 9,526 
£71
 – 
 – 16.03.11
 – 
 – 
2007 ESA Award
03.03.08
ESA
£5.9025
 43,202 
£255
 3,050 
46,252
06.03.10
£6.455
299
2008 ESA Award
09.03.09
ESA
£3.83625
 59,954 
£230
 – 
 – 06.03.11
 – 
 – 
2009 ESA Award
04.05.10
ESA
£6.7775
23,164
£157
 – 
 – 06.03.13
 – 
 – 
2010 ESA Award
31.03.11
ESA
£7.6825
38,138
£293
–
–
06.03.13
–
–
1	 Paul Richardson’s 2009 and 2010 ESA Awards were granted in respect of ADRs.
2	 Represents the combined total of matching shares and shares granted in lieu of dividends.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
144
How we’re rewarded
Directors’ remuneration
Other Long-Term Incentive Plan Awards
Renewed Leadership Equity Acquisition Plan
Name
Grant/
award
date
Investment
and
performance
period
Number of
investment
shares
Share
price on
grant date
Maximum
number of
matching
units at
1 Jan 2010

During 2010
Maximum
number of
matching
units at
31 Dec
2010
Share
price on
vest/
deferral
date
Value
on vest/
deferral
date
Granted/
(lapsed)
units
Additional
dividend
shares
Vested or
deferred
shares
Sir Martin Sorrell
15.12.05
01.01.05-31.12.09
203,394
£6.175 1,016,970 (508,485)
53,760
562,245
– £6.455
3,629
15.11.06
01.01.06-31.12.10
156,536
£6.84
782,680
–
–
–
782,680
–
–
11.12.07
01.01.07-31.12.11
148,742
£6.23
743,710
–
–
–
743,710
–
–
31.10.08
01.01.08-31.12.12
218,596
£3.749 1,092,980
–
–
– 1,092,980
–
–
Paul Richardson
15.12.05
01.01.05-31.12.09
81,358
£6.175
406,790 (203,395)
21,504
224,899
– £6.455
1,452
15.11.06
01.01.06-31.12.10
66,102
£6.84
330,510
–
–
–
330,510
–
–
11.12.07
01.01.07-31.12.11
59,497
£6.23
297,485
–
–
–
297,485
–
–
31.10.08
01.01.08-31.12.12
109,298
£3.749
546,490
–
–
–
546,490
–
–
Mark Read
15.12.05
01.01.05-31.12.09
10,170
£6.175
50,850
(25,425)
–
25,425
– £6.455
164
15.11.06
01.01.06-31.12.10
16,525
£6.84
82,625
–
–
–
82,625
–
–
11.12.07
01.01.07-31.12.11
14,874
£6.23
74,370
–
–
–
74,370
–
–
31.10.08
01.01.08-31.12.12
21,859
£3.749
109,295
–
–
–
109,295
–
–
The vesting schedules used for the various awards under Renewed LEAP are shown in the following tables. When actual 
performance falls between these positions, the match is calculated on a proportionate basis.
Leadership Equity Acquisition Plan III
Name
Grant/
award
date
Investment
and
performance 
period
Number of
investment
shares
Number of
investment
options
Share
price on
grant
date
Maximum
number of
matching
units at 
1 Jan 2010
During 2010
Maximum
number of
matching
units at 31
Dec 2010
Share
price
on vest/
deferral
date
Value
on vest/
deferral
date
Granted/
(lapsed)
units
Additional
dividend
shares
Vested or
deferred
shares
Sir Martin Sorrell
15.12.09
01.01.09-
31.12.13
365,878
– £6.1025 1,829,390
–
–
– 1,829,390
–
–
24.11.10
01.01.10-
31.12.14
416,666
– £7.2475
– 2,083,330
–
– 2,083,330
–
–
Paul Richardson
15.12.09
01.01.09-
31.12.13
103,423
– £6.1025
517,115
–
–
–
517,115
–
–
24.11.10
01.01.10-
31.12.14
100,968
– £7.2475
–
504,840
–
–
504,840
–
–
Mark Read
15.12.09
01.01.09-
31.12.13
27,406
– £6.1025
137,030
–
–
–
137,030
–
–
24.11.10
01.01.10-
31.12.14
25,281
– £7.2475
–
126,405
–
–
126,405
–
–
Awards granted in 2006 and 2007
Rank compared to
Number of matching
1
5
2
5
3
4.5
4
3.5
5
2.5
Median
1.5
Below median
0
Awards granted in 2008
Rank compared to 
Number of matching
1
5
2
5
3
4
4
3
Median
1.5
Below median
0

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
145
How we’re rewarded
Directors’ remuneration
The vesting schedule used for the awards under LEAP III is shown in the following table. When actual performance is not 
exactly equal to a percentile in the table below, but is more than 50% and less than 90%, the percentage of Matching Shares 
will be determined on a straight-line basis between the relevant figures.
Awards granted in 2009 and 2010
Aggregate market
capitalisation percentile
Number of 
matching shares
90th percentile
500%
80th percentile
420%
70th percentile
330%
60th percentile
240%
50th percentile
150%
40th percentile
0%
30th percentile
0%
20th percentile
0%
10th percentile
0%
Bottom
0%
Comparator Groups
The comparator groups used for the awards under Renewed LEAP (2006, 2007, 2008) and LEAP III (2009, 2010) are shown 
in the following table. Where a company that delists during a performance period has an undisturbed share price for less than 
40% of that performance period, the Compensation Committee would usually exclude that company from the comparator 
group for the award in question. Otherwise, the company would usually be deemed to be disposed of and the proceeds 
reinvested, in respect of LEAP III, in a market capitalisation weighted index, and in respect of Renewed LEAP in a non-
market capitalisation weighted index, both of which track the TSR of the remaining comparator companies.
Grant year
Comparator group
2006
Aegis, Arbitron, Dentsu, GfK, Havas Advertising, Interpublic, Ipsos, Omnicom Group, Publicis and Taylor Nelson Sofres
2007
Aegis, Arbitron, Dentsu, GfK, Havas Advertising, Interpublic, Ipsos, Omnicom Group, Publicis and Taylor Nelson Sofres
2008
Aegis, Arbitron, Dentsu, GfK, Havas Advertising, Interpublic, Ipsos, Omnicom Group and Publicis
2009
Aegis, Arbitron, Dentsu, GfK, Havas, Interpublic, Ipsos, Omnicom Group and Publicis
2010
Aegis, Arbitron, Dentsu, GfK, Havas, Interpublic, Ipsos, Omnicom Group and Publicis

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
146
How we’re rewarded
Directors’ remuneration
Non-executive directors’ remuneration
The fees paid to non-executive directors (NEDs) are normally reviewed every two years and any changes are approved by 
the Board. Other than the Audit Committee chairman, the fee levels shown below have been effective since 1 January 2007. 
Accordingly, the Compensation Committee recommended, and the Board determined, that the existing structure should be 
adjusted as follows:
Position/role
From 1 January 
2011
2010 fees 
(effective from 
1 January 2007)
Chairman
£425,000
£300,000
Senior independent director
£20,000
£10,000
Non-executive director
£65,000
£60,000
Chairmanship of Audit and Compensation Committee
£40,000
£20,0001
Chairmanship of Nominations Committee
£15,000
£10,000
Member of Audit and Compensation Committee
£20,000
£5,000
Member of Nominations Committee
£5,000
£5,000
1	 Fee for chairmanship of Audit Committee effective from 1 January 2009.
From 1 January 2011, the chairman is not entitled to any further fees or salary for either chairmanship or membership of any 
of the Company’s committees. UK-based NEDs who are required to travel outside the UK to consider Company-related 
matters at meetings called at short notice will be paid £1,000 for attendance at each of those meetings. The fees detailed above 
are the only payments receivable by NEDs. Mr Morten will also be paid a fee of £20,000 for additional services that he 
provides to the Board. 
The table below shows actual fees paid for the year 2010. The notice period for all NEDs is two months.
Director
Date of
original
contract
Expiry of
current
contract
Committee membership
2010 
£000
2009
£000
P Lader
26.02.01
05.10.11
Chairman of the Company, chairman of Nomination Committee and member 
of Compensation Committee
315
315
C Day
25.07.05 
05.10.11
Member of Audit Committee and member of Compensation Committee from 
1 December 2010
65
65
E Dyson 
29.06.99 
05.10.11
Member of Compensation Committee and member of Nomination Committee
70
70
O Gadiesh
28.04.04 
05.10.11
Member of Nomination Committee
65
65
R Li
11.10.10
11.10.13
Appointed to the Board in October 2010
14
n/a
S W Morten 
02.12.91 
05.10.11
Senior Independent Director until April 2010 and ex officio member of all Committees
701
71
K Naganuma2
23.01.04 
05.10.11
–
–
L Olayan3
18.03.05 
05.10.11
Member of Nomination Committee
–
–
J A Quelch4
10.07.91 
05.10.11
94
85
J Rosen 
20.12.04 
05.10.11
Chairman of Compensation Committee, member of Audit Committee and Senior 
Independent Director since April 2010 
82
75
T Shriver 
06.08.07 
05.10.11
Member of Audit Committee until 29 June 2010 and member of Compensation 
Committee from 29 June 2010
65
65
P Spencer
28.04.04 
05.10.11
Chairman of Audit Committee
80
80
S Trujillo
12.10.10
12.10.13
Appointed to the Board in October 2010, member of Audit Committee from 
12 October 2010
15
n/a
1	 Fee includes ex officio payment of £6,000.
2	 Received no fees in 2009 and 2010.
3	 Waived fees in 2009 and 2010.
4	 Fee includes £34,038 (£24,515 in 2009) for consulting services.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
147
How we’re rewarded
Directors’ remuneration
Directors’ interests
Directors’ interests in the Company’s ordinary share capital, all of which were beneficial (unless otherwise stated), are shown in the 
following table. Save as disclosed in this table and in the report of the Compensation Committee, no director had any interest in any 
contract of significance with the Group during the year. Each executive director has a technical interest as an employee and potential 
beneficiary in shares in the Company held under the ESOPs. As at 31 December 2010, the Company’s ESOPs (which are entirely 
independent of the Company and have waived their rights to receive dividends) held in total 22,083,378 shares in the Company 
(24,941,529 in 2009). Further details of the long-term incentive plans are given in the notes on pages 144, 145 and 147 (below).
At 1 Jan 2010
or appointment
date
Shares acquired through
long-term incentive
plan awards in 2010
Movement
during 2010
inc. shares
purchased
in 2010
At 31 Dec
2010
or earlier
retirement or
resignation
Shares acquired through
long-term incentive
plan awards in 2011
Other
movements
since
31 Dec 2010
At
18 Apr 2011
Shares 
contributed 
to charity 
2007-2011 
(and no 
longer 
beneficially 
owned)

Vested
(Sold)

Vested
(Sold)
C Day
5,240
–
–
10,000
15,240
–
–
–
15,240
–
E Dyson
35,000
–
–
–
35,000
–
–
–
35,000
–
O Gadiesh
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
P Lader
11,950
–
–
–
11,950
–
–
–
11,950
–
R Li
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
S W Morten
20,000
–
–
–
20,000
–
–
–
20,000
–
K Naganuma1
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
L Olayan
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
J A Quelch
12,000
–
–
–
12,000
–
–
–
12,000
–
M Read2
79,272
71,677
(56,698)
2,875
97,126
139,782
(139,782)
6,355
103,481
–
P W G Richardson2,3
330,907
327,778
(164,219)
324
494,790
456,926
(415,926)
–
535,790
–
J Rosen
12,000
–
–
–
12,000
–
–
–
12,000
–
T Shriver
5,000
–
–
5,000
10,000
–
–
–
10,000
–
P Spencer
10,000
–
–
–
10,000
–
–
–
10,000
–
S Trujillo
–
–
–
10,000
10,000
–
–
–
10,000
–
Sir Martin Sorrell2,4,5,6,7
16,405,342
722,678
(122,536)
(147,883)
16,857,601
930,262
–
(264,000) 17,523,863
805,9368
1	 K Naganuma is a director of Asatsu-DK, which at 18 April 2011 had interests in 31,295,646 shares representing 2.47% of the issued share capital of the Company.	
2	 Interests include investment shares committed to the 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 awards under the LEAP plans but do not include matching shares from these plans, if any.
3	 In September 2010, AIB Group (UK) plc released from its charge to Paul Richardson 256,319 shares in the Company. These shares and 203,471 WPP ordinary shares also owned by 
Paul Richardson were converted into 91,958 WPP American Depositary Receipts. In September 2010, Paul Richardson agreed to charge 91,958 ADRs to Bank of America, N.A. as 
security for bank facilities being made available to him.
4	 Includes 3,790,489 shares pursuant to the vesting of the 2004 and 2005 awards and part of the 2006 award granted under LEAP. The receipt of these awards has been deferred until 
November 2017.
5	 Includes 3,636,950 shares which originally formed part of the Capital Investment Plan (an award in respect of 4,691,392 shares in total, some of which have been received by 
Sir Martin Sorrell) and comprised the UK and US Deferred Stock Units Awards Agreements. 
6	 In September 2010, Sir Martin Sorrell and the trustees of two family life interest trusts of Sir Martin Sorrell charged to HSBC Private Bank Limited 984,770 and 3,863,147 ordinary shares 
in the Company respectively as security for facilities. These shares were previously charged to AIB Group (UK) plc as security for facilities, but were released in September 2010. In 
September 2010, JMS Financial Services Limited Retirement Benefit Scheme transferred 3,001,073 ordinary shares in the Company to Sir Martin Sorrell. Sir Martin Sorrell charged these 
shares to HSBC as further security of the facilities made available to him. These shares were previously charged to AIB Group (UK) plc as security for facilities, but were released from 
the charge in September 2010. 
7	 In March 2011, Sir Martin Sorrell gifted 264,000 ordinary shares to the JMMRJ Sorrell Charitable Foundation.
8	 The JMMRJ Sorrell Charitable Foundation, of which Sir Martin Sorrell is a joint trustee, is interested in 805,936 WPP plc shares. Sir Martin has no beneficial interest in these shares.
Jeffrey Rosen
Chairman of the Compensation Committee
on behalf of the Board of Directors of WPP plc 
18 April 2011

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
149
Our 2010 
financial
statements
Accounting policies
T
he consolidated financial statements of WPP plc and its subsidiaries 
(the Group) for the year ended 31 December 2010 have been prepared 
in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 
as adopted by the European Union as they apply to the financial statements of 
the Group for the year ended 31 December 2010.
The Group’s financial statements are also consistent with International 
Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting 
Standards Board.
Basis of preparation
The consolidated financial statements have been prepared under the historical 
cost convention, except for the revaluation of certain financial instruments. 
The principal accounting policies are set out below.
Basis of consolidation
The consolidated financial statements include the results of the Company and 
all its subsidiary undertakings made up to the same accounting date. All intra-
Group balances, transactions, income and expenses are eliminated in full 
on consolidation. The results of subsidiary undertakings acquired or disposed 
of during the period are included or excluded from the consolidated income 
statement from the effective date of acquisition or disposal.
Goodwill and other intangible assets 
Intangible assets comprise goodwill, certain acquired separable corporate brand 
names, acquired customer relationships, acquired proprietary tools and capitalised 
computer software not integral to a related item of hardware.
Goodwill represents the excess of fair value attributed to investments in 
businesses or subsidiary undertakings over the fair value of the underlying net 
assets, including intangible assets, at the date of their acquisition.

Our 2010 financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
150
Accounting policies
Subsequent adjustments to the fair value are recorded 
in the consolidated income statement within revaluation 
of financial instruments. For acquisitions completed prior 
to 1 January 2010, such adjustments are recorded in the 
consolidated balance sheet within goodwill. 
Property, plant and equipment
Property, plant and equipment are shown at cost less 
accumulated depreciation and any provision for impairment 
with the exception of freehold land which is not depreciated. 
The Group assesses the carrying value of its property, plant 
and equipment to determine if any impairment has occurred. 
Where this indicates that an asset may be impaired, the Group 
applies the requirements of IAS 36 Impairment of Assets 
in assessing the carrying amount of the asset. This process 
includes comparing its recoverable amount with its carrying 
value. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write 
off the cost less estimated residual value of each asset on a 
straight-line basis over its estimated useful life, as follows:
	 Freehold buildings – 50 years.
	 Leasehold land and buildings – over the term of the lease 
or life of the asset, if shorter.
	 Fixtures, fittings and equipment – 3-10 years.
	 Computer equipment – 3-5 years.
Interests in associates and joint ventures
The Group’s share of the profits less losses of associate 
undertakings net of tax, interest and non-controlling 
interests is included in the consolidated income statement 
and the Group’s share of net assets is shown within interests 
in associates in the consolidated balance sheet. The Group’s 
share of the profits less losses and net assets is based on 
current information produced by the undertakings, adjusted 
to conform with the accounting policies of the Group.
The Group assesses the carrying value of its associate 
undertakings to determine if any impairment has occurred. 
Where this indicates that an investment may be impaired, 
the Group applies the requirements of IAS 36 in assessing 
the carrying amount of the investment. This process includes 
comparing its recoverable amount with its carrying value.
The Group accounts for joint venture investments under 
the equity method which is consistent with the Group’s 
treatment of associates.
Goodwill impairment reviews are undertaken annually 
or more frequently if events or changes in circumstances 
indicate a potential impairment. The carrying value of 
goodwill is compared to the net present value of future 
cash flows derived from the underlying assets using a 
projection period of up to five years for each cash-generating 
unit. After the projection period a steady growth rate 
representing an appropriate long-term growth rate for 
the industry is applied. Any impairment is recognised 
immediately as an expense and is not subsequently reversed.
Corporate brand names, customer relationships and 
proprietary tools acquired as part of acquisitions of 
businesses are capitalised separately from goodwill as 
intangible assets if their value can be measured reliably on 
initial recognition and it is probable that the expected future 
economic benefits that are attributable to the asset will flow 
to the Group.
Certain corporate brands of the Group are considered to 
have an indefinite economic life because of the institutional 
nature of the corporate brand names, their proven ability 
to maintain market leadership and profitable operations 
over long periods of time and the Group’s commitment to 
develop and enhance their value. The carrying value of these 
intangible assets is reviewed at least annually for impairment 
and adjusted to the recoverable amount if required.
Amortisation is provided at rates calculated to write 
off the cost less estimated residual value of each asset on 
a straight-line basis over its estimated useful life as follows:
Acquired intangibles
	 Brand names (with finite lives) – 10-20 years.
	 Customer related intangibles – 3-10 years.
	 Other proprietary tools – 3-10 years.
	 Other (including capitalised computer software) – 
3-5 years.
Contingent consideration
Contingent consideration is accounted for in accordance 
with IFRS 3 (revised) Business Combinations.
Future anticipated payments to vendors in respect of 
contingent consideration (earnout agreements) are initially 
recorded at fair value which is the present value of the 
expected cash outflows of the obligations. The obligations 
are dependent on the future financial performance of the 
interests acquired (typically over a four to five year period 
following the year of acquisition) and assume the operating 
companies improve profits in line with directors’ estimates. 
The directors derive their estimates from internal business 
plans together with financial due diligence performed in 
connection with the acquisition.

Our 2010 financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
151
Accounting policies
ongoing basis, the Group documents whether the hedging 
instrument that is used in a hedging relationship is highly 
effective in offsetting changes in fair values or cash flows 
of the hedged item.
Note 25 contains details of the fair values of the 
derivative instruments used for hedging purposes. 
Changes in the fair value of derivatives that are designated 
and qualify as fair value hedges are recorded in profit or 
loss immediately, together with any changes in the fair value 
of the hedged item that is attributable to the hedged risk.
The effective portion of changes in the fair value of 
derivatives that are designated and qualify as cash flow or 
net investment hedges is deferred in equity. The gain or loss 
relating to the ineffective portion is recognised immediately in 
profit or loss. Amounts deferred in equity are recycled in profit 
or loss in the periods when the hedged item is recognised in 
profit or loss. However, when the forecast transaction that is 
hedged results in the recognition of a non-financial asset or a 
non-financial liability, the gains and losses previously deferred 
in equity are transferred from equity and included in the initial 
measurement of the cost of the asset or liability.
Hedge accounting is discontinued when the hedging 
instrument expires or is sold, terminated, or exercised, or 
no longer qualifies for hedge accounting. At that time, any 
cumulative gain or loss on the hedging instrument recognised 
in equity is retained in equity until the forecast transaction 
occurs. If a hedged transaction is no longer expected to 
occur, the net cumulative gain or loss recognised in equity 
is transferred to net profit or loss for the period.
Derivatives embedded in other financial instruments or 
other host contracts are treated as separate derivatives when 
their risks and characteristics are not closely related to those 
of host contracts and the host contracts are not carried at 
fair value with unrealised gains or losses reported in the 
consolidated income statement.
Liabilities in respect of option agreements
Option agreements that allow the Group’s equity partners 
to require the Group to purchase a non-controlling interest 
are treated as derivatives over equity instruments and are 
recorded in the consolidated balance sheet at fair value and 
the valuation is remeasured at each period end. Fair value 
is based on the present value of expected cash outflows and 
the movement in the fair value is recognised as income or 
expense within revaluation of financial instruments in the 
consolidated income statement.
Other investments
Other investments are designated as ‘available for sale’ and 
are shown at fair value with any movements in fair value 
taken to equity.
On disposal the cumulative gain or loss previously 
recognised in equity is included in the profit or loss for 
the year. Impairment losses recognised in profit or loss for 
equity investments classified as ‘available for sale’ are not 
subsequently reversed through profit or loss.
Inventory and work in progress
Work in progress is valued at cost, which includes outlays 
incurred on behalf of clients and an appropriate proportion 
of directly attributable costs and overheads on incomplete 
assignments. Provision is made for irrecoverable costs where 
appropriate. Inventory is stated at the lower of cost and net 
realisable value.
Trade receivables
Trade receivables are stated net of provisions for bad and 
doubtful debts.
Foreign currency and interest rate hedging
The Group’s policy on interest rate and foreign exchange rate 
management sets out the instruments and methods available 
to hedge interest and currency risk exposures and the control 
procedures in place to ensure effectiveness.
The Group uses derivative financial instruments to 
reduce exposure to foreign exchange risk and interest rate 
movements. The Group does not hold or issue derivative 
financial instruments for speculative purposes.
Derivatives are initially recognised at fair value at the 
date a derivative contract is entered into and are subsequently 
remeasured to their fair value at each balance sheet date. 
The resulting gain or loss is recognised in profit or loss 
immediately unless the derivative is designated and effective 
as a hedging instrument, in which event the timing of the 
recognition in profit or loss depends on the nature of the 
hedge relationship.
At the inception of the hedge relationship the entity 
documents the relationship between the hedging instrument 
and hedged item, along with its risk management objectives 
and its strategy for undertaking various hedge transactions. 
Furthermore, at the inception of the hedge and on an

Our 2010 financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
152
Accounting policies
client. Where we act as an agent, the revenue recorded is the 
net amount retained when the fee or commission is earned. 
Although the Group may bear credit risk in respect of these 
activities, the arrangements with our clients are such that 
we consider that we are acting as an agent on their behalf. 
In such cases, costs incurred with external suppliers (such as 
media suppliers) are excluded from our revenue. Where the 
Group acts as a principal and contracts directly with 
suppliers for media payments and production costs, the 
revenue recorded is the gross amount billed. 
Incentive-based revenue typically comprises both 
quantitative and qualitative elements; on the element related 
to quantitative targets, revenue is recognised when the 
quantitative targets have been achieved; on the element 
related to qualitative targets, revenue is recognised when 
the incentive is received or receivable.
The Group receives volume rebates from certain suppliers 
for transactions entered into on behalf of clients that, based 
on the terms of the relevant contracts and local law, are either 
remitted to clients or retained by the Group. If amounts are 
passed on to clients they are recorded as liabilities until 
settled or, if retained by the Group, are recorded as revenue 
when earned. 
Consumer Insight
Revenue recognised in proportion to the level of service 
performed for market research contracts is based on 
proportional performance. In assessing contract performance, 
both input and output criteria are reviewed. Costs incurred 
are used as an objective input measure of performance. The 
primary input of all work performed under these arrangements 
is labour. As a result of the relationship between labour and 
cost, there is normally a direct relationship between costs 
incurred and the proportion of the contract performed to 
date. Costs incurred as a proportion of expected total costs 
is used as an initial proportional performance measure. 
This indicative proportional performance measure is 
subsequently validated against other more subjective criteria 
(i.e. relevant output measures) such as the percentage of 
interviews completed, percentage of reports delivered to a 
client and the achievement of any project milestones stipulated 
in the contract. In the event of divergence between the objective 
and more subjective measures, the more subjective measures 
take precedence since these are output measures.
While most of the studies provided in connection 
with the Group’s market research contracts are undertaken 
in response to an individual client’s or group of clients’ 
specifications, in certain instances a study may be developed 
as an off-the-shelf product offering sold to a broad client 
base. For these transactions, revenue is recognised when the 
product is delivered. Where the terms of transaction provide 
Derecognition of financial liabilities
In accordance with IAS 39 Financial Instruments: 
Recognition and Measurement, a financial liability of the 
Group is only released to the consolidated income statement 
when the underlying legal obligation is extinguished.
Convertible debt
Convertible debt is assessed according to the substance of 
the contractual arrangements and is classified into liability 
and equity elements on the basis of the initial fair value 
of the liability element. The difference between this figure 
and the cash received is classified as equity.
The consolidated income statement charge for the finance 
cost is spread evenly over the term of the convertible debt so 
that at redemption the liability equals the redemption value.
Bank borrowings
Other interest-bearing bank loans and overdrafts are 
recorded at the proceeds received, net of direct issue costs.
Borrowing costs
Finance costs of borrowing are recognised in the consolidated 
income statement over the term of those borrowings.
Revenue recognition
Revenue comprises commission and fees earned in respect 
of amounts billed. Direct costs include fees paid to external 
suppliers where they are retained to perform part or all of 
a specific project for a client and the resulting expenditure is 
directly attributable to the revenue earned. Revenue is stated 
exclusive of VAT, sales taxes and trade discounts.
Advertising and Media Investment Management
Revenue is typically derived from commissions on media 
placements and fees for advertising services. Revenue may 
consist of various arrangements involving commissions, fees, 
incentive-based revenue or a combination of the three, as 
agreed upon with each client.
Revenue is recognised when the service is performed, 
in accordance with the terms of the contractual arrangement. 
The amount of revenue recognised depends on whether we 
act as an agent or as a principal in an arrangement with a

Our 2010 financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
153
Accounting policies
deductible. The Group’s liability for current tax is calculated 
using tax rates that have been enacted or substantively 
enacted by the balance sheet date.
Deferred tax is the tax expected to be payable or 
recoverable on differences between the carrying amounts 
of assets and liabilities in the financial statements and the 
corresponding tax bases used in the computation of taxable 
profit, and is accounted for using the balance sheet liability 
method. Deferred tax liabilities are recognised for all taxable 
temporary differences unless specifically excepted by IAS 12 
Income Taxes. Deferred tax assets are recognised to the 
extent that it is probable that taxable profits will be available 
against which deductible temporary differences can be 
utilised. Such assets and liabilities are not recognised if the 
temporary difference arises from the initial recognition of 
goodwill or other assets and liabilities (other than in a 
business combination) in a transaction that affects neither
the tax profit nor the accounting profit.
The carrying amount of deferred tax assets is reviewed
at each balance sheet date and reduced to the extent that it
is no longer probable that sufficient taxable profits will be 
available to allow all or part of the asset to be recovered.
Deferred tax liabilities are recognised for taxable 
temporary differences arising on investments in subsidiaries 
and associates, and interests in joint ventures, except where 
the Group is able to control the reversal of the temporary 
difference and it is probable that the temporary difference 
will not reverse in the foreseeable future.
Deferred tax assets and liabilities are offset when there is 
a legally enforceable right to set off current tax assets against 
current tax liabilities and when they relate to income taxes 
levied by the same taxation authority and the Group intends 
to settle its current tax assets and liabilities on a net basis.
Deferred tax is calculated at the tax rates that are 
expected to apply in the period when the liability is settled 
or the asset is realised based on enacted or substantively 
enacted legislation. Deferred tax is charged or credited in 
the consolidated income statement, except when it relates 
to items charged or credited directly to equity, in which case 
the deferred tax is also dealt with in equity.
Retirement benefit costs
For defined contribution plans, contributions are charged 
to the consolidated income statement as payable in respect 
of the accounting period.
For defined benefit plans the amounts charged to 
operating profit are the current service costs and gains 
and losses on settlements and curtailments. They are 
included as part of staff costs. Past service costs are 
recognised immediately in the consolidated income 
for licensing the product on a subscription basis, revenue is 
recognised over the subscription period on a straight-line 
basis or, if applicable, based on usage.
Substantially all services are provided on a fixed price 
basis. Pricing may also include a provision for a surcharge 
where the actual labour hours incurred in completing a 
project are significantly above the labour hours quoted in 
the project proposal. In instances where this occurs, the 
surcharge will be included in the total revenue base on 
which to measure proportional performance when the 
actual threshold is reached provided that collectability 
is reasonably assured.
Public Relations & Public Affairs and Branding & 
Identity, Healthcare and Specialist Communications
Revenue is typically derived from retainer fees and services 
to be performed subject to specific agreement. Revenue is 
recognised when the service is performed, in accordance 
with the terms of the contractual arrangement. Revenue is 
recognised on long-term contracts, if the final outcome can 
be assessed with reasonable certainty, by including in the 
consolidated income statement revenue and related costs 
as contract activity progresses.
Taxation
Corporate taxes are payable on taxable profits at current rates. 
The tax expense represents the sum of the tax currently 
payable and deferred tax.
The Group is subject to corporate taxes in a number 
of different jurisdictions and judgement is required in 
determining the appropriate provision for transactions 
where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. In such 
circumstances the Group recognises liabilities for anticipated 
taxes based on the best information available and where the 
anticipated liability is both probable and estimable. Where 
the final outcome of such matters differs from the amount 
recorded, any differences may impact the income tax and 
deferred tax provisions in the period in which the final 
determination is made. 
The tax laws that apply to the Group’s subsidiaries may 
be amended by the relevant tax authorities. Such potential 
amendments are regularly monitored and adjustments are 
made to the Group’s tax liabilities and deferred tax assets 
and liabilities where necessary. 
The tax currently payable is based on taxable profit for 
the year. Taxable profit differs from net profit as reported in 
the consolidated income statement because it excludes items 
of income or expense that are taxable or deductible in other 
years and it further excludes items that are never taxable or

Our 2010 financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
154
Accounting policies
and the year-end net assets of these companies are translated 
at year-end exchange rates. 
Exchange differences arising from retranslation of the 
opening net assets and on foreign currency borrowings 
(to the extent that they hedge the Group’s investment in 
such operations) are reported in the consolidated statement 
of comprehensive income.
Goodwill and fair value adjustments arising on the 
acquisition of a foreign entity are treated as assets and 
liabilities of the foreign entity and translated at the closing rate.
Share-based payments
The Group issues equity-settled share-based payments 
(including share options) to certain employees and accounts 
for these awards in accordance with IFRS 2 (Share-Based 
Payment). Equity-settled share-based payments are measured 
at fair value (excluding the effect of non-market-based 
vesting conditions) at the date of grant. Details regarding 
the fair value of equity settled share-based transactions are 
set out in notes 22 and 26.
The fair value determined at the grant date is 
recognised in the consolidated income statement as an 
expense on a straight-line basis over the relevant vesting 
period, based on the Group’s estimate of the number of 
shares that will ultimately vest and adjusted for the effect 
of non-market-based vesting conditions.
New IFRS accounting pronouncements
At the date of authorisation of these financial statements, 
the following Standards and Interpretations, which have not 
been applied in these financial statements, were in issue but 
not yet effective:
	 IFRIC 14 (amended)/IAS 19 (amended): The Limit on 
a Defined Benefit Asset, Minimum Funding Requirements 
and their Interaction;
	 IFRIC 19 Extinguishing Financial Liabilities with 
Equity Instruments;
	 IFRS 7 (amended): Financial Instruments: Disclosure;
	 IFRS 9 Financial Instruments;
	 IAS 1 (amended): Presentation of Financial Statements;
	 IAS 12 (amended): Income Taxes;
	 IAS 24 (revised): Related Party Transactions; 
	 IAS 32 (amended): Classification of Rights Issues.
The Group does not consider that these Standards and 
Interpretations will have a significant impact on the financial 
statements of the Group except for additional disclosures 
when the relevant standards come into effect for periods 
commencing on or after 1 January 2011.
statement if the benefits have vested. If the benefits have 
not vested, the costs are recognised over the period until 
vesting occurs. The interest cost and the expected return 
on assets are shown within finance costs and finance income 
respectively. Actuarial gains and losses are recognised 
immediately in the statement of comprehensive income.
Where defined benefit plans are funded, the assets of 
the plan are held separately from those of the Group, in 
separate trustee-administered funds. Pension plan assets 
are measured at fair value and liabilities are measured on 
an actuarial basis using the projected unit method and 
discounted at a rate equivalent to the current rate of return on 
a high-quality corporate bond of equivalent currency and term 
to the plan liabilities. The actuarial valuations are obtained at 
least triennially and are updated at each balance sheet date.
Recognition of a surplus in a defined benefit plan is 
limited based on the economic gain the company is expected 
to benefit from in the future by means of a refund or 
reduction in future contributions to the plan, in accordance 
with IAS 19 Employee Benefits.
Finance leases
Assets held under finance leases are recognised as assets 
of the Group at the inception of the lease at the lower 
of their fair value and the present value of the minimum 
lease payments. Depreciation on leased assets is charged 
to the consolidated income statement on the same basis as 
owned assets. Leasing payments are treated as consisting 
of capital and interest elements and the interest is charged 
to the consolidated income statement as it is incurred.
Operating leases
Operating lease rentals are charged to the consolidated 
income statement on a straight-line basis over the lease term. 
Any premium or discount on the acquisition of a lease is 
spread over the life of the lease on a straight-line basis.
Translation of foreign currencies
Foreign currency transactions arising from normal trading 
activities are recorded at the rates in effect at the date of 
the transaction. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in 
foreign currencies at the year end are translated at the year-end 
exchange rate. Foreign currency gains and losses are credited 
or charged to the consolidated income statement as they arise. 
The income statements of overseas subsidiary undertakings 
are translated into pounds sterling at average exchange rates

Our 2010 financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
155
Accounting policies
Directors’ responsibility statement 
We confirm that to the best of our knowledge: 
	the financial statements, prepared in accordance with the 
applicable set of accounting standards, give a true and fair 
view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or 
loss of the Company and the undertakings included in the 
consolidation taken as a whole; and 
	the management report, which is incorporated into the 
Directors’ report, includes a fair review of the development 
and performance of the business and the position of the 
Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation 
taken as a whole, together with a description of the principal 
risks and uncertainties they face.
Sir Martin Sorrell	
Paul Richardson
Group chief executive	
Group finance director
18 April 2011
In the current year IFRS 2 (amended) Share-Based 
Payment became effective. The adoption of this Standard has 
not led to any changes in the Group’s accounting policies.
The Group adopted IFRS 3 (revised) Business 
Combinations and IAS 27 (revised) Consolidated and 
Separate Financial Statements during the year. The revisions 
to these standards applied to business combinations 
completed after 1 January 2010. The main impact of these 
revised standards was as follows:
	 In the year to 31 December 2010, all acquisition-related 
costs have been recognised as an operating cost in the 
consolidated income statement whereas previously they were 
capitalised. Prior periods have not been restated as this 
change in accounting is required to be applied prospectively 
from 1 January 2010;
	 The term ‘minority interest’ has been changed to 
‘non-controlling interest’;
	 Contingent consideration payable is to be measured at 
fair value at the acquisition date. Any subsequent movements 
in the fair value of such consideration as a result of post-
acquisition events must be recognised as a gain or loss in 
the consolidated income statement;
	 Equity interests held prior to control being obtained 
are re-measured to fair value at the acquisition date, 
with any resulting gain or loss recognised in the consolidated 
income statement. The Group excludes such gains or losses 
from headline profits;
	 Changes in ownership interest in a subsidiary that does 
not result in a change of control are treated as transactions 
among equity holders and are reported within equity 
shareowners’ funds. No gain or loss is recognised on 
such transactions and goodwill is not re-measured; and
	 Cash consideration for non-controlling interests is 
classified as a financing activity rather than an investing 
activity in the consolidated cash flow statement. Prior periods 
have been restated accordingly as this change in disclosure 
is required to be applied retrospectively. 
Critical judgements in applying 
accounting policies 
Management is required to make key decisions and 
judgements in the process of applying the Group’s accounting 
policies. The most significant areas where such judgements 
have been necessary are revenue recognition, goodwill 
and other intangibles, acquisition reserves, taxation and 
accounting for pension liabilities. Where judgement has been 
applied, the key factors taken into consideration are disclosed 
in the accounting policies and the appropriate note in these 
financial statements.

Our 2010 financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
156
Consolidated income statement
For the year ended 31 December 2010
2010
2009
2008
2010
2009
2008
Notes
£m
£m
£m
$m3
$m3
$m3
Billings1
42,683.6
37,919.4
36,929.0
65,961.2
59,388.7
67,381.0
Revenue
2
9,331.0
8,684.3
7,476.9
14,416.2
13,598.2
13,598.4
Direct costs  
(770.5)
(703.6)
(467.5)
(1,190.0)
(1,103.8)
(827.2)
Gross profit
8,560.5
7,980.7
7,009.4
13,226.2
12,494.4
12,771.2
Operating costs
3
(7,587.5)
(7,219.0)
(6,133.4)
(11,728.2)
(11,275.6)
(11,195.2)
Operating profit
973.0
761.7
876.0
1,498.0
1,218.8
1,576.0
Share of results of associates
4
55.2
57.0
46.0
85.3
91.2
83.7
Profit before interest and taxation
1,028.2
818.7
922.0
1,583.3
1,310.0
1,659.7
Finance income
6
81.7
150.4
169.6
126.0
241.4
316.9
Finance costs
6
(276.8)
(355.4)
(319.4)
(427.8)
(562.3)
(588.4)
Revaluation of financial instruments
6
18.2
48.9
(25.4)
30.1
80.1
(37.3)
Profit before taxation
851.3
662.6
746.8
1,311.6
1,069.2
1,350.9
Taxation
7
(190.3)
(155.7)
(232.9)
(294.4)
(249.3)
(416.7)
Profit for the year
661.0
506.9
513.9
1,017.2
819.9
934.2
Attributable to:
Equity holders of the parent
586.0
437.7
439.1
901.0
708.1
803.5
Non-controlling interests
75.0
69.2
74.8
116.2
111.8
130.7
661.0
506.9
513.9
1,017.2
819.9
934.2
Headline PBIT
31
1,228.7
1,017.2
1,118.2
1,893.3
1,622.7
1,984.4
Headline PBIT margin
31
13.2%
11.7%
15.0%
13.1%
11.9%
14.6%
Headline PBT
31
1,033.6
812.2
968.4
1,591.5
1,301.8
1,712.8
Earnings per share2
Basic earnings per ordinary share
9
47.5p
35.9p
38.4p
73.1¢
58.1¢
70.3¢
Diluted earnings per ordinary share
9
45.9p
35.3p
37.6p
70.6¢
57.2¢
68.7¢
Notes
The accompanying notes form an integral part of this consolidated income statement.
 
1 Billings is defined on page 186.
 
2 The calculations of the Group’s earnings per share and headline earnings per share are set out in note 9.
 
3 The consolidated income statement above is also expressed in US dollars for information purposes only and is unaudited. It has been prepared assuming the US dollar is the reporting currency of the 
Group, whereby local currency results are translated into US dollars at actual monthly average exchange rates in the period presented. Among other currencies, this includes an average exchange rate 
of US$1.5461 to the pound sterling for the year 2010 (2009: US$1.5667, 2008: US$1.8524).

Our 2010 financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
157
Consolidated statement of comprehensive income
For the year ended 31 December 2010
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Profit for the year
661.0
506.9
513.9
Exchange adjustments on foreign currency net investments
156.3
(155.6)
1,418.6
Loss on revaluation of available for sale investments
(59.8)
(13.5)
(51.3)
Actuarial loss on defined benefit pension plans
(0.4)
(7.2)
(82.2)
Deferred tax credit/(charge) on defined benefit pension plans
0.2
(4.4)
0.7
Other comprehensive income/(loss) relating to the year
96.3
(180.7)
1,285.8
Total comprehensive income relating to the year
757.3
326.2
1,799.7
Attributable to:
Equity holders of the parent
672.6
270.4
1,685.5
Non-controlling interests
84.7
55.8
114.2
757.3
326.2
1,799.7
Note
The accompanying notes form an integral part of this consolidated statement of comprehensive income.

Our 2010 financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
158
Consolidated cash flow statement
For the year ended 31 December 2010
2010
2009
2008
Notes
£m
£m
£m
Net cash inflow from operating activities
11
1,361.2
818.8
922.7
Investing activities
Acquisitions and disposals
11
(200.1)
(118.4)
(1,029.4)
Purchases of property, plant and equipment
(190.5)
(222.9)
(196.8)
Purchases of other intangible assets (including capitalised computer software)
(27.0)
(30.4)
(23.8)
Proceeds on disposal of property, plant and equipment
7.6
9.2
11.5
Net cash outflow from investing activities
(410.0)
(362.5)
(1,238.5)
Financing activities
Share option proceeds
42.7
4.1
10.6
Cash consideration for non-controlling interests
11
(15.1)
(26.4)
(19.7)
Share repurchases and buy-backs
11
(46.4)
(9.5)
(105.3)
Net increase/(decrease) in borrowings
11
19.8
(426.3)
810.4
Financing and share issue costs
(3.5)
(18.8)
(19.4)
Equity dividends paid
8
(200.4)
(189.8)
(161.8)
Dividends paid to non-controlling interests in subsidiary undertakings
(66.7)
(63.0)
(63.5)
Net cash outflow from financing activities
(269.6)
(729.7)
451.3
Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents
681.6
(273.4)
135.5
Translation differences
82.2
(98.7)
120.3
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year
946.0
1,318.1
1,062.3
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year
11
1,709.8
946.0
1,318.1
Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net debt:
Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents
681.6
(273.4)
135.5
Cash (inflow)/outflow from (increase)/decrease in debt financing
(16.3)
445.1
(796.6)
Debt acquired
–
–
(577.8)
Other movements
(17.7)
35.1
(94.5)
Translation difference
104.4
220.4
(448.5)
Movement of net debt in the year
752.0
427.2
(1,781.9)
Net debt at beginning of year
(2,640.4)
(3,067.6)
(1,285.7)
Net debt at end of year
10
(1,888.4)
(2,640.4)
(3,067.6)
Note
The accompanying notes form an integral part of this consolidated cash flow statement.

Our 2010 financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
159
Consolidated balance sheet
At 31 December 2010
2010
2009
Notes
£m
£m
Non-current assets
Intangible assets:
Goodwill
12
9,106.3
8,697.5
Other
12
1,904.5
2,000.7
Property, plant and equipment
13
708.4
680.5
Interests in associates
14
792.1
729.3
Other investments
14
173.7
294.6
Deferred tax assets
15
79.1
67.5
Trade and other receivables
17
323.5
286.1
13,087.6
12,756.2
Current assets
Inventory and work in progress
16
366.0
306.7
Corporate income tax recoverable
82.9
73.0
Trade and other receivables
17
8,843.4
7,548.9
Cash and short-term deposits
1,965.2
1,666.7
11,257.5
9,595.3
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables
18
(11,703.6)
(9,774.0)
Corporate income tax payable
(115.8)
(71.6)
Bank overdrafts and loans
20
(255.4)
(720.7)
(12,074.8)
(10,566.3)
Net current liabilities
(817.3)
(971.0)
Total assets less current liabilities
12,270.3
11,785.2
Non-current liabilities
Bonds and bank loans
20
(3,598.2)
(3,586.4)
Trade and other payables
19
(388.6)
(423.3)
Corporate income tax liability
(481.8)
(485.5)
Deferred tax liabilities
15
(750.7)
(809.6)
Provision for post-employment benefits
23
(241.5)
(251.8)
Provisions for liabilities and charges
21
(161.6)
(152.9)
(5,622.4)
(5,709.5)
Net assets
6,647.9
6,075.7
Equity
Called-up share capital
26
126.4
125.6
Share premium account
54.5
12.6
Shares to be issued
3.1
5.5
Merger reserve
(5,136.8)
(5,138.0)
Other reserves
27
1,182.8
1,093.1
Own shares
(144.8)
(154.0)
Retained earnings
10,361.4
9,949.2
Equity share owners’ funds
6,446.6
5,894.0
Non-controlling interests
201.3
181.7
Total equity
6,647.9
6,075.7
Note
The accompanying notes form an integral part of this consolidated balance sheet.
The financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors and authorised for issue on 18 April 2011.
Signed on behalf of the Board:
Sir Martin Sorrell	 	
Paul Richardson
Group chief executive	
Group finance director

Our 2010 financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
160
Consolidated statement of changes in equity
For the year ended 31 December 2010
Total
equity
Called-up
Share
share
Non-
share premium
Shares to
Merger
Other
Own
Retained
owners’ controlling
capital
account
be issued
reserve
reserves1
Shares
earnings
funds
interests
Total
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
Balance at 1 January 2009
125.5
8.6
8.7 (5,138.8) 1,250.5
(189.8)
9,697.5
5,762.2
197.6
5,959.8
Ordinary shares issued
0.1
4.0
(1.7)
0.8
–
–
0.3
3.5
–
3.5
Exchange adjustments on foreign currency 
net investments
–
–
–
–
(142.2)
–
–
(142.2)
(13.4)
(155.6)
Net profit for the year
–
–
–
–
–
–
437.7
437.7
69.2
506.9
Dividends paid
–
–
–
–
–
–
(189.8)
(189.8)
(63.0)
(252.8)
Transfer from goodwill
–
–
(1.5)
–
–
–
–
(1.5)
–
(1.5)
Non-cash share-based incentive plans 
(including stock options)
–
–
–
–
–
–
54.9
54.9
–
54.9
Net movement in own shares held by 
ESOP Trusts
–
–
–
–
–
45.3
(45.3)
–
–
–
Treasury shares additions
–
–
–
–
–
(9.5)
–
(9.5)
–
(9.5)
Actuarial loss on defined benefit plans
–
–
–
–
–
–
(7.2)
(7.2)
–
(7.2)
Deferred tax on defined benefit plans
–
–
–
–
–
–
(4.4)
(4.4)
–
(4.4)
Loss on revaluation of available 
for sale investments 
–
–
–
–
(13.5)
–
–
(13.5)
–
(13.5)
Equity component of convertible bonds 
(net of deferred tax)
–
–
–
–
34.7
–
–
34.7
–
34.7
Recognition/remeasurement of 
financial instruments 
–
–
–
–
(36.4)
–
5.5
(30.9)
–
(30.9)
Acquisition of subsidiaries 
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
(8.7)
(8.7)
Balance at 31 December 2009
125.6
12.6
5.5 (5,138.0)
1,093.1
(154.0)
9,949.2
5,894.0
181.7
6,075.7
Ordinary shares issued
0.8
41.9
(2.4)
1.2
–
–
0.9
42.4
–
42.4
Exchange adjustments on foreign currency 
net investments
–
–
–
–
146.6
–
–
146.6
9.7
156.3
Net profit for the year
–
–
–
–
–
–
586.0
586.0
75.0
661.0
Dividends paid
–
–
–
–
–
–
(200.4)
(200.4)
(66.7)
(267.1)
Non-cash share-based incentive plans 
(including stock options)
–
–
–
–
–
–
70.4
70.4
–
70.4
Tax adjustment on share-based payments
–
–
–
–
–
–
21.1
21.1
–
21.1
Net movement in own shares held by 
ESOP Trusts
–
–
–
–
–
9.2
(55.6)
(46.4)
–
(46.4)
Actuarial loss on defined benefit plans
–
–
–
–
–
–
(0.4)
(0.4)
–
(0.4)
Deferred tax on defined benefit plans
–
–
–
–
–
–
0.2
0.2
–
0.2
Loss on revaluation of available 
for sale investments 
–
–
–
–
(59.8)
–
–
(59.8)
–
(59.8)
Recognition/remeasurement of 
financial instruments 
–
–
–
–
2.9
–
0.9
3.8
–
3.8
Acquisition of subsidiaries
–
–
–
–
–
–
(10.9)
(10.9)
1.6
(9.3)
Balance at 31 December 2010
126.4
54.5
3.1 (5,136.8)
1,182.8
(144.8) 10,361.4
6,446.6
201.3
6,647.9
Notes
The accompanying notes form an integral part of this consolidated statement of changes in equity.
 
1	Other reserves are analysed in note 27.
Total comprehensive income relating to the year ended 31 December 2010 was £757.3 million (2009: £326.2 million).

Our 2010 financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
161
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
For the year ended 31 December 2010
1. General information
WPP plc is a company incorporated in Jersey. The address of the registered office is 22 Grenville Street, St Helier, Jersey, JE4 8PX and the address of the principal executive 
office is 6 Ely Place, Dublin 2, Ireland. The nature of the Group’s operations and its principal activities are set out in note 2. These consolidated financial statements are 
presented in pounds sterling.
2. Segment information
The Group is a leading worldwide communications services organisation offering national and multinational clients a comprehensive range of communications services.
The Group is organised into four reportable segments – Advertising and Media Investment Management; Consumer Insight; Public Relations & Public Affairs; and Branding 
& Identity, Healthcare and Specialist Communications. This last reportable segment includes WPP Digital and direct, digital, promotional and relationship marketing.
IFRS 8 Operating Segments requires operating segments to be identified on the same basis as is used internally for the review of performance and allocation of resources by 
the Group chief executive. Provided certain quantitative and qualitative criteria are fulfilled, IFRS 8 permits the aggregation of these components into reportable segments 
for the purposes of disclosure in the Group’s financial statements. In assessing the Group’s reportable segments, the directors have had regard to the similar economic 
characteristics of certain operating segments, their shared client base, the similar nature of their products or services and their long-term margins, amongst other factors.
Operating sectors
Reported contributions were as follows:
Headline
Headline
Headline
Headline
PBIT
Headline
PBIT
Headline
PBIT
Revenue1
PBIT3
margin
Revenue1,2
PBIT2,3
margin2
Revenue1,2
PBIT2,3
margin2
2010
2010
2010
2009
2009
2009
2008
2008
2008
£m
£m
%
£m
£m
%
£m
£m
%
Advertising and Media Investment 
Management
3,733.3
573.0
15.3
3,420.5
472.8
13.8
3,380.2
581.3
17.2
Consumer Insight
2,430.2
234.8
9.7
2,297.1
196.9
8.6
1,301.8
147.6
11.3
Public Relations & Public Affairs
844.5
133.1
15.8
795.7
122.1
15.3
752.3
124.9
16.6
Branding & Identity, Healthcare and Specialist 
Communications
2,323.0
287.8
12.4
2,171.0
225.4
10.4
2,042.6
264.4
12.9
9,331.0
1,228.7
13.2
8,684.3
1,017.2
11.7
7,476.9
1,118.2
15.0
Notes 
 
1	Intersegment sales have not been separately disclosed as they are not material.
 
2	2009 and 2008 comparatives have been restated to reflect the transfer of certain revenues of RMG from Branding & Identity, Healthcare and Specialist Communications to Advertising and Media 
Investment Management. Headline PBIT comparatives have not been restated as the impact was insignificant.
 
3	A reconciliation from reported profit before interest and taxation to headline PBIT is provided in note 31. Reported profit before interest and taxation is reconciled to reported profit before taxation in the 
consolidated income statement.
Depreciation
Goodwill
Share of
Share-based
Capital
and
impairment &
results of
Interest in
payments
additions1
amortisation2
write-downs
associates
associates
Other information
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
2010
Advertising and Media Investment Management
36.8
95.6
94.2
0.3
26.2
487.3
Consumer Insight
13.7
58.9
49.8
–
15.1
122.6
Public Relations & Public Affairs
3.3
12.9
14.1
2.0
4.1
58.7
Branding & Identity, Healthcare and Specialist Communications
16.6
50.1
52.2
7.7
9.8
123.5
 
70.4
217.5
210.3
10.0
55.2
792.1
2009
Advertising and Media Investment Management
23.1
166.5
99.7
33.3
30.7
445.9
Consumer Insight
11.5
51.6
53.5
–
16.9
114.5
Public Relations & Public Affairs
4.4
19.2
15.2
–
2.7
60.3
Branding & Identity, Healthcare and Specialist Communications
15.9
43.8
57.4
11.0
6.7
108.6
 
54.9
281.1
225.8
44.3
57.0
729.3
2008
Advertising and Media Investment Management
33.3
93.3
86.2
9.1
32.7
474.9
Consumer Insight
7.5
50.9
23.0
3.0
5.4
96.7
Public Relations & Public Affairs
4.3
13.3
13.6
–
4.1
59.6
Branding & Identity, Healthcare and Specialist Communications
17.2
63.1
50.2
73.5
3.8
83.1
 
62.3
220.6
173.0
85.6
46.0
714.3
Notes
 
1	Capital additions include purchases of property, plant and equipment and other intangible assets (including capitalised computer software).
 
2	Depreciation of property, plant and equipment and amortisation of other intangible assets.

Our 2010 financial statements
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
162
Contributions by geographical area were as follows:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Revenue1
North America5
3,299.8
3,010.0
2,603.2
UK
1,087.6
1,029.0
954.2
Western Continental Europe4
2,325.3
2,327.8
1,879.1
Asia Pacific, Latin America, 
Africa & Middle East and 
Central & Eastern Europe
2,618.3
2,317.5
2,040.4
9,331.0
8,684.3
7,476.9
Margin
Margin
Margin
Headline PBIT2 
North America5
14.7%
484.6
13.2%
397.9
16.8%
438.3
UK
13.6%
147.9
12.8%
131.5
13.0%
124.1
Western Continental Europe4
9.5%
221.6
8.3%
193.4
13.1%
247.0
Asia Pacific, Latin America, 
Africa & Middle East and 
Central & Eastern Europe
14.3%
374.6
12.7%
294.4
15.1%
308.8
13.2% 1,228.7
11.7%
1,017.2
15.0%
1,118.2
Non-current assets3
North America5
4,742.7
4,420.1
UK
1,693.3
1,688.3
Western Continental Europe4
3,728.6
4,012.6
Asia Pacific, Latin America, 
Africa & Middle East and 
Central & Eastern Europe
2,649.2
2,379.6
12,813.8
12,500.6
Notes
 
1	Intersegment sales have not been separately disclosed as they are not material.
 
2	Headline PBIT is defined in note 31.
 
3	Non-current assets excluding financial instruments and deferred tax.
 
4	Western Continental Europe includes Ireland with revenue of £37.4 million (2009: £43.4 million, 
2008: £41.3 million), headline PBIT of £2.0 million (2009: £3.9 million, 2008: £8.0 million) and 
non-current assets of £65.0 million (2009: £61.6 million).
 
5	North America includes the US with revenues of £3,097.9 million (2009: £2,835.8 million, 2008: 
£2,444.7 million), headline PBIT of £448.7 million (2009: £370.9 million, 2008: £411.0 million) and 
non-current assets of £4,209.7 million (2009: £4,010.9 million). 
Assets
Liabilities
Unallocated
Consolidated
Unallocated
Consolidated
Segment
corporate
total
Segment
corporate
total
assets
assets1
assets
liabilities
liabilities1
liabilities
Balance sheet
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
2010
Advertising and Media Investment Management
11,795.7
(9,553.6)
Consumer Insight
3,691.2
(1,143.9)
Public Relations & Public Affairs
1,699.6
(388.4)
Branding & Identity, Healthcare and Specialist Communications
5,031.4
(1,409.4)
22,217.9
2,127.2
24,345.1
(12,495.3)
(5,201.9)
(17,697.2)
2009
Advertising and Media Investment Management
10,539.1
(8,036.9)
Consumer Insight
3,714.6
(1,002.4)
Public Relations & Public Affairs
1,579.7
(324.9)
Branding & Identity, Healthcare and Specialist Communications
4,710.9
(1,237.8)
20,544.3
1,807.2
22,351.5
(10,602.0)
(5,673.8)
(16,275.8)
Note
 
1	Included in unallocated corporate assets and liabilities are corporate income tax, deferred tax and net interest-bearing debt.
3. Operating costs
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Total staff costs (note 5)
5,438.7
5,117.0 4,351.8
Establishment costs
659.2
691.6
521.3
Other operating costs (net)
1,489.6
1,410.4 1,260.3
Total operating costs
7,587.5
7,219.0
6,133.4
Operating costs include:
Goodwill impairment (note 12)
10.0
44.3
84.1
Goodwill write-down relating to utilisation 
of pre-acquisition tax losses
–
–
1.5
Investment write-downs
37.5
11.1
30.5
Cost of changes to corporate structure
–
–
4.6
Amortisation and impairment of acquired 
intangible assets (note 12)
170.5
172.6
78.4
Amortisation of other intangible assets (note 12)
25.4
30.5
23.4
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment
178.3
189.9
145.4
Losses on sale of property, plant and equipment
0.7
0.4
1.9
Gains on disposal of investments
(4.1)
(31.1)
(3.4)
Gains on re-measurement of equity interest 
on acquisition of controlling interest
(13.7)
–
–
Net foreign exchange losses/(gains)
8.0
6.4
(18.3)
Operating lease rentals:
Land and buildings
449.9
461.5
350.0
Sublease income
(32.8)
(27.0)
(24.8)
417.1
434.5
325.2
Plant and machinery
24.8
28.0
26.5
441.9
462.5
351.7
In 2010, operating profit includes credits totalling £16.5 million (2009: £19.4 million, 
2008: £23.7 million) relating to the release of excess provisions and other balances 
established in respect of acquisitions completed prior to 2009. Further details of the 
Group’s approach to acquisition reserves, as required by IFRS 3 (revised) Business 
Combinations, are given in note 28.
Investment write-downs of £37.5 million (2009: £11.1 million) relate to certain 
non-core minority investments in the US and Continental Europe where forecast 
financial performance and/or liquidity issues indicate a permanent decline in the 
recoverability of the Group’s investment.
All of the operating costs of the Group are related to administrative expenses.

Our 2010 financial statements
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
163
Auditors’ remuneration:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Fees payable to the Company’s auditors for the 
audit of the Company’s annual accounts
1.4
1.5
1.7
The audit of the Company’s subsidiaries pursuant 
to legislation
14.8
15.0
13.3
16.2
16.5
15.0
Other services pursuant to legislation
3.1
3.2
3.8
Fees payable to the auditors pursuant to legislation
19.3
19.7
18.8
Tax advisory services
2.7
2.6
2.2
Tax compliance services
1.2
1.5
0.9
3.9
4.1
3.1
Corporate finance services
0.2
0.2
1.5
Other services1 
5.1
4.8
4.4
Total non-audit fees
9.2
9.1
9.0
Total fees
28.5
28.8
27.8
Note
 
1	Other services include audits for earnout purposes and services for expatriate employees.
Minimum committed annual rentals
Amounts payable in 2011 under the foregoing leases will be as follows:
Plant and machinery
Land and buildings
2011
2010
2009
2011
2010
2009
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
In respect of operating 
leases which expire:
– within one year
4.8
4.1
6.6
32.7
43.1
63.4 
– within two to five years
14.8
14.6
14.2
163.4
145.2
168.3
– after five years
0.2
1.1
0.3
159.7
143.7
107.5
19.8
19.8
21.1
355.8
332.0
339.2
Future minimum annual amounts payable under all lease commitments in 
existence at 31 December 2010 are as follows:
Minimum
Less
rental
sub-let
 Net
payments
rentals payment
£m
£m
£m
Year ending 31 December
2011
375.6
(21.0)
354.6
2012
311.4
(17.9)
293.5
2013
278.1
(10.0)
268.1
2014
222.7
(2.9)
219.8
2015
204.9
(2.3)
202.6
Later years
936.0
(2.0)
934.0
2,328.7
(56.1) 2,272.6
 
4. Share of results of associates
Share of results of associates include:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Share of profit before interest and taxation
86.0
86.3
71.5
Share of exceptional losses
(0.3)
(1.6)
(0.5)
Share of interest and non-controlling interests
(2.7)
(0.7)
0.5
Share of taxation
(27.8)
(27.0)
(25.5)
55.2
57.0
46.0
 
5. Our people
Our staff numbers averaged 101,387 against 105,318 in 2009 and 97,438 in 2008, 
including acquisitions. Their geographical distribution was as follows:
2010
2009
2008
North America
25,546
25,004
24,493
UK
9,620
9,704
8,971
Western Continental Europe
21,154
22,230
19,448
Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa & Middle 
East and Central & Eastern Europe
45,067
48,380
44,526
101,387 105,318
97,438
Their operating sector distribution was as follows:
2010
2009
2008
Advertising and Media Investment Management
42,424
42,906
45,754
Consumer Insight
28,167
28,325
14,934
Public Relations & Public Affairs
7,364
7,325
7,682
Branding & Identity, Healthcare 
and Specialist Communications
23,432
26,762
29,068
101,387 105,318
97,438
At the end of 2010 staff numbers were 104,052 (2009: 98,759, 2008: 112,262). 
Including all employees of associated undertakings, this figure was approximately 
146,000 at 31 December 2010 (2009: 138,000, 2008: 135,000).
Total staff costs were made up as follows:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Wages and salaries
3,696.8
3,614.1 3,044.6
Cash-based incentive plans
271.9
122.9
151.4
Share-based incentive plans (note 22)
70.4
54.9
62.3
Social security costs
450.1
442.5
346.4
Pension costs (note 23)
120.6
116.4
98.3
Other staff costs
828.9
766.2
648.8
5,438.7
5,117.0 4,351.8
Staff cost to revenue ratio
58.3%
58.9%
58.2%
 
Included above are charges of £7.7 million (2009: £6.1 million, 2008: £5.1 million)
for share-based incentive plans in respect of key management personnel (who 
comprise the directors of the Group). Further details of compensation for key 
management personnel is disclosed on pages 142 to 147.
6. Finance income, finance costs and revaluation of financial instruments
Finance income includes:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Expected return on pension plan assets (note 23)
30.6
28.7
31.3
Income from available for sale investments
9.3
10.2
9.7
Interest income
41.8
111.5
128.6
81.7
150.4
169.6
 
Finance costs include:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Interest on pension plan liabilities (note 23)
45.9
46.1
38.9
Interest on other long-term employee benefits
1.9
1.3
1.6
Interest payable and similar charges1
229.0
308.0
278.9
276.8
355.4
319.4
Revaluation of financial instruments2 include:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Movements in fair value of treasury instruments
21.8
8.4
(13.9)
Revaluation of put options over 
non-controlling interests
(3.6)
15.3
(11.5)
Gains on termination of hedge accounting 
on repayment of TNS debt
–
25.2
–
18.2
48.9
(25.4)
Notes
 
1	Interest payable and similar charges are payable on bank overdrafts, bonds and bank loans 
held at amortised cost.
 
2	Financial instruments are held at fair value through profit and loss.
The majority of the Group’s long-term debt is represented by $1,250 million of US 
dollar bonds at an average interest rate of 6.9% (prior to any interest rate swaps 
or cross-currency swaps), 11,850 million of Eurobonds at an average interest rate 
of 5.52% (prior to any interest rate or currency swaps) and £1,050 million of sterling 
bonds including convertible bonds at an average interest rate of 5.96%.
Average borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facilities (note 10) amounted to the 
equivalent of $818 million at an average interest rate of 0.85% inclusive of margin.

Our 2010 financial statements
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
164
7. Taxation
The tax charge is based on the profit for the year and comprises:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Corporation tax
Current year
276.2
209.8
217.7
Prior years
(1.0)
(1.7)
7.0
275.2
208.1
224.7
Deferred tax
Current year
(21.4)
(16.1)
(8.4)
Net credit in relation to the amortisation of acquired 
intangible assets and other goodwill items
(37.5)
(37.3)
(12.4)
(58.9)
(53.4)
(20.8)
Prior years
(26.0)
1.0
29.0
(84.9)
(52.4)
8.2
Tax charge
190.3
155.7
232.9
 
The tax charge for the year can be reconciled to profit before taxation in the 
consolidated income statement as follows:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Profit before taxation
851.3
662.6
746.8
Tax at the corporation tax rate of 25%3 
(2009: 25%3, 2008: UK 28.5%)
212.8
165.7
212.8
Tax effect of share of results of associates
(13.8)
(14.3)
(13.4)
Tax effect of items that are not taxable 
(7.8)
(63.7)
(11.7)
Tax effect of utilisation or recognition of tax losses 
not previously recognised
(47.5)
(10.1)
(6.5)
Effect of different tax rates of subsidiaries operating 
in other jurisdictions
15.4
23.7
3.5
Losses carried forward and temporary differences 
not recognised
58.2
55.1
12.2
Prior period adjustments
(27.0)
(0.7)
36.0
Tax charge
190.3
155.7
232.9
Effective tax rate on profit before tax
22.4%
23.5%
31.2%
Effective tax rate on headline PBT1,2
22.0%
23.8%
25.3%
Notes
 
1	Headline PBT and the effective tax rate on headline PBT are defined in note 31.
 
2	Excluding the net deferred tax credit in relation to the amortisation of acquired intangible assets 
and other goodwill items.
 
3	In November 2008, WPP introduced a new holding company that is tax resident in the Republic 
of Ireland. As a result, the tax reconciliation for the years ended 31 December 2010 and 31 
December 2009 have been prepared using the Irish non-trading corporation tax rate of 25%, 
which is the rate applicable to WPP plc. In 2008 the reconciliation was prepared using the 
prevailing UK corporation tax rate of 28.5%.
8. Ordinary dividends
Amounts recognised as distributions to equity holders in the year:
2010
2009
2008
2010
2009
2008
Per share
Pence per share 
£m
£m
£m
2009 Second interim 
dividend paid
10.28p
10.28p
9.13p
126.6
126.1
103.1
2010 First interim 
dividend paid
5.97p
5.19p
5.19p
73.8
63.7
58.7
16.25p
15.47p
14.32p
200.4
189.8
161.8
2010
2009
2008
2010
2009
2008
Per ADR1
Cents per ADR 
$m
$m
$m
2009 Second interim 
dividend paid
80.5¢
95.2¢
91.4¢
198.3
233.6
206.4
2010 First interim 
dividend paid
46.2¢
40.7¢
48.1¢
114.1
99.8
108.7
126.7¢
135.9¢
139.5¢
312.4
333.4
315.1
Second interim dividend for the year ended 31 December 2010:
2010
2009
2008
Per share
Pence per share
2010 Second interim dividend
11.82p
10.28p
10.28p
2010
2009
2008
Per ADR1
Cents per ADR
2010 Second interim dividend
91.37¢
80.53¢
95.24¢
Note
 
1 These figures have been translated for convenience purposes only, using the approximate 
average rate for the year shown on page 156. This conversion should not be construed as a 
representation that the pound sterling amounts actually represent, or could be converted into, 
US dollars at the rates indicated.
The payment of dividends will not have any tax consequences for the Group.
9. Earnings per share
Basic EPS
The calculation of basic reported and headline EPS is as follows:
2010
2009
2008
Reported earnings1 (£m)
586.0
437.7
439.1
Headline earnings (£m) (note 31)
730.8
550.0
648.3
Average shares used in Basic EPS calculation (m)
1,233.1
1,218.7
1,143.4
Reported EPS
47.5p
35.9p
38.4p
Headline EPS
59.3p
45.1p
56.7p
Note
 
1 Reported earnings is equivalent to profit for the year attributable to equity holders of the parent.
Diluted EPS
The calculation of diluted reported and headline EPS is set out below:
2010
2009
2008
Diluted reported earnings (£m)
614.3
437.7
439.9
Diluted headline earnings (£m)
759.0
550.0
649.1
Average shares used in diluted EPS calculation (m)
1,339.0 1,238.2
1,169.6
Diluted reported EPS
45.9p
35.3p
37.6p
Diluted headline EPS
56.7p
44.4p
55.5p
 
Diluted EPS has been calculated based on the diluted reported and diluted 
headline earnings amounts above. On 19 May 2009 the Group issued £450 million 
5.75% convertible bonds due May 2014. For the year ended 31 December 2010 
these convertible bonds were dilutive and earnings were consequently increased 
by £28.3 million for the purpose of the calculation of diluted earnings. For the year 
ended 31 December 2009 these convertible bonds were accretive to earnings and 
therefore excluded from this calculation. For the year ended 31 December 2008 the 
$150 million 5% Grey convertible bonds were dilutive and earnings were consequently 
increased by £0.8 million for the purpose of this calculation; these bonds were 
redeemed on 28 October 2008. In addition, at 31 December 2010, options to 
purchase 11.6 million ordinary shares (2009: 33.2 million, 2008: 28.0 million) were 
outstanding, but were excluded from the computation of diluted earnings per share 
because the exercise prices of these options were greater than the average market 
price of the Group’s shares and, therefore, their inclusion would have been accretive. 
A reconciliation between the shares used in calculating basic and diluted EPS is 
as follows:
2010
2009
2008
m
m
m
Average shares used in basic EPS calculation
1,233.1
1,218.7
1,143.4
Dilutive share options outstanding
6.7
2.1
2.9
Other potentially issuable shares
22.7
17.4
16.0
£450 million 5.75% convertible bonds
76.5
–
–
$150 million Grey convertible bonds
–
–
7.3
Shares used in diluted EPS calculation
1,339.0 1,238.2
1,169.6
 
At 31 December 2010 there were 1,264,391,221 ordinary shares in issue.
10. Sources of finance
The following table summarises the equity and debt financing of the Group, and 
changes during the year:
Shares
Debt
2010
2009
2010
2009
£m
£m 
£m
£m
Analysis of changes in financing
Beginning of year
138.2
134.1
3,586.4 4,385.7
Other ordinary shares issued
42.7
4.1
–
–
Net increase/(decrease) in drawings 
on bank loans, corporate bonds and 
convertible bonds
–
–
19.8
(426.3)
Net amortisation of financing 
costs included in net debt
–
–
13.6
(32.8)
Other movements
–
–
0.5
(21.1)
Exchange adjustments
–
–
(22.1)
(319.1)
End of year
180.9
138.2
3,598.2 3,586.4
Note
The above table excludes bank overdrafts which fall within cash and cash equivalents for the 
purposes of the consolidated cash flow statement.

Our 2010 financial statements
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
165
Shares
At 31 December 2010, the Company’s share base was entirely composed
of ordinary equity share capital and share premium of £180.9 million
(2009: £138.2 million), further details of which are disclosed in note 26.
Debt
US$ bonds The Group has in issue $600 million of 8% bonds due September 2014 
and $650 million of 5.875% bonds due June 2014. 
Eurobonds The Group has in issue 1600 million of 4.375% bonds due December 
2013, 1500 million of 5.25% bonds due January 2015 and €750 million of 6.625% 
bonds due May 2016. 
Sterling bonds The Group has in issue £400 million of 6% bonds due April 2017 
and £200 million of 6.375% bonds due November 2020. 
Revolving Credit Facilities The Group has a $1.6 billion seven-year Revolving 
Credit Facility due August 2012 and a £200 million amortising Revolving Credit 
Facility maturing in July 2011. The Group’s borrowing under these facilities, which 
are drawn down predominantly in US dollars, euros, Canadian dollars and pounds 
sterling, averaged the equivalent of $818 million in 2010. The Group had available 
undrawn committed credit facilities of £1,145 million at December 2010 (2009: 
£1,335 million).
Borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facilities are governed by certain financial 
covenants based on the results and financial position of the Group.
US Commercial Paper Program
The Group has a $1.4 billion US Commercial Paper Program using the $1.6 billion 
Revolving Credit Facility as a backstop. There was no US Commercial Paper 
outstanding at 31 December 2010.
Convertible bonds
The Group has in issue £450 million of 5.75% convertible bonds due May 2014. 
At the option of the holder, the bonds are convertible into 76,530,612 WPP ordinary 
shares at an initial share price of £5.88 per share.
The convertible bonds have a nominal value of £450 million at 31 December 2010. 
In accordance with IAS 39, these bonds have been split between a liability 
component and an equity component by initially valuing the liability component 
at fair value based on the present value of future cash flows and then holding it 
at amortised cost. This fair value has been calculated assuming redemption in 
May 2014 and using a discount rate of 8.25%, based on the estimated rate of 
interest that would have applied to a comparable bond issued at that time without 
the convertible option. The equity component represents the fair value, on initial 
recognition, of the embedded option to convert the liability into equity of the Group. 
The liability element is £413.2 million and the equity component is £44.5 million as 
at 31 December 2010.
The Group estimates that the fair value of the liability component of the convertible 
bonds at 31 December 2010 to be approximately £433.2 million. This fair value has 
been calculated by discounting the future cash flows at the market rate. 
The following table is an analysis of future anticipated cash flows in relation to the 
Group’s debt, on an undiscounted basis which, therefore, differs from the fair value 
and carrying value:
2010
2009
£m
£m
Within one year
(209.4)
(210.0)
Between one and two years
(308.7)
(210.0)
Between two and three years
(721.1)
(228.1)
Between three and four years
(1,416.3)
(797.7)
Between four and five years
(509.8)
(1,396.6)
Over five years
(1,355.4)
(1,928.4)
Debt financing under the Revolving Credit Facility 
and in relation to unsecured loan notes
(4,520.7)
(4,770.8)
Short-term overdrafts – within one year
(255.4)
(720.7)
Future anticipated cash flows
(4,776.1)
(5,491.5)
Effect of discounting/financing rates
922.5
1,184.4
Debt financing
(3,853.6)
(4,307.1)
Cash and short-term deposits
1,965.2
1,666.7
Net debt
(1,888.4)
(2,640.4)
Analysis of fixed and floating rate debt by currency including the effect of interest 
rate and cross-currency swaps:
2010
Fixed
Floating
Period
Currency
£m
rate1
basis
(months)1
$
– fixed
1,338.0
6.54%
n/a
44
– floating
283.0
n/a
LIBOR
n/a
£
– fixed
550.0
6.07%
n/a
83
– floating
200.0
n/a
LIBOR
n/a
€
– fixed
728.7
6.50%
n/a
63
– floating
363.1
n/a EURIBOR
n/a
¥
– fixed
71.1
2.07%
n/a
36
$C2
– floating
81.1
n/a
LIBOR
n/a
Other
(16.8)
n/a
n/a
n/a
3,598.2
 
2009
Fixed
Floating
Period
Currency
£m
rate1
basis
(months)1
$
– fixed
1,106.1
6.54%
n/a
56
– floating
459.0
n/a
LIBOR
n/a
£
– fixed
550.0
6.07%
n/a
95
– floating
200.0
n/a
LIBOR
n/a
€
– fixed
754.3
6.50%
n/a
75
– floating
375.9
n/a EURIBOR
n/a
¥
– fixed
59.8
2.07%
n/a
48
$C2
– floating
56.2
n/a
LIBOR
n/a
Other
25.1
n/a
LIBOR
n/a
3,586.4
Notes
 
1	Weighted average. These rates do not include the effect of gains on interest rate swap terminations 
that are written to income over the life of the original instrument. At 31 December 2010 the amount 
still to be written to income was £1.7 million (2009: £2.2 million) in respect of US dollar swap 
terminations, to be written to income evenly until June 2014.
 
2	Represents Canadian dollars.
The following table is an analysis of future anticipated cash flows in relation to the 
Group’s financial derivatives, which include interest rate swaps, cash flow hedges and 
other foreign exchange swaps:
2010
Financial liabilities
Financial assets
Payable
Receivable
Payable
Receivable
£m
£m 
£m
£m
Within one year
74.1
46.3
160.0
205.4
Between one and two years
36.6
29.2
85.7
123.5
Between two and three years
335.2
241.1
758.8
847.0
Between three and four years
368.7
291.0
804.8
877.8
Between four and five years
480.6
355.8
556.5
656.4
Over five years
27.1
27.1
457.3
488.4
1,322.3
990.5
2,823.1
3,198.5
2009
Financial liabilities
Financial assets
Payable
Receivable
Payable
Receivable
£m
£m 
£m
£m
Within one year
284.5
272.8
170.5
218.7
Between one and two years
38.1
31.8
78.4
111.7
Between two and three years
45.4
39.0
107.5
128.9
Between three and four years
325.9
249.7
796.3
881.8
Between four and five years
336.7
242.4
841.0
909.3
Over five years
489.3
384.4
803.8
925.5
1,519.9
1,220.1
2,797.5
3,175.9
Included in these amounts are anticipated cash flows in relation to cash flow hedges.

Our 2010 financial statements
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
166
11. Analysis of cash flows
The following tables analyse the items included within the main cash flow headings 
on page 158.
Net cash from operating activities:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Profit for the year
661.0
506.9
513.9
Taxation
190.3
155.7
232.9
Revaluation of financial instruments
(18.2)
(48.9)
25.4
Finance costs
276.8
355.4
319.4
Finance income
(81.7)
(150.4)
(169.6)
Share of results of associates
(55.2)
(57.0)
(46.0)
Operating profit
973.0
761.7
876.0
Adjustments for:
Non-cash share-based incentive plans 
(including share options)
70.4
54.9
62.3
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment
184.9
195.3
149.6
Impairment of goodwill
10.0
44.3
84.1
Goodwill write-down relating to utilisation 
of pre‑acquisition tax losses
–
–
1.5
Amortisation and impairment of acquired 
intangible assets
170.5
172.6
78.4
Amortisation of other intangible assets
25.4
30.5
23.4
Investment write-downs
37.5
11.1
30.5
Gains on disposal of investments
(4.1)
(31.1)
(3.4)
Gains on re-measurement of equity interest on 
acquisition of controlling interest
(13.7)
–
–
Losses on sale of property, plant and equipment
0.7
0.4
1.9
Operating cash flow before movements 
in working capital and provisions
1,454.6
1,239.7 1,304.3
(Increase)/decrease in inventories and work 
in progress
(46.3)
12.4
65.6
(Increase)/decrease in receivables
(850.8)
(90.0)
492.6
Increase/(decrease) in payables – short term
1,135.7
(51.3)
(628.9)
Increase/(decrease) in payables – long term
10.3
25.5
(23.1)
(Decrease)/increase in provisions
(23.4)
1.3
(15.5)
Cash generated by operations
1,680.1
1,137.6
1,195.0
Corporation and overseas tax paid
(207.4)
(216.6)
(182.5)
Interest and similar charges paid
(219.7)
(248.7)
(269.2)
Interest received
50.7
99.6
133.0
Investment income
4.2
1.4
1.8
Dividends from associates
53.3
45.5
44.6
Net cash inflow from operating activities
1,361.2
818.8
922.7
Acquisitions and disposals:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Initial cash consideration
(138.6)
(35.4)
(872.2)
Cash and cash equivalents acquired (net)
57.0
1.3
(6.1)
Earnout payments
(113.3)
(81.5)
(67.8)
Loan note redemptions
(5.1)
–
(2.6)
Purchase of other investments (including associates)
(23.8)
(53.3)
(91.7)
Proceeds on disposal of investments
23.7
50.5
11.0
Acquisitions and disposals
(200.1)
(118.4) (1,029.4)
Cash consideration for non-controlling interests
(15.1)
(26.4)
(19.7)
Net cash outflow
(215.2)
(144.8) (1,049.1)
Share repurchases and buy-backs:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Purchase of own shares by ESOP Trust
(46.4)
–
–
Share cancellations (excluding brokerage fees)
–
–
(112.2)
Shares purchased into treasury
–
(9.5)
–
Proceeds on disposal of treasury shares
–
–
6.9
Net cash outflow
(46.4)
(9.5)
(105.3)
 
Net increase/(decrease) in borrowings:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Increase/(decrease) in drawings on bank loans
19.8
(1,068.0)
1,273.3
Proceeds from issue of £450 million 
convertible bonds
–
450.0
–
Proceeds from issue of $600 million bonds
–
367.4
–
Repayment of TNS debt
–
(175.7)
(395.7)
Repayment of e650 million bonds
–
–
(515.1)
Repayment of $100 million bonds
–
–
(50.5)
Repayment of $150 million convertible debt
–
–
(96.2)
Proceeds from issue of f750 million bonds
–
–
594.6
Net cash inflow/(outflow) 
19.8
(426.3)
810.4
Cash and cash equivalents:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Cash at bank and in hand
1,877.1
1,570.5
2,485.9
Short-term bank deposits
88.1
96.2
86.6
Overdrafts1
(255.4)
(720.7) (1,254.4)
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year
1,709.8
946.0
1,318.1
Note
 
1	Bank overdrafts are included in cash and cash equivalents because they form an integral part 
of the Group’s cash management.
The Group considers that the carrying amount of cash and cash equivalents 
approximates their fair value.
12. Intangible assets
Goodwill
The movements in 2010 and 2009 were as follows:
£m
Cost:
1 January 2009
9,640.6
Additions1
21.1
Exchange differences 
(414.9)
31 December 2009
9,246.8
Additions1
246.3
Exchange differences 
185.7
31 December 2010
9,678.8
Accumulated impairment losses and write-downs:
1 January 2009
547.4
Impairment losses for the year
21.6
Exchange differences 
(19.7)
31 December 2009
549.3
Impairment losses for the year
8.3
Exchange differences
14.9
31 December 2010
572.5
Net book value:
31 December 2010
9,106.3
31 December 2009
8,697.5
1 January 2009
9,093.2
Note
 
1	Additions represent goodwill arising on the acquisition of subsidiary undertakings including 
the effect of any revisions to fair value adjustments that had been determined provisionally 
at the immediately preceding balance sheet date, as permitted by IFRS 3 (revised) Business 
Combinations. The effect of such revisions was not material in either year presented. Goodwill 
arising on the acquisition of associate undertakings is shown within interests in associates and 
joint ventures in note 14.
Cash-generating units with significant goodwill as at 31 December 2010 and 
2009 are:
2010
2009
£m
£m
GroupM
2,105.0 2,044.3
Kantar
1,740.0
1,738.6
Y&R Advertising
1,092.7
1,019.2
Wunderman
1,143.8
958.7
Burson-Marsteller
545.9
516.1
Other
2,478.9 2,420.6
Total goodwill
9,106.3
8,697.5

Our 2010 financial statements
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
167
Other goodwill represents goodwill on a large number of cash-generating units, 
none of which is individually significant in comparison to the total carrying value 
of goodwill.
Other intangible assets
The movements in 2010 and 2009 were as follows:
Brands 
with an Acquired
indefinite 
intan-
 
useful life
gibles
Other
Total
£m
£m
£m
£m
Cost:
1 January 2009
1,073.2
1,377.6
203.6 2,654.4
Additions
–
–
33.5
33.5
Disposals
–
–
(8.1)
(8.1)
New acquisitions
–
6.6
–
6.6
Other movements
–
1.2
4.5
5.7
Exchange differences
(60.0)
(88.4)
(21.7)
(170.1)
31 December 2009
1,013.2
1,297.0
211.8 2,522.0
Additions
–
–
27.0
27.0
Disposals
–
–
(14.2)
(14.2)
New acquisitions
–
25.5
0.7
26.2
Other movements
–
1.1
4.0
5.1
Exchange differences
40.5
8.9
0.6
50.0
31 December 2010
1,053.7 1,332.5
229.9 2,616.1
Amortisation and impairment:
1 January 2009
–
221.7
136.9
358.6
Charge for the year
–
172.6
30.5
203.1
Disposals
–
–
(8.1)
(8.1)
Other movements
–
(2.0)
(3.1)
(5.1)
Exchange differences
–
(14.8)
(12.4)
(27.2)
31 December 2009
–
377.5
143.8
521.3
Charge for the year
–
170.5
25.4
195.9
Disposals
–
–
(14.0)
(14.0)
Other movements
–
(2.4)
2.3
(0.1)
Exchange differences
–
5.2
3.3
8.5
31 December 2010
–
550.8
160.8
711.6
Net book value:
31 December 2010
1,053.7
781.7
69.1 1,904.5
31 December 2009
1,013.2
919.5
68.0 2,000.7
1 January 2009
1,073.2
1,155.9
66.7 2,295.8
 
Brands with an indefinite life are carried at historical cost in accordance with 
the Group’s accounting policy for intangible assets. The carrying values of the 
separately identifiable brands are not individually significant in comparison 
with the total carrying value of brands with an indefinite useful life.
Acquired intangible assets at net book value at 31 December 2010 include brand 
names of £357.4 million (2009: £377.5 million), customer-related intangibles of 
£327.3 million (2009: £403.5 million), and other assets (including proprietary tools) 
of £97.0 million (2009: £138.5 million).
In accordance with the Group’s accounting policy, the carrying values of goodwill 
and intangible assets with indefinite useful lives are reviewed for impairment 
annually or more frequently if events or changes in circumstances indicate that 
the asset might be impaired.
The carrying values of brands with an indefinite useful life are assessed for 
impairment purposes by using the royalty and loyalty methods of valuation, both 
of which utilise the net present value of future cash flows associated with the brands.
The 2010 goodwill impairment review was initially undertaken as at 30 June 2010 
and then updated as at 31 December 2010. The review assessed whether the 
carrying value of goodwill was supported by the net present value of future 
cash-flows, using a pre-tax discount rate of 9.58% (2009: 10.27%) and management 
forecasts for a projection period of up to five years, followed by an assumed 
annual long-term growth rate of 3.0% (2009: 3.0%) and no assumed improvement 
in operating margin. Management have made the judgement that this long-term 
growth rate does not exceed the long-term average growth rate for the industry. 
 
Goodwill impairment charges of £10.0 million and £44.3 million were recorded 
in the years ended 31 December 2010 and 2009 respectively. The impairment 
charges relate to certain under-performing businesses in the Group. In certain 
markets, the impact of current local economic conditions and trading 
circumstances on these businesses was sufficiently severe to indicate impairment 
to the carrying value of goodwill.
Under IFRS, an impairment charge is required for both goodwill and other 
indefinite-lived assets when the carrying amount exceeds the ‘recoverable 
amount’, defined as the higher of fair value less costs to sell and value in use.
Our approach in determining the recoverable amount utilises a discounted cash 
flow methodology, which necessarily involves making numerous estimates and 
assumptions regarding revenue growth, operating margins, appropriate discount 
rates and working capital requirements. These estimates will likely differ from 
future actual results of operations and cash flows, and it is possible that these 
differences could be material. In addition, judgements are applied in determining 
the level of cash-generating unit we identify for impairment testing and the 
criteria we use to determine which assets should be aggregated. A difference in 
testing levels could affect whether an impairment is recorded and the extent of 
impairment loss. Changes in our business activities or structure may also result 
in changes to the level of testing in future periods. Further, future events could 
cause the Group to conclude that impairment indicators exist and that the asset 
values associated with a given operation have become impaired. Any resulting 
impairment loss could have a material impact on the Group’s financial condition 
and results of operations.
Historically our impairment losses have resulted from a specific event, condition 
or circumstance in one of our companies, such as the loss of a significant client. 
As a result, changes in the assumptions used in our impairment model have not 
had a significant effect on the impairment charges recognised and a reasonably 
possible change in assumptions would not lead to an impairment. The carrying 
value of goodwill and other intangible assets will continue to be reviewed at 
least annually for impairment and adjusted to the recoverable amount if required.
13. Property, plant and equipment
The movements in 2010 and 2009 were as follows:
Fixtures,
fittings 
Com-
Lease-
and
puter
Freehold
hold
equip-
equip-
Land buildings buildings
ment
ment
Total
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
Cost:
1 January 2009
12.4
83.1
556.3
385.1
579.1
1,616.0
Additions
–
1.3
151.5
38.3
56.5
247.6
New acquisitions
–
–
0.3
0.8
1.5
2.6
Disposals
–
(0.9)
(28.1)
(31.2)
(63.2)
(123.4)
Exchange adjustments
–
(10.3)
(60.9)
(30.4)
(38.5)
(140.1)
31 December 2009
12.4
73.2
619.1
362.6
535.4
1,602.7
Additions
–
0.7
71.5
35.6
82.7
190.5
New acquisitions
–
–
2.1
2.6
4.4
9.1
Disposals
–
(0.5)
(43.0)
(37.0)
(60.7)
(141.2)
Exchange adjustments
–
–
23.0
12.2
19.3
54.5
31 December 2010
12.4
73.4
672.7
376.0
581.1
1,715.6
Depreciation:
1 January 2009
–
27.3
265.8
218.8
413.4
925.3
Charge for the year
–
2.4
60.1
46.0
86.8
195.3
Disposals
–
(0.3)
(26.6)
(28.8)
(58.8)
(114.5)
Exchange adjustments
–
(3.6)
(21.3)
(21.7)
(37.3)
(83.9)
31 December 2009
–
25.8
278.0
214.3
404.1
922.2
Charge for the year
–
2.7
58.2
42.9
81.1
184.9
Disposals
–
(0.5)
(37.6)
(35.9)
(58.7)
(132.7)
Exchange adjustments
–
–
13.1
7.0
12.7
32.8
31 December 2010
–
28.0
311.7
228.3
439.2
1,007.2
Net book value:
31 December 2010
12.4
45.4
361.0
147.7
141.9
708.4
31 December 2009
12.4
47.4
341.1
148.3
131.3
680.5
1 January 2009
12.4
55.8
290.5
166.3
165.7
690.7
 
At the end of the year, capital commitments contracted, but not provided for in 
respect of property, plant and equipment were £40.7 million (2009: £17.8 million).

Our 2010 financial statements
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
168
14. Interests in associates, joint ventures and other investments
The movements in 2010 and 2009 were as follows:
Goodwill
 
and other
Net intangibles 
assets of
of
Total
associates
associates
associates
Other
and joint
and joint
and joint
invest-
ventures
ventures
ventures
ments
£m
£m
£m
£m
1 January 2009
340.4
373.9
714.3
310.9
Additions
17.9
–
17.9
52.4
Goodwill arising on acquisition 
of new associates
–
26.5
26.5
–
Share of results of associate 
undertakings (note 4)
57.0
–
57.0
–
Dividends and other movements
(56.1)
29.8
(26.3)
1.0
Exchange adjustments
(19.8)
(9.2)
(29.0)
(27.2)
Disposals
(0.7)
(0.2)
(0.9)
(17.9)
Reclassification to subsidiaries
(1.6)
(3.9)
(5.5)
–
Revaluation of other investments
–
–
–
(13.5)
Goodwill impairment
–
(22.7)
(22.7)
–
Amortisation of other intangible 
assets
–
(2.0)
(2.0)
–
Write-downs
–
–
–
(11.1)
31 December 2009
337.1
392.2
729.3
294.6
Additions
8.0
–
8.0
20.2
Goodwill arising on acquisition 
of new associates
–
5.6
5.6
–
Share of results of associate 
undertakings (note 4)
55.2
–
55.2
–
Dividends and other movements
(52.7)
(0.9)
(53.6)
–
Exchange adjustments
35.9
36.9
72.8
(24.0)
Disposals
–
–
–
(22.0)
Reclassification to subsidiaries
(8.5)
(10.4)
(18.9)
–
Revaluation of other investments
–
–
–
(59.8)
Goodwill impairment
–
(1.7)
(1.7)
–
Amortisation of other intangible 
assets
–
(2.4)
(2.4)
–
Write-downs
(2.2)
–
(2.2)
(35.3)
31 December 2010
372.8
419.3
792.1
173.7
 
The investments included above as ‘other investments’ represent investments in 
equity securities that present the Group with opportunity for return through dividend 
income and trading gains. They have no fixed maturity or coupon rate. The fair 
values of the listed securities are based on quoted market prices. For unlisted 
securities, where market value is not available, the Group has estimated relevant 
fair values on the basis of publicly available information from outside sources or on 
the basis of discounted cash flow models where appropriate. 
The carrying values of the Group’s associates and joint ventures are reviewed for 
impairment in accordance with the Group’s accounting policies.
The Group’s principal associates and joint ventures at 31 December 2010 included:
%
Country of
owned
incorporation
Asatsu-DK
24.3
Japan 
CHI & Partners Limited
49.9
UK
Chime Communications PLC
15.0
UK
Dentsu, Young & Rubicam Inc.
49.0
Japan
GIIR, Inc
22.7
Korea
High Co S.A.
34.1
France
Ibope Latinoamericana SA
44.2
Brazil
Ooh! Media Group Limited
27.2
Australia
Scangroup Limited
27.5
Kenya
Singleton, Ogilvy & Mather (Holdings) Pty Limited
33.3
Australia
STW Communications Group Limited
20.6
Australia
The Grass Roots Group PLC
44.8
UK
The Jupiter Drawing Room Pty Limited
49.0
South Africa
 
The market value of the Group’s shares in its principal listed associate undertakings at 
31 December 2010 was as follows: Asatsu-DK: £180.9 million, Chime Communications 
PLC: £22.6 million, High Co S.A.: £30.0 million, GIIR, Inc: £22.4 million, Scangroup 
Limited: £30.0 million, STW Communications Group Limited: £52.2 million 
and Ooh! Media Group Limited: £22.3 million (2009: Asatsu-DK: £125.6 million, 
Chime Communications PLC: £24.3 million, High Co S.A.: £23.8 million, GIIR, Inc.: 
£21.2 million, Scangroup Limited: £12.6 million, STW Communications Group 
Limited: £31.3 million and Ooh! Media Group Limited: £6.6 million). 
The carrying value (including goodwill and other intangibles) of these equity 
interests in the Group’s consolidated balance sheet at 31 December 2010 was 
as follows: Asatsu-DK: £220.7 million, Chime Communications PLC: £23.0 million, 
High Co S.A.: £30.9 million, GIIR, Inc: £18.7 million, Scangroup Limited: £17.1 million, 
STW Communications Group Limited: £69.4 million and Ooh! Media Group Limited: 
£17.9 million (2009: Asatsu-DK: £189.9 million, Chime Communications PLC: 
£22.0 million, High Co S.A.: £29.9 million, GIIR, Inc: £14.3 million, Scangroup Limited: 
£12.8 million, STW Communications Group Limited: £57.6 million and Ooh! Media 
Group Limited: £14.4 million). 
Where the market value of the Group’s listed associates is less than the carrying 
value, an impairment review is performed utilising the discounted cash flow 
methodology discussed in note 12.
The Group’s investments in its principal associate undertakings are represented by 
ordinary shares.
Summarised financial information
The following tables present a summary of the aggregate financial performance 
and net asset position of the Group’s associate undertakings and joint ventures. These 
have been estimated and converted, where appropriate, to an IFRS presentation 
based on information provided by the relevant companies at 31 December 2010.
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Income statement
Revenue
2,142.3
1,968.9 1,588.3
Operating profit
229.9
219.2
221.3
Profit before taxation
245.1
237.0
221.3
Profit for the year
179.1
166.0
147.6
 
2010
2009
£m
£m
Balance sheet
Assets
4,355.7
3,929.4
Liabilities
(2,394.1)(2,236.3)
Net assets
1,961.6
1,693.1
The application of equity accounting is ordinarily discontinued when the 
investment is reduced to zero and additional losses are not provided for unless the 
investor has guaranteed obligations of the investee or is otherwise committed to 
provide further financial support for the investee.
At the end of the year, capital commitments contracted, but not provided for in 
respect of interests in associates and other investments were £24.9 million 
(2009: £22.3 million).
15. Deferred tax
The Group’s deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured at the end of each 
period in accordance with IAS 12. The recognition of deferred tax assets is 
determined by reference to the Group’s estimate of recoverability, using models 
where appropriate to forecast future taxable profits. 
Deferred tax assets are recognised in relation to an element of the Group’s defined 
benefit pension provisions and share based payment schemes. Assets have only 
been recognised for territories where the Group considers that it is probable there 
would be sufficient taxable profits for the future deductions to be utilised.
Based on available evidence, both positive and negative, we determine whether it 
is probable that all or a portion of the deferred tax assets will be realised. The main 
factors that we consider include:
– the future earnings potential determined through the use of internal forecasts;
– the cumulative losses in recent years;
– the various jurisdictions in which the potential deferred tax assets arise;
– the history of losses carried forward and other tax assets expiring;
– the timing of future reversal of taxable temporary differences;
– the expiry period associated with the deferred tax assets; and
– the nature of the income that can be used to realise the deferred tax asset.
If it is probable that some portion of these assets will not be realised, then no asset 
is recognised in relation to that portion.
If market conditions improve and future results of operations exceed our current 
expectations, our existing recognised deferred tax assets may be adjusted, 
resulting in future tax benefits. Alternatively, if market conditions deteriorate further 
or future results of operations are less than expected, future assessments may result 
in a determination that some or all of the deferred tax assets are not realisable. 
As a result, all or a portion of the deferred tax assets may need to be reversed.

Our 2010 financial statements
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
169
Certain deferred tax assets and liabilities have been offset as they relate to the 
same tax group. The following is the analysis of the deferred tax balances for 
financial reporting purposes:
As
Gross
Offset reported
£m
£m
£m
2010
Deferred tax assets
137.6
(58.5)
79.1
Deferred tax liabilities
(809.2)
58.5
(750.7)
 
(671.6)
–
(671.6)
2009
Deferred tax assets
75.6
(8.1)
67.5
Deferred tax liabilities
(817.7)
8.1
(809.6)
(742.1)
–
(742.1)
 
The following are the major gross deferred tax assets recognised by the Group and 
movements thereon in 2010 and 2009:
Other
Retirement
Deferred
US
short-term
Tax
benefit
comp-
stock
temporary
losses obligations
ensation
plans
differences
Total
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
1 January 2009
9.1
16.0
12.2
–
31.4
68.7 
(Charge)/credit to income
(1.3)
–
(5.3)
–
17.9
11.3
Charge to equity
–
(4.4)
–
–
–
(4.4)
Exchange adjustments
0.4
0.8
0.4
–
(1.6)
–
31 December 2009
8.2
12.4
7.3
–
47.7
75.6
(Charge)/credit to income
(1.9)
0.5
(1.8)
30.6
18.0
45.4
Credit to equity
–
0.2
–
19.0
0.2
19.4
Exchange adjustments
–
–
–
–
3.3
3.3
Transfer to current tax
–
–
–
–
(6.1)
(6.1)
31 December 2010
6.3
13.1
5.5
49.6
63.1 137.6
Other short-term temporary differences comprise a number of items, none of which 
is individually significant to the Group’s consolidated balance sheet. At 31 December 
2010 the balance related to temporary differences in relation to accounting 
provisions, tax credits, fixed assets, and tax deductible goodwill.
The Group incurred losses in certain jurisdictions in the current year. Deferred tax 
assets of £10.5 million have been recognised in these jurisdictions.
In addition the Group has recognised the following gross deferred tax liabilities and 
movements thereon in 2010 and 2009:
Other
Brands
short-term
and other
Associate
temporary
intangibles
earnings
Goodwill differences
Total
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
1 January 2009
811.2
21.1
81.9
6.0
920.2
New acquisitions
2.8
–
–
–
2.8
Prior year acquisitions1
1.6
–
(20.7)
(1.4)
(20.5)
(Credit)/charge to income
(55.9)
0.1
18.6
(3.9)
(41.1)
Charge to equity
–
–
–
9.8
9.8
Exchange adjustments
(47.8)
(1.0)
(5.0)
0.3
(53.5)
31 December 2009
711.9
20.2
74.8
10.8
817.7
New acquisitions
9.4
–
–
–
9.4
(Credit)/charge to income
(52.5)
0.3
14.9
(2.2)
(39.5)
Exchange adjustments
19.3
0.7
2.7
–
22.7
Transfer to current tax
–
–
–
(1.1)
(1.1)
31 December 2010
688.1
21.2
92.4
7.5
809.2
Note
 
1	Adjustments made in the year ended 31 December 2009 in relation to deferred tax liabilities that 
had been provisionally estimated in the year ended 31 December 2008 for acquisitions completed 
in that year. 
At the balance sheet date, the Group has gross tax losses and other temporary 
differences of £5,212.9 million (2009: £4,888.3 million) available for offset against 
future profits. Deferred tax assets have been recognised in respect of the tax benefit 
of £377.9 million (2009: £220.2 million) of such tax losses and other temporary 
differences. No deferred tax asset has been recognised in respect of the remaining 
£4,834.9 million (2009: £4,668.1 million) of losses and other temporary differences 
as the Group considers that there will not be enough taxable profits in the entities 
concerned such that any additional asset could be considered recoverable. 
Included in the total unrecognised temporary differences are losses of £30.9 million 
that will expire by 2019, £98.8 million that will expire by 2021, £235.6 million that 
will expire by 2023 and an additional £78.5 million that will expire by 2029. 
£3,118.7 million of losses may be carried forward indefinitely.
At the balance sheet date, the aggregate amount of the temporary differences in 
relation to the investment in subsidiaries for which deferred tax liabilities have not 
been recognised was £11,462.1 million (2009: £13,940.2 million). No liability has been 
recognised in respect of these differences because the Group is in a position to control 
the timing of the reversal of the temporary differences and the Group considers that it 
is probable that such differences will not reverse in the foreseeable future.
16. Inventory and work in progress
The following are included in the net book value of inventory and work in progress:
2010
2009
£m
£m
Work in progress
362.6
304.1
Inventory
3.4
2.6
366.0
306.7
 
17. Trade and other receivables
The following are included in trade and other receivables:
Amounts falling due within one year:
2010
2009
£m
£m
Trade receivables
6,280.6
5,301.1
VAT and sales taxes recoverable
72.1
81.6
Prepayments and accrued income
1,620.5
1,427.7
Other debtors
870.2
738.5
8,843.4
7,548.9
 
The ageing of our trade receivables and other financial assets is as follows:
2010
Past due but not impaired
Carrying
Neither
amount at 31
past
181 Greater
December
due nor
0-30
31-90
91-180
days-
than 1
2010 impaired
days
days
days
1 year
year
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
Trade receivables
6,280.6
3,502.2 1,926.4
695.3
131.7
12.0
13.0
Other financial assets
932.0
673.0
125.4
66.9
14.5
8.3
43.9
7,212.6
4,175.2 2,051.8
762.2
146.2
20.3
56.9
 
2009
Past due but not impaired
Carrying
Neither
amount at 31
past
181 Greater
December
due nor
0-30
31-90
91-180
days-
than 1
2009 impaired
days
days
days
1 year
year
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
Trade receivables
 5,301.1
3,279.1 1,475.5
413.8
114.1
8.4
10.2
Other financial assets
781.8
529.7
133.1
26.8
25.4
21.9
44.9
6,082.9
3,808.8 1,608.6
440.6
139.5
30.3
55.1
 
Other financial assets are included in other debtors.
Past due amounts are not impaired where collection is considered likely.
Amounts falling due after more than one year:
2010
2009
£m
£m
Prepayments and accrued income
5.6
5.8
Other debtors
123.2
92.2
Fair value of derivatives
194.7
188.1
323.5
286.1
 
Movements on bad debt provisions were as follows:
2010
2009
£m
£m
Balance at beginning of year
109.9
124.4
New acquisitions
2.0
0.7
Charged to operating costs
27.8
31.7
Exchange adjustments
2.2
(8.5)
Utilisations and other movements
(27.3)
(38.4)
Balance at end of year
114.6
109.9
 
The allowance for bad and doubtful debts is equivalent to 1.8% (2009: 2.0%) of gross 
trade accounts receivable.
The Group considers that the carrying amount of trade and other receivables 
approximates their fair value.
18. Trade and other payables: amounts falling due within one year
The following are included in trade and other payables falling due within one year:
2010
2009
£m
£m
Trade payables
7,701.1 6,432.7
Other taxation and social security
385.4
377.3
Payments due to vendors (earnout agreements)
207.4
121.6
Liabilities in respect of put option agreements with vendors
136.9
108.3
Other creditors and accruals
2,196.9 1,823.2
Deferred income
1,075.9
910.9
11,703.6
9,774.0
The Group considers that the carrying amount of trade and other payables 
approximates their fair value.

Our 2010 financial statements
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
170
19. Trade and other payables: amounts falling due after more than one year
The following are included in trade and other payables falling due after more than 
one year:
2010
2009
£m
£m
Payments due to vendors (earnout agreements)
67.9
140.6
Liabilities in respect of put option agreements with vendors
34.1
59.9
Fair value of derivatives
129.4
83.6
Other creditors and accruals
157.2
139.2
388.6
423.3
 
The Group considers that the carrying amount of trade and other payables 
approximates their fair value.
The following tables set out payments due to vendors, comprising deferred 
consideration and the directors’ best estimates of future earnout-related obligations:
2010
2009
£m
£m
Within one year
207.4
121.6
Between one and two years
39.6
93.6
Between two and three years
12.1
39.5
Between three and four years
4.3
5.1
Between four and five years
4.1
2.4
Over five years
7.8
–
275.3
262.2
2010
£m
1 January 2010
262.2
Earnouts paid 
 (113.3)
Revised estimates1 
82.0
New acquisitions (note 28)
32.8
Exchange adjustments
11.6
31 December 2010 
275.3
Note
 
1	Revised estimates relate to acquisitions that were completed prior to 1 January 2010 and were 
recorded in the consolidated balance sheet within goodwill.
The potential undiscounted amount of all future payments that could be required 
under the earnout agreements for acquisitions completed in 2010 and for all 
earnout agreements at 31 December 2010 ranges from £nil million to £110.9 million 
and £nil million to £916.2 million, respectively. 
20. Bank overdrafts, bonds and bank loans
Amounts falling due within one year:
2010
2009
£m
£m
Bank overdrafts
255.4
720.7
 
The Group considers that the carrying amount of overdrafts and short-term 
borrowings approximates their fair value.
Amounts falling due after more than 1 year:
2010
2009
£m
£m
Corporate bonds and bank loans
3,598.2 3,586.4
The Group estimates that the fair value of convertible and corporate bonds is 
£4,034.1 million at 31 December 2010 (2009: £3,676.4 million). The Group considers 
that the carrying amount of bank loans approximates their fair value.
The corporate bonds, convertible bonds, bank loans and overdrafts included within 
liabilities fall due for repayment as follows:
2010
2009
£m
£m
Within one year
255.4
720.7
Between one and two years
94.2
–
Between two and three years
539.4
75.7
Between three and four years
1,249.1
554.5
Between four and five years
448.2
1,219.3
Over five years
1,267.3
1,736.9
3,853.6
4,307.1
 
21. Provisions for liabilities and charges
The movements in 2010 and 2009 were as follows:
Property
Other
Total
£m
£m
£m
1 January 2009
66.6
69.3
135.9
Charged to the income statement
11.2
8.5
19.7
New acquisitions
0.1
–
0.1
Prior year acquisitions1
–
10.5
10.5
Utilised
(5.6)
(15.3)
(20.9)
Released to the income statement
(1.6)
(1.6)
(3.2)
Transfers
(1.9)
21.4
19.5
Exchange adjustments
(3.1)
(5.6)
(8.7)
31 December 2009
65.7
87.2
152.9
Charged to the income statement
9.1
16.5
25.6
New acquisitions
–
1.2
1.2
Utilised
(7.0)
(10.9)
(17.9)
Released to the income statement
(6.6)
(3.4)
(10.0)
Transfers
(3.7)
10.2
6.5
Exchange adjustments
0.9
2.4
3.3
31 December 2010
58.4
103.2
161.6
Note
 
1	Adjustments made in the year ended 31 December 2009 in relation to provisions for liabilities and 
charges that had been provisionally estimated in the year ended 31 December 2008 for acquisitions 
completed in that year.
Provisions comprise liabilities where there is uncertainty about the timing of 
settlement, but where a reliable estimate can be made of the amount. These 
include provisions for vacant space, sub-let losses and other property-related 
liabilities. Also included are other provisions, such as certain long-term employee 
benefits and legal claims, where the likelihood of settlement is considered probable.
The Company and various of its subsidiaries are, from time to time, parties to 
legal proceedings and claims which arise in the ordinary course of business. The 
directors do not anticipate that the outcome of these proceedings and claims will 
have a material adverse effect on the Group’s financial position or on the results 
of its operations.
22. Share-based payments
Charges for share-based incentive plans were as follows:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Share-based payments
70.4
54.9
62.3
 
Share-based payments comprise charges for stock options and restricted stock 
awards to employees of the Group.
As of 31 December 2010, there was £108.7 million (2009: £79.3 million) of total 
unrecognised compensation cost related to the Group’s restricted stock plans. 
That cost is expected to be recognised over a period of one to two years.
Further information on stock options is provided in note 26.
Restricted stock plans
The Group operates a number of equity-settled share incentive schemes, in most 
cases satisfied by the delivery of stock from one of the Group’s ESOP Trusts. The most 
significant current schemes are as follows:
Renewed Leadership Equity Acquisition Plan (Renewed LEAP) and Leadership 
Equity Acquisition Plan III (LEAP III)
Under Renewed LEAP and LEAP III, the most senior executives of the Group, 
including certain executive directors, commit WPP shares (‘investment shares’) in 
order to have the opportunity to earn additional WPP shares (‘matching shares’). 
The number of matching shares which a participant can receive at the end of the 
fixed performance period of five years is dependent on the performance (based 
on the Total Share Owner Return (TSR)) of the Company over that period against 
a comparator group of other listed communications services companies. The 
maximum possible number of matching shares for each of the 2010, 2009, 2008, 
2007 and 2006 grants is five shares for each investment share. The 2006 Renewed 
LEAP plan vested in March 2011 at a match of 4.14 shares for each investment share.
Performance Share Awards (PSA)
Grants of stock under PSA are dependent upon annual performance targets, 
typically based on one or more of: operating profit, profit before taxation and 
operating margin. Grants are made in the year following the year of performance 
measurement, and vest two years after grant date provided the individual 
concerned is continually employed by the Group throughout this time.
Leaders, Partners and High Potential Group
Stock option grants under the executive stock option plan were not significant in 
2010, 2009 or 2008 as the Group made grants of restricted stock (to be satisfied 
by stock from one of the Group’s ESOP Trusts) to participants instead. Performance 
conditions include continued employment over the three-year vesting period.

Our 2010 financial statements
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
171
Valuation methodology
For all of these schemes, the valuation methodology is based upon fair value on 
grant date, which is determined by the market price on that date or the application 
of a Black-Scholes model, depending upon the characteristics of the scheme 
concerned. The assumptions underlying the Black-Scholes model are detailed in 
note 26, including details of assumed dividend yields. Market price on any given 
day is obtained from external, publicly available sources.
Market/Non-market conditions
Most share-based plans are subject to non-market performance conditions, such as 
margin or growth targets, as well as continued employment. The Renewed LEAP 
and LEAP III schemes are subject to a number of performance conditions, including 
TSR, a market-based condition.
For schemes without market-based performance conditions, the valuation 
methodology above is applied and, at each year end, the relevant accrual for 
each grant is revised, if appropriate, to take account of any changes in estimate 
of the likely number of shares expected to vest.
For schemes with market-based performance conditions, the probability of 
satisfying these conditions is assessed at grant date through a statistical model 
(such as the Monte Carlo Model) and applied to the fair value. This initial valuation 
remains fixed throughout the life of the relevant plan, irrespective of the actual 
outcome in terms of performance. Where a lapse occurs due to cessation of 
employment, the cumulative charge taken to date is reversed.
Movement on ordinary shares granted for significant restricted stock plans
Non-
Non-
vested
vested 31
1 January 
December 
2010
Granted
Lapsed
Vested 
2010
number
number
number
number
number
 m
 m
 m
 m
 m
Renewed LEAP/LEAP III1
3.6
2.0
–
(1.7)
3.9
Performance Share Awards 
(PSA)
8.4
0.9
(0.5)
(3.7)
5.1
Leaders, Partners and High 
Potential Group
12.6
3.8
(1.1)
(2.5)
12.8
Weighted average fair 
value (pence per share):
Renewed LEAP/LEAP III1
563p
668p
540p
618p
593p
Performance Share Awards 
(PSA)
486p
566p
451p
559p
451p
Leaders, Partners and High 
Potential Group
501p
702p
487p
619p
538p
Note
 
1	The number of shares granted represents the ‘investment shares’ committed by participants at grant 
date for the 2010 LEAP III plan in addition to the matched shares awarded on vest date for the 2005 
Renewed LEAP plan which vested in March 2010. The actual number of shares that vest for each 
Renewed LEAP/LEAP III plan is dependent on the extent to which the relevant performance criteria 
are satisfied.
The total fair value of shares vested for all the Group’s restricted stock plans during 
the year ended 31 December 2010 was £61.8 million (2009: £55.0 million, 2008: 
£58.6 million).
23. Provision for post-employment benefits
Companies within the Group operate a large number of pension plans, the forms 
and benefits of which vary with conditions and practices in the countries 
concerned. The Group’s pension costs are analysed as follows: 
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Defined contribution plans
101.5
95.5
79.7
Defined benefit plans charge to operating profit
19.1
20.9
18.6
Pension costs (note 5)
120.6
116.4
98.3
Expected return on pension plan assets (note 6)
(30.6)
(28.7)
(31.3)
Interest on pension plan liabilities (note 6)
45.9
46.1
38.9
135.9
133.8
105.9
 
Defined benefit plans 
The pension costs are assessed in accordance with the advice of local independent 
qualified actuaries. The latest full actuarial valuations for the various pension 
plans were carried out at various dates in the last three years. These valuations 
have generally been updated by the local independent qualified actuaries to 
31 December 2010. 
The Group has a policy of closing defined benefit plans to new members. This has 
been implemented across a significant number of the pension plans. 
Contributions to funded plans are determined in line with local conditions and 
practices. Contributions in respect of unfunded plans are paid as they fall due. The 
total contributions (for funded plans) and benefit payments (for unfunded plans) 
paid for 2010 amounted to £53.3 million (2009: £47.7 million, 2008: £44.2 million). 
Employer contributions and benefit payments in 2011 are expected to be in the 
range of £40 million to £60 million depending on the performance of the assets. 
 
(a) Assumptions
The main weighted average assumptions used for the actuarial valuations at 
31 December are shown in the following table: 
2010
2009
2008
2007
% pa
% pa
% pa
% pa
UK
Discount rate
5.4
5.7
6.0
5.8
Rate of increase in salaries
3.4
3.5
3.0
4.8
Rate of increase in pensions in payment
4.0
4.2
3.9
4.1
Inflation
3.2
3.5
2.8
3.3
Expected rate of return on equities
7.5
7.5
7.3
7.3
Expected rate of return on bonds1
4.5
4.8
4.9
5.3
Expected rate of return on insured annuities
5.4
5.7
6.0
5.8
Expected rate of return on property
6.9
6.9
6.9
5.0
Expected rate of return on cash and other
4.0
4.4
4.9
4.8
Weighted average return on assets
5.4
5.6
5.7
5.8
North America
Discount rate
5.1
5.7
6.3
6.1
Rate of increase in salaries
3.0
3.0
3.0
4.6
Inflation
2.5
2.5
2.5
2.5
Expected rate of return on equities
7.9
7.9
7.9
7.9
Expected rate of return on bonds1
4.3
4.7
5.1
5.1
Expected rate of return on cash and other
6.4
6.6
3.4
3.0
Weighted average return on assets
6.4
6.5
6.6
6.7
Western Continental Europe
Discount rate
5.3
5.5
5.7
5.5
Rate of increase in salaries
2.7
2.7
2.8
2.9
Rate of increase in pensions in payment
2.0
2.0
2.1
2.1
Inflation
2.0
2.1
2.1
2.2
Expected rate of return on equities
7.1
7.8
7.2
7.2
Expected rate of return on bonds1
4.4
4.1
4.5
4.5
Expected rate of return on property
6.1
6.5
6.0
5.5
Expected rate of return on cash and other
4.6
4.6
5.3
4.3
Weighted average return on assets
5.0
5.1
5.3
5.3
Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa & Middle East 
and Central & Eastern Europe
Discount rate
4.0
4.2
3.4
3.9
Rate of increase in salaries
4.4
4.2
3.9
4.0
Inflation
5.1
4.9
4.5
4.6
Expected rate of return on equities
10.0
10.1
10.0
10.0
Expected rate of return on bonds1
8.0
8.2
5.3
6.2
Expected rate of return on cash and other
1.0
1.1
2.1
1.6
Weighted average return on assets
3.4
3.6
3.1
3.7
Note
 
1	Expected rate of return on bonds assumptions reflect the yield expected on actual bonds held, 
whereas the discount rate assumptions are based on high-quality corporate bond yields. 
There are a number of areas in pension accounting that involve judgments made 
by management. These include establishing the long-term expected rates of 
investment return on pension assets, mortality assumptions, discount rates, inflation, 
rate of increase in pensions in payment and salary increases. 
For the Group’s pension plans, the plans’ assets are invested with the objective of 
being able to meet current and future benefit payment needs, while controlling 
balance sheet volatility and future contributions. Pension plan assets are invested 
with a number of investment managers, and assets are diversified among equities, 
bonds, insured annuities, property and cash or other liquid investments. The 
primary use of bonds as an investment class is to match the anticipated cash flows 
from the plans to pay pensions. Various insurance policies have also been bought 
historically to provide a more exact match for the cash flows, including a match for 
the actual mortality of specific plan members. These insurance policies effectively 
provide protection against both investment fluctuations and longevity risks. The 
strategic target allocation varies among the individual plans. 
Management considers the types of investment classes in which the pension plan 
assets are invested and the expected compound return that can reasonably be 
expected for the portfolio to earn over time, which reflects forward-looking 
economic assumptions. Management reviews the expected long-term rates of 
return on an annual basis and revises them as appropriate. 
Also, management periodically commission detailed asset and liability studies 
performed by third-party professional investment advisors and actuaries, which 
generate probability-adjusted expected future returns on those assets. These studies 
also project the estimated future pension payments and evaluate the efficiency 
of the allocation of the pension plan assets into various investment categories. 
The studies performed at the time these assumptions were set support the 
reasonableness of the return assumptions based on the target allocation 
of investment classes and the then current market conditions.

Our 2010 financial statements
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
172
At 31 December 2010, the life expectancies underlying the value of the accrued 
liabilities for the main defined benefit pension plans operated by the Group were 
as follows: 
Western
Conti-
All
North
nental
Asia
Years life expectancy after age 65
plans America
UK
Europe
Pacific1
– current pensioners – male
20.7
19.7
22.4
20.0
19.3
– current pensioners – female
22.7
21.6
23.8
23.3
24.7
– future pensioners (current age 45)
– male
22.3
21.2
23.6
22.5
19.3
– future pensioners (current age 45)
– female
23.9
22.5
25.0
25.2
24.9
Note
 
1	Includes Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa & Middle East and Central & Eastern Europe.
The life expectancies after age 65 at 31 December 2009 were 20.5 years and 
22.5 years for male and female current pensioners respectively, and 21.9 years 
and 23.7 years for male and female future pensioners (current age 45), respectively. 
In the determination of mortality assumptions, management uses the most 
up-to-date mortality tables available in each country.
For a 0.25% increase or decrease in the discount rate at 31 December 2010, the 
effect on the year-end 2010 pension deficit would be a decrease or increase, 
respectively, of approximately £26 million. 
(b) Assets and liabilities
At 31 December, the fair value of the assets in the pension plans, and the assessed 
present value of the liabilities in the pension plans are shown in the following table: 
2010
2009
2008
£m
%
£m
%
£m
%
Equities
188.2
29.8
168.5
28.6
162.6
29.6
Bonds
245.7
38.9
256.8
43.7
245.1
44.5
Insured annuities
66.3
10.5
68.7
11.7
64.9
11.8
Property
9.6
1.5
9.8
1.7
12.6
2.3
Cash and other
121.5
19.3
84.3
14.3
65.2
11.8
Total fair value of assets
631.3
100.0
588.1
100.0
550.4
100.0
Present value of liabilities
(871.2)
(836.1)
(819.1)
Deficit in the plans 
(239.9)
(248.0)
(268.7)
Irrecoverable surplus 
(0.9)
(3.1)
(2.4)
Unrecognised past 
service cost
(0.7)
(0.7)
(0.9)
Net liability1
(241.5)
(251.8)
(272.0)
Plans in surplus
2.8
0.7
0.4
Plans in deficit
(244.3)
(252.5)
(272.4)
Note
 
1	The related deferred tax asset is discussed in note 15. 
The total fair value of assets, present value of pension plan liabilities and deficit 
in the plans were £504.0 million, £637.6 million and £133.6 million in 2007 and 
£470.4 million, £657.0 million and £186.6 million in 2006, respectively. 
2010
2009
2008
Deficit in plans by region
£m
£m
£m
UK
(3.5)
(22.0)
(24.8)
North America
(144.4)
(140.9)
(153.4)
Western Continental Europe
(75.9)
(73.9)
(80.0)
Asia Pacific, Latin America, 
Africa & Middle East and 
Central & Eastern Europe
(16.1)
(11.2)
(10.5)
Deficit in the plans
(239.9)
(248.0)
(268.7)
 
Some of the Group’s defined benefit plans are unfunded (or largely unfunded) by 
common custom and practice in certain jurisdictions. In the case of these unfunded 
plans, the benefit payments are made as and when they fall due. Pre-funding of 
these plans would not be typical business practice. 
The following table shows the split of the deficit at 31 December 2010, 2009
and 2008 between funded and unfunded pension plans. 
2010
2009
2008
Present
Present
Present
value of
value of
value of
2010
liabil-
2009
liabil-
2008
liabil-
Deficit
ities
Deficit
ities
Deficit
ities
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
Funded plans by region
UK
(3.5) (305.5)
(22.0)
(293.5)
(24.8)
(269.5)
North America
(66.8)
(306.5)
(65.2)
(274.5)
(71.0)
(266.8)
Western Continental Europe
(29.7)
(103.8)
(25.0)
(119.9)
(30.1)
(126.5)
Asia Pacific, Latin America, 
Africa & Middle East and 
Central & Eastern Europe
(5.6)
(21.1)
(3.7)
(16.1)
(3.3)
(16.8)
Deficit/liabilities in the 
funded plans
(105.6)
(736.9)
(115.9)
(704.0)
(129.2)
(679.6)
Unfunded plans by region
UK
–
–
–
–
–
–
North America
(77.6)
(77.6)
(75.7)
(75.7)
(82.4)
(82.4)
Western Continental Europe
(46.2)
(46.2)
(48.9)
(48.9)
(49.9)
(49.9)
Asia Pacific, Latin America, 
Africa & Middle East and 
Central & Eastern Europe
(10.5)
(10.5)
(7.5)
(7.5)
(7.2)
(7.2)
Deficit/liabilities in the 
unfunded plans
(134.3)
(134.3)
(132.1)
(132.1)
(139.5)
(139.5)
Deficit/liabilities in 
the plans
(239.9)
(871.2)
(248.0)
(836.1)
(268.7)
(819.1)
 
In accordance with IAS 19, plans that are wholly or partially funded are considered 
funded plans. 
(c) Pension expense
The following table shows the breakdown of the pension expense between amounts 
charged to operating profit, amounts charged to finance income and finance costs 
and amounts recognised in the statement of comprehensive income (OCI): 
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Current service cost
23.3
22.0
16.7
Past service (income)/cost
(0.6)
–
2.5
Gain on settlements and curtailments
(3.6)
(1.1)
(0.6)
Charge to operating profit
19.1
20.9
18.6
Expected return on pension plan assets
(30.6)
(28.7)
(31.3)
Interest on pension plan liabilities
45.9
46.1
38.9
Charge to profit before taxation for defined 
benefit plans
34.4
38.3
26.2
Gain/(loss) on pension plan assets relative 
to expected return
31.9
44.0
(93.7)
Experience gain/(loss) arising on the plan liabilities
3.4
(7.6)
4.4
Changes in assumptions underlying the
present value of the plan liabilities
(37.9)
(42.7)
8.0
Change in irrecoverable surplus
2.2
(0.9)
(0.9)
Actuarial loss recognised in OCI
(0.4)
(7.2)
(82.2)
 
As at 31 December 2010 the cumulative amount of net actuarial losses recognised
in equity since 1 January 2001 was £180.7 million (31 December 2009: £180.3 million, 
31 December 2008: £173.1 million). Of this amount, a net loss of £79.6 million was 
recognised since the 1 January 2004 adoption of IAS 19.

Our 2010 financial statements
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
173
(d) Movement in plan liabilities
The following table shows an analysis of the movement in the pension plan 
liabilities for each accounting period: 
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Plan liabilities at beginning of year
836.1
819.1
637.6
Service cost
23.3
22.0
16.7
Interest cost
45.9
46.1
38.9
Actuarial loss/(gain)
34.5
50.3
(12.4)
Benefits paid
(57.2)
(52.9)
(40.7)
Loss/(gain) due to exchange rate movements
9.7
(50.5)
133.8
Net (disposals)/acquisitions
–
(0.9)
44.3
Settlements and curtailments
(26.4)
(3.3)
(6.1)
Other1
5.3
6.2
7.0
Plan liabilities at end of year
871.2
836.1
819.1
Note
 
1	Other includes plan participants’ contributions, plan amendments and reclassifications. In the 2009 
and 2008 financial statements these were presented as separate line items. The reclassifications 
represent certain of the Group’s defined benefit plans which are included in this note for the first time 
in the periods presented. 
 
(e) Movement in plan assets
The following table shows an analysis of the movement in the pension plan assets 
for each accounting period:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Fair value of plan assets at beginning of year
588.1
550.4
504.0
Expected return on plan assets 
30.6
28.7
31.3
Actuarial gain/(loss) on plan assets 
31.9
44.0
(93.7)
Employer contributions
53.3
47.7
44.2
Benefits paid 
(57.2)
(52.9)
(40.7)
Gain/(loss) due to exchange rate movements 
5.9
(28.3)
79.0
Net (disposals)/acquisitions 
–
(0.9)
29.4
Settlements
(22.8) 
(2.2)
(5.5)
Other1
1.5
1.6
2.4
Fair value of plan assets at end of year
631.3
588.1
550.4
Actual return on plan assets
62.5
72.7
(62.4)
Note
 
1	Other includes plan participants’ contributions and reclassifications. In the 2009 and 2008 
financial statements these were presented as separate line items.
 
(f) History of experience gains and losses
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Gain/(loss) on pension plan assets relative 
to expected return:
Amount
31.9
44.0
(93.7)
Percentage of plan assets
5.1%
7.5%
(17.0%)
Experience gain/(loss) arising on the plan liabilities:
Amount
3.4
(7.6)
4.4
Percentage of the present value of the plan liabilities
0.4%
(0.9%)
0.5%
Total loss recognised in OCI:
Amount
(0.4)
(7.2)
(82.2)
Percentage of the present value of the plan liabilities
(0.0%)
(0.9%) (10.0%)
 
The experience (loss)/gain on pension plan assets and plan liabilities
were (£6.0) million and £0.1 million in 2007 and £9.3 million and £3.5 million
in 2006, respectively. 
24. Risk management policies
Foreign currency risk
The Group’s results in pounds sterling are subject to fluctuation as a result of exchange 
rate movements. The Group does not hedge this translation exposure to its earnings 
but does hedge the currency element of its net assets using foreign currency 
borrowings, cross-currency swaps and forward foreign exchange contracts.
The Group effects these currency net asset hedges by borrowing in the same 
currencies as the operating (or ‘functional’) currencies of its main operating units. 
The majority of the Group’s debt is therefore denominated in US dollars, pounds 
sterling and euros. Borrowings in these currencies represented 96.0% of the Group’s 
gross indebtedness at 31 December 2010 (at $1,640 million, £1,350 million and 
€1,274 million) and 96.8% of the Group’s average gross debt during the course of 
2010 (at $2,003 million, £1,653 million and €1,274 million).
The Group’s operations conduct the majority of their activities in their own local 
currency and consequently the Group has no significant transactional foreign 
exchange exposures. Any significant cross-border trading exposures are hedged 
by the use of forward foreign-exchange contracts. No speculative foreign exchange 
trading is undertaken.
Interest rate risk
The Group is exposed to interest rate risk on both interest-bearing assets and 
interest-bearing liabilities. The Group has a policy of actively managing its interest rate 
risk exposure while recognising that fixing rates on all its debt eliminates the possibility 
of benefiting from rate reductions and similarly, having all its debt at floating rates 
unduly exposes the Group to increases in rates.
Including the effect of interest rate and cross-currency swaps, 82.5% of the year-end US 
dollar net debt is at fixed rates averaging 6.54% for an average period of 44 months; 
73.3% of the sterling net debt is at a fixed rate of 6.07% for an average period of 83 
months; and 66.7% of the euro net debt is at fixed rates averaging 6.50% for an 
average period of 63 months.
Other than fixed rate debt, the Group’s other fixed rates are achieved principally 
through interest rate swaps with the Group’s bankers. The Group also uses forward 
rate agreements and interest rate caps to manage exposure to interest rate changes. 
At 31 December 2010 no forward rate agreements or interest rate caps were in place. 
These interest rate derivatives are used only to hedge exposures to interest rate 
movements arising from the Group’s borrowings and surplus cash balances arising 
from its commercial activities and are not traded independently. Payments made 
under these instruments are accounted for on an accruals basis.
Going concern and liquidity risk
In considering going concern and liquidity risk, the directors have reviewed the Group’s 
future cash requirements and earnings projections. The directors believe these forecasts 
have been prepared on a prudent basis and have also considered the impact of a 
range of potential changes to trading performance to factor in an uncertain economic 
environment. The directors have concluded that the Group should be able to operate 
within its current facilities and comply with its banking covenants for the foreseeable 
future and therefore believe it is appropriate to prepare the financial statements of the 
Group on a going concern basis.
At 31 December 2010, the Group has access to £4.7 billion of committed funding and
bank facilities with maturity dates spread over the years 2011 to 2020 as illustrated below: 
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018+
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£ bonds £200m 
(6.375% ’20)
200.0
200.0
£ bonds £400m
(6.0% ’17)
400.0
400.0
Eurobonds 
€750m 
(6.625% ’16)
642.9
642.9
Eurobonds 
€500m 
(5.25% ’15)
428.6
428.6
£450m 
convertible 
bonds 
(5.75% ’14)
450.0
450.0
US bonds 
$650m 
(5.875% ’14)
416.9
416.9
US bonds 
$600m 
(8.0% ’14)
384.8
384.8
Eurobonds 
€600m 
(4.375% ’13)
514.4
514.4
Bank revolver 
$1,600m
1,026.2
1,026.2
TNS acquisition 
revolver £200m
200.0 200.0
TNS private 
placements 
$55m
35.3
19.2
16.1
Total committed 
facilities 
available
4,699.1 200.0 1,045.4
514.4 1,267.8
428.6 642.9 400.0 200.0
Drawn down 
facilities at
31 December 
2010
3,554.0
– 100.3
514.4 1,267.8
428.6 642.9 400.0 200.0
Undrawn 
committed 
facilities
1,145.1
Drawn down 
facilities at 31 
December 2010 3,554.0
Net cash at 31 
December 2010 (1,709.8)
Other 
adjustments
44.2
Net debt at 31 
December 2010 1,888.4
The Group’s borrowings are evenly distributed between fixed and floating rate 
debt. Given the strong cash generation of the business, its debt maturity profile and 
available facilities, the directors believe the Group has sufficient liquidity to match 
its requirements for the foreseeable future.

Our 2010 financial statements
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
174
Treasury activities
Treasury activity is managed centrally from London, New York and Hong Kong, 
and is principally concerned with the monitoring of working capital, managing 
external and internal funding requirements and the monitoring and management 
of financial market risks, in particular interest rate and foreign exchange exposures. 
The treasury operation is not a profit centre and its activities are carried out in 
accordance with policies approved by the Board of Directors and subject to regular 
review and audit.
The Group manages liquidity risk by ensuring continuity and flexibility of funding 
even in difficult market conditions. Undrawn committed borrowing facilities are 
maintained in excess of peak net-borrowing levels and debt maturities are closely 
monitored. Targets for average net debt are set on an annual basis and, to assist 
in meeting this, working capital targets are set for all the Group’s major operations.
Capital risk management
The Group manages its capital to ensure that entities in the Group will be able to 
continue as a going concern while maximising the return to stakeholders through 
the optimisation of the debt and equity balance. The capital structure of the Group 
consists of debt, which includes the borrowings disclosed in note 10, cash and cash 
equivalents and equity attributable to equity holders of the parent, comprising 
issued capital, reserves and retained earnings as disclosed in the consolidated 
statement of changes in equity and in notes 26 and 27.
Credit risk
The Group’s principal financial assets are cash and short-term deposits, trade and 
other receivables and investments, the carrying values of which represent the 
Group’s maximum exposure to credit risk in relation to financial assets, as shown 
in note 25.
The Group’s credit risk is primarily attributable to its trade receivables. The majority 
of the Group’s trade receivables are due from large national or multinational 
companies where the risk of default is considered low. The amounts presented 
in the consolidated balance sheet are net of allowances for doubtful receivables, 
estimated by the Group’s management based on prior experience and their 
assessment of the current economic environment. A relatively small number of 
clients make up a significant percentage of the Group’s debtors, but no single client 
represents more than 5% of total trade receivables as at 31 December 2010. 
The credit risk on liquid funds and derivative financial instruments is limited because 
the counterparties are banks with high credit-ratings assigned by international 
credit-rating agencies or banks that have been financed by their government.
A relatively small number of clients contribute a significant percentage of the Group’s 
consolidated revenues. The Group’s clients generally are able to reduce advertising 
and marketing spending or cancel projects at any time for any reason. There can be 
no assurance that any of the Group’s clients will continue to utilise the Group’s services 
to the same extent, or at all, in the future. A significant reduction in advertising and 
marketing spending by, or the loss of one or more of, the Group’s largest clients, if not 
replaced by new client accounts or an increase in business from existing clients, 
would adversely affect the Group’s prospects, business, financial condition and results 
of operations.
Sensitivity analysis
The following sensitivity analysis addresses the effect of currency and interest rate 
risks on the Group’s financial instruments. The analysis assumes that all hedges are 
highly effective.
Currency risk
A 10% weakening of sterling against the Group’s major currencies would result in the 
following losses, which would be posted directly to equity. These losses would arise 
on the retranslation of foreign currency denominated borrowings and derivatives 
designated as effective net investment hedges of overseas net assets. These losses 
would be partially offset in equity by a corresponding gain arising on the 
retranslation of the related hedged foreign currency net assets. A 10% strengthening 
of sterling would have an equal and opposite effect. There are no other material 
foreign exchange exposures which would create gains or losses to the functional 
reporting currencies of individual entities in the Group.
2010
2009
£m
£m
US dollar
91.0
87.9
Euro
73.7
76.3
 
Interest rate risk
A one percentage point increase in market interest rates for all currencies in which 
the Group had cash and borrowings at 31 December 2010 would increase profit 
before tax by approximately £8.0 million (2009: decrease of £2.4 million). A one 
percentage decrease in market interest rates would have an equal and opposite 
effect. This has been calculated by applying the interest rate change to the Group’s 
variable rate cash and borrowings.
25. Financial instruments
Currency derivatives
The Group utilises currency derivatives to hedge significant future transactions and 
cash flows and the exchange risk arising on translation of the Group’s investments 
in foreign operations. The Group is a party to a variety of foreign currency derivatives 
in the management of its exchange rate exposures. The instruments purchased are 
primarily denominated in the currencies of the Group’s principal markets.
At 31 December 2010, the fair value of the Group’s currency derivatives is 
estimated to be a net liability of approximately £62.9 million (2009: £3.1 million). 
These amounts are based on market values of equivalent instruments at the 
balance sheet date, comprising £60.4 million (2009: £79.6 million) assets included 
in trade and other receivables and £123.3 million (2009: £82.7 million) liabilities 
included in trade and other payables. The amounts charged to and deferred in 
equity during the year for currency derivatives that are designated and effective 
hedges were £27.9 million (2009: £111.1 million) for net investment hedges and 
£34.8 million (2009: £60.5 million) for cash flow hedges.
Changes in the fair value relating to the ineffective portion of the currency 
derivatives amounted to a gain of £11.7 million (2009: £3.3 million, 2008: 
£2.7 million) which is included in the revaluation of financial instruments for the 
year. This gain resulted from a £59.3 million loss on hedging instruments and a 
£71.0 million gain on hedged items.
The Group currently designates its foreign currency-denominated debt and 
cross-currency swaps as hedging instruments against the currency risk associated 
with the translation of its foreign operations.
At the balance sheet date, the total nominal amount of outstanding forward 
foreign exchange contracts not designated as hedges was £130.1 million 
(2009: £309.4 million). The Group estimates the fair value of these contracts 
to be a net liability of £0.8 million (2009: asset of £4.6 million).
These arrangements are designed to address significant exchange exposure and 
are renewed on a revolving basis as required.
Interest rate swaps
The Group uses interest rate swaps as hedging instruments in fair value hedges 
to manage its exposure to interest rate movements on its borrowings. Contracts 
with nominal values of 1600 million have fixed interest receipts at 4.38% up until 
December 2013 and have floating interest payments averaging EURIBOR plus 
0.56%. Contracts with a nominal value of 1500 million have fixed interest receipts 
of 5.25% up until January 2015 and have floating interest payments averaging 
EURIBOR plus 0.80%. Contracts with a nominal value of 1100 million have fixed 
interest payments of 5.56% until June 2014 and have floating rate receipts 
averaging EURIBOR plus 0.96%.
Contracts with a nominal value of £200 million have fixed interest receipts of 6.00% 
up until April 2017 and have floating rate payments averaging LIBOR plus 0.64%.
A contract with a nominal value of $45 million has fixed interest receipts averaging 
6.29% until on average July 2013 and has floating rate payments averaging LIBOR 
plus 0.59%.
A contract with a nominal value of $300 million has fixed rate payments 
averaging 2.58% until on average October 2020 and has floating rate receipts 
of LIBOR plus 0.29%.
The fair value of interest rate swaps entered into at 31 December 2010 is estimated to 
be a net asset of approximately £129.0 million (2009: £103.0 million). These amounts 
are based on market values of equivalent instruments at the balance sheet date, 
comprising £133.4 million (2009: £103.2 million) assets included in trade and other 
receivables and £4.4 million (2009: £0.2 million) liabilities included in trade and 
other payables. Included in these amounts are certain interest rate swaps that are 
not designated as hedges, comprising £26.1 million assets and £6.1 million liabilities.
Changes in the fair value relating to the ineffective portion of interest rate swaps 
amounted to a gain of £12.6 million (2009: gain of £11.7 million, 2008: charge of 
£13.0 million) which is included in the revaluation of financial instruments for the 
year. This gain resulted from a £14.4 million loss on hedging instruments and 
a £27.0 million gain on hedged items.

Our 2010 financial statements
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
175
An analysis of the Group’s financial assets and liabilities by accounting 
classification is set out below:
Derivatives in
designated
Loans &
Amor-
hedge
Held for
receiv- Available
tised Carrying
relationships
trading
ables
for sale
cost
value
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
2010
Other investments
–
–
–
173.7
–
173.7
Cash and short-term 
deposits
–
–
1,965.2
–
–
1,965.2
Bank overdrafts 
and loans
–
–
–
–
(255.4)
(255.4)
Bonds and bank loans
–
–
–
–
(3,598.2) (3,598.2)
Trade and other 
receivables: amounts 
falling due within 
one year
–
–
7,135.3
–
–
7,135.3
Trade and other 
receivables: amounts 
falling due after more 
than one year
–
–
77.3
–
–
77.3
Trade and other 
payables: amounts 
falling due within 
one year
–
–
–
–
(7,769.9) (7,769.9)
Trade and other 
payables: amounts 
falling due after more 
than one year
–
–
–
–
(11.4)
(11.4)
Derivative assets
168.6
26.1
–
–
–
194.7
Derivative liabilities
(123.3)
(6.1)
–
–
–
(129.4)
Liabilities in respect 
of put options
–
(171.0)
–
–
–
(171.0)
45.3
(151.0)
9,177.8
173.7 (11,634.9) (2,389.1)
Derivatives in
designated
Loans &
Amor-
hedge
Held for
receiv- Available
tised Carrying
relationships
trading
ables
for sale
cost
value
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
2009
Other investments
–
–
–
294.6
–
294.6 
Cash and short-term 
deposits
–
–
1,666.7
–
–
1,666.7
Bank overdrafts 
and loans
 –
–
–
–
(720.7)
(720.7)
Bonds and bank loans
–
–
–
–
(3,586.4) (3,586.4)
Trade and other 
receivables: amounts 
falling due within 
one year
–
–
6,011.3
–
–
6,011.3
Trade and other 
receivables: amounts 
falling due after more 
than one year
–
–
71.6
–
–
71.6
Trade and other 
payables: amounts 
falling due within 
one year
–
–
–
–
(6,482.6) (6,482.6)
Trade and other 
payables: amounts 
falling due after more 
than one year
–
–
–
–
(29.2)
(29.2)
Derivative assets
182.8
5.3
–
–
–
188.1
Derivative liabilities
(82.9)
(0.7)
–
–
–
(83.6)
Liabilities in respect 
of put options
–
(168.2)
–
–
–
(168.2)
99.9
(163.6)
7,749.6
294.6 (10,818.9) (2,838.4)
 
The following table provides an analysis of financial instruments that are measured 
subsequent to initial recognition at fair value, grouped into levels 1 to 3 based on 
the degree to which the fair value is observable:
Level 1 fair value measurements are those derived from quoted prices (unadjusted) 
in active markets for identical assets or liabilities;
Level 2 fair value measurements are those derived from inputs other than quoted 
prices included within level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either 
directly (i.e. as prices) or indirectly (i.e. derived from prices);
Level 3 fair value measurements are those derived from valuation techniques that 
include inputs for the asset or liability that are not based on observable market 
data (unobservable inputs).
Carrying 
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
value
£m
£m
£m
£m
2010
Derivatives in designated hedge 
relationships
Derivative assets
–
168.6
–
168.6
Derivative liabilities
–
(123.3)
–
(123.3)
Held for trading
Derivative assets
–
26.1
–
26.1
Derivative liabilities
–
(6.1)
–
(6.1)
Liabilities in respect of put options
–
–
(171.0)
(171.0)
Available for sale
Other investments
–
–
173.7
173.7
–
65.3
2.7
68.0
Carrying 
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
value
£m
£m
£m
£m
2009
Derivatives in designated hedge 
relationships
Derivative assets
–
182.8
–
182.8
Derivative liabilities
–
(82.9)
–
(82.9)
Held for trading
Derivative assets
–
5.3
–
5.3
Derivative liabilities
–
(0.7)
–
(0.7)
Liabilities in respect of put options
–
–
(168.2)
(168.2)
Available for sale
Other investments
18.4
–
276.2
294.6
18.4
104.5
108.0
230.9
Reconciliation of level 3 fair value measurements:
Liabilities in 
respect of 
Other
Carrying
put options
investments
value
£m
£m
£m
1 January 2009
(122.1)
 292.8 
170.7
Gains/(losses) recognised in 
the income statement
 15.3 
(11.1) 
4.2
Losses recognised in other 
comprehensive income
–
(15.1)
(15.1)
Exchange differences
2.5
(26.0)
(23.5)
Additions
(78.3)
53.7 
(24.6)
Disposals
–
(18.1)
(18.1)
Settlements
 14.4 
– 
 14.4 
31 December 2009
(168.2)
 276.2 
108.0
Losses recognised in the income statement
(3.6)
(35.3)
(38.9)
Losses recognised in other 
comprehensive income
–
(61.3)
(61.3)
Exchange differences
(3.1)
(23.4)
(26.5)
Additions
(5.9)
20.2
14.3
Disposals
–
(2.7)
(2.7)
Settlements
9.8
–
9.8
31 December 2010
(171.0)
173.7
2.7
The fair value of financial assets and liabilities are based on quoted market prices 
where available. Where the market value is not available, the Group has estimated 
relevant fair values on the basis of publicly available information from outside 
sources or on the basis of discounted cash flow models where appropriate.

Our 2010 financial statements
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
176
26. Authorised and issued share capital
Equity
Nominal
ordinary
value
shares
£m
Authorised
1 January 2009 
1,750,000,000
175.0
31 December 2009 
1,750,000,000
175.0
31 December 2010 
1,750,000,000
175.0
Issued and fully paid
1 January 2009
1,255,343,263
125.5
Exercise of share options
1,148,051
0.1
31 December 2009
1,256,491,314
125.6
Exercise of share options
7,899,907
0.8
31 December 2010
1,264,391,221
126.4
 
Company’s own shares
The Company’s holdings of own shares are stated at cost and represent shares held 
in treasury and purchases by the Employee Share Ownership Plan (‘ESOP’) trusts 
of shares in WPP plc for the purpose of funding certain of the Group’s share-based 
incentive plans, details of which are disclosed in the Compensation Committee 
report on pages 135 to 141.
The trustees of the ESOP purchase the Company’s ordinary shares in the open 
market using funds provided by the Company. The Company also has an 
obligation to make regular contributions to the ESOP to enable it to meet its 
administrative costs. The number and market value of the ordinary shares of the 
Company held by the ESOP at 31 December 2010 was 22,083,378 (2009: 24,941,529), 
and £174.3 million (2009: £152.0 million) respectively. The number and market 
value of ordinary shares held in treasury at 31 December 2010 was 2,172,126 
(2009: 2,435,288) and £17.1 million (2009: £14.8 million) respectively.
Share options
WPP Executive Stock Option Plan
As at 31 December 2010, unexercised options over ordinary shares of 6,206,412
and unexercised options over ADRs of 1,700,034 have been granted under the
WPP Executive Stock Option Plan as follows:	
Number of ordinary 
Exercise price 
Exercise
shares under option
per share (£)
dates
12,195
3.414
2012-2018
21,197
3.763
2006-2013
42,154
4.210
2005-2012
502,077
4.210
2005-2012
22,994
4.210
2005-2013
3,832
4.210
2005-2012
19,161
4.210
2005-2012
3,065
4.210
2005-2012
3,832
4.210
2005-2012
77,552
4.438
2005-2012
6,759
4.438
2005-2012
51,247
4.615
2007-2013
22,533
4.865
2004-2011
345,570
4.865
2004-2011
2,000,000
5.490
2007-2014
27,288
5.520
2008-2014
94,777
5.535
2007-2014
578,542
5.535
2007-2014
447,676
5.535
2007-2014
6,124
5.535
2008-2014
6,124
5.535
2007-2015
24,390
5.535
2007-2014
2,469
5.535
2007-2014
167,935
5.535
2007-2014
143,400
5.595
2006-2013
725,343
5.595
2006-2013
17,194
5.595
2006-2014
7,853
5.595
2007-2013
2,680
5.595
2006-2013
13,572
5.595
2006-2013
224,473
5.595
2006-2013
2,902
5.725
2007-2014
2,419
5.725
2007-2014
11,423
5.775
2009-2015
14,826
5.818
2008-2015
2,964
5.818
2008-2015
6,705
5.895
2008-2015
4,470
5.895
2008-2015
2,235
5.895
2008-2015
9,834
5.895
2008-2015
4,268
5.903
2011-2018
6,402
5.903
2011-2018
Number of ordinary 
Exercise price 
Exercise
shares under option
per share (£)
dates
4,268
5.903
2011-2018
5,959
6.105
2008-2015
4,914
6.105
2008-2015
7,876
6.228
2011-2017
2,140
6.718
2009-2016
6,420
6.718
2009-2016
3,913
6.718
2009-2016
69,369
6.718
2009-2016
45,153
7.180
2005-2012
24,123
7.550
2005-2012
20,196
7.550
2005-2012
34,921
7.550
2005-2012
201,805
7.550
2005-2012
3,741
7.550
2006-2012
11,109
7.723
2010-2017
17,788
8.110
2004-2011
30,886
8.110
2004-2011
4,929
8.193
2004-2011
14,446
8.193
2004-2011
 
Number of ADRs 
Exercise price 
Exercise
under option
per ADR ($)
dates
3,844
26.010
2012-2019
1,662
30.080
2006-2013
2,692
30.080
2006-2013
1,644
30.410
2011-2018
282,563
33.200
2005-2012
3,764
33.200
2005-2012
164,040
35.380
2004-2011
454,270
47.410
2006-2013
14,338
47.410
2006-2013
21,610
47.410
2006-2013
1,548
48.450
2007-2014
10,061
50.670
2008-2015
197
50.670
2008-2015
487,784
50.800
2007-2014
196
50.800
2007-2014
9,938
50.800
2007-2014
2,952
50.800
2007-2014
25,486
50.800
2007-2014
18,252
51.220
2007-2014
8,624
53.030
2005-2012
10,878
54.050
2005-2012
99,855
54.050
2005-2012
4,581
54.570
2008-2015
4,486
55.740
2008-2015
898
55.740
2008-2015
898
55.740
2008-2015
2,691
57.020
2008-2015
14,925
57.020
2008-2015
13,178
58.238
2004-2011
856
58.460
2009-2016
14,113
58.460
2009-2016
856
58.460
2009-2016
8,324
58.886
2004-2011
844
59.170
2011-2018
1,267
59.170
2011-2018
1,641
63.900
2009-2020
4,278
75.940
2010-2017

Our 2010 financial statements
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
177
WPP Worldwide Share Ownership Program
As at 31 December 2010, unexercised options over ordinary shares of 9,339,277
and unexercised options over ADRs of 1,334,208 have been granted under the
WPP Worldwide Share Ownership Program as follows:
Number of ordinary 
Exercise price 
Exercise
shares under option
per share (£)
dates
110,300
3.903
2006-2013
1,000
3.903
2006-2013
3,000
3.903
2007-2013
4,625
4.210
2005-2012
625
4.210
2005-2013
35,340
4.819
2011-2018
250
5.210
2004-2011
185,000
5.435
2007-2014
1,529,987
5.483
2012-2019
29,041
5.483
2012-2016
12,250
5.483
2012-2020
9,375
5.483
2013-2019
274,363
5.483
2013-2019
45,738
5.483
2012-2019
143,375
5.608
2012-2019
2,875
5.775
2008-2015
29,400
5.913
2011-2018
108,000
5.917
2011-2018
1,000
5.990
2004-2011
1,089,954
6.028
2011-2018
428,500
6.195
2008-2015
6,375
6.668
2009-2017
81,125
6.740
2009-2016
718,550
6.938
2009-2016
23,596
7.005
2010-2017
2,548,001
7.113
2013-2020
58,250
7.113
2013-2020
19,375
7.113
2013-2017
33,750
7.113
2014-2020
329,750
7.113
2014-2020
292,525
7.180
2005-2012
6,000
7.180
2006-2012
76,457
7.478
2011-2017
878,225
7.718
2010-2017
223,300
7.960
2004-2011
Number of ADRs 
Exercise price 
Exercise
under option
per ADR ($)
dates
27,640
30.800
2006-2013
279,490
44.560
2012-2019
38,075
49.880
2007-2014
23,715
53.030
2005-2012
22,890
56.480
2004-2011
381,100
56.560
2013-2020
193,853
59.500
2011-2018
92,020
59.520
2008-2015
123,575
60.690
2009-2016
151,850
75.760
2010-2017
 
Tempus Group plc 1998 Long Term Incentive Plan
As at 31 December 2010, unexercised options over ordinary shares of 24,306
have been granted under the Tempus Group plc 1998 Long Term Incentive Plan
as follows:
Number of ordinary 
Exercise price 
Exercise
shares under option
per share (£)
dates
24,306
4.920
2001-2011
The Grey Global Group, Inc 1994 Stock Incentive Plan
As at 31 December 2010, unexercised options over ordinary shares of 54,365 and 
unexercised options over ADRs of 27,639 have been granted under the Grey Global 
Group, Inc 1994 Stock Incentive Plan as follows:	
Number of ordinary 
Exercise price 
Exercise
shares under option
per share (£)
dates
54,365
3.499
2007-2011
 
Number of ADRs 
Exercise price 
Exercise
under option
per ADR ($)
dates
7,089
 28.2100 
2006-2013
1,827
 28.3000 
2007-2012
3,632
 30.8300 
2007-2012
6,371
 31.4200 
2005-2012
8,720
 31.7500 
2008-2011
24/7 Real Media, Inc 2002 Stock Incentive Plan
As at 31 December 2010, unexercised options over ADRs of 54,020 have been 
granted under the 24/7 Real Media, Inc 2002 Stock Incentive Plan as follows:
Number of ADRs 
Exercise price 
Exercise
under option
per ADR ($)
dates
8
 1.3400 
2007-2013
552
 15.8800 
2007-2014
427
 17.1500 
2007-2014
69
 20.0100 
2007-2015
187
 20.0700 
2007-2015
69
 20.3300 
2007-2015
12
 20.8400 
2007-2014
66
 22.4900 
2007-2015
79
 23.1800 
2007-2015
78
 23.4400 
2007-2015
19
 23.8200 
2007-2014
263
 24.2000 
2007-2014
50
 25.1500 
2007-2015
315
 25.9200 
2007-2015
79
 26.1100 
2007-2015
787
 27.1200 
2007-2015
14,852
 27.5000 
2007-2015
148
 28.7700 
2007-2015
170
 34.6200 
2007-2015
82
 35.0600 
2007-2015
89
 38.8700 
2007-2015
26,410
 40.6500 
2007-2016
110
 41.4700 
2007-2015
110
 45.2900 
2007-2016
118
 46.0500 
2007-2016
69
 46.6200 
2007-2016
345
 48.3300 
2007-2016
157
 49.5400 
2007-2016
115
 49.6000 
2007-2016
314
 49.6700 
2007-2016
89
 50.4900 
2007-2016
157
 50.6800 
2007-2016
236
 50.7500 
2008-2017
472
 51.3800 
2008-2017
156
 52.5900 
2008-2017
92
 53.1000 
2006-2017
157
 53.4800 
2008-2017
78
 53.6700 
2008-2017
314
 54.1100 
2007-2016
944
 54.2400 
2007-2016
472
 54.5600 
2007-2016
314
 55.2600 
2007-2016
74
 55.6400 
2007-2016
59
 55.7600 
2007-2016
105
 55.8900 
2007-2016
157
 56.2700 
2007-2016
574
 56.7200 
2007-2016
78
 57.4800 
2008-2017
235
 58.9400 
2007-2017
393
 60.0200 
2007-2016
78
 61.2300 
2008-2017
108
 61.9200 
2007-2016
314
 62.0500 
2007-2016
759
 62.9400 
2008-2017
157
 63.3200 
2008-2017
708
 63.8900 
2008-2017
112
 64.2700 
2007-2016
54
 64.6500 
2007-2016
78
 64.9700 
2007-2016
78
 65.5400 
2007-2016
112
 67.5800 
2007-2016
157
 70.5000 
2008-2017

Our 2010 financial statements
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
178
Taylor Nelson Sofres plc
2005 Long Term Incentive Plan
As at 31 December 2010, unexercised options over ordinary shares of 62,828 have 
been granted under the Taylor Nelson Sofres plc 2005 Long Term Incentive Plan 
as follows:
Number of ordinary
Exercise price
Exercise
shares under option
per share (£)
dates
29,849
 – 
2012
32,979 
 – 
2013
 
2008 New Share Plan
As at 31 December 2010, unexercised options over ordinary shares of 28,649 have 
been granted under the Taylor Nelson Sofres plc 2008 New Share Plan as follows:
Number of ordinary
Exercise price
Exercise
shares under option
per share (£)
dates
 28,649 
 – 
2012
 
2005 Key Employee Equity Plan
As at 31 December 2010, unexercised options over ordinary shares of 4,519 have 
been granted under the Taylor Nelson Sofres plc 2005 Key Employee Equity Plan 
as follows:
Number of ordinary
Exercise price
Exercise
shares under option
per share (£)
dates
245 
 – 
2011
4,274 
 – 
2012
 
1999 Worldwide Employee Sharesave Plan 
As at 31 December 2010, unexercised options over ordinary shares of 1,315,225 
have been granted under the Taylor Nelson Sofres plc 1999 Worldwide Employee 
Sharesave Plan as follows:
Number of ordinary
Exercise price
Exercise
shares under option
per share (£)
dates
 1,115 
 1.2700 
2011
 797,386 
 1.7300 
2013-2015
 258,353 
 1.9500 
2011-2012
 22,940 
 2.2900 
2009-2011
 5,226 
 2.5600 
2009-2012
 142,653 
 2.6500 
2012-2014
 2,236 
 2.9900 
2010-2011
 85,316 
 3.0000 
2011-2013
The aggregate status of the WPP Share Option Plans during 2010 was as follows:
Movements on options granted (represented in ordinary shares)
Outstanding
Exercisable
1
31 
31
January
December
December
2010
Granted
Exercised
Lapsed
2010
2010
number
number
number
number
number
number
WPP
23,551,894
– (6,133,058) (2,712,254) 14,706,582 14,633,578
WWOP
13,593,366 5,022,250
(417,951)
(2,187,348)
16,010,317
5,442,153
Y&R
862,676
–
(668,610)
(194,066)
–
–
Tempus
56,468
–
(32,162)
–
24,306
24,306
Grey
392,950
–
(178,645)
(21,745)
192,560
192,560
24/7
616,205
–
(293,095)
(53,010)
270,100
222,220
TNS
1,657,024
–
(175,246)
(70,557)
1,411,221
31,517
40,730,583 5,022,250 (7,898,767) (5,238,980) 32,615,086 20,546,334
Weighted-average exercise price for options over:
Outstanding
Exercisable
1
31 
31
January
December
December
2010
Granted
Exercised
Lapsed
2010
2010
Ordinary shares (£)
WPP
5.566
–
5.147
6.934
5.489
5.492
WWOP
6.306
7.113
5.700
5.512
6.218
6.954
Y&R
7.052
–
–
7.052
–
–
Tempus
5.445
–
–
–
4.920
4.920
Grey
3.499
–
–
–
3.499
3.499
TNS
1.870
–
2.046
2.116
1.836
2.348
ADRs ($)
WPP
46.939
–
37.307
54.148
45.814
45.857
WWOP
56.187
56.560
36.712
55.704
56.457
62.076
Y&R
52.298
–
–
57.376
–
–
Grey
30.949
–
30.733
36.110
30.417
30.417
24/7
38.578
–
37.920
42.054
38.610
38.121
Options over ordinary shares
Outstanding
Range of 
Weighted average
Weighted average
exercise prices
exercise price
contractual life
£
£
Months
nil – 8.193
5.763
69
Options over ADRs
Outstanding
Range of 
Weighted average
Weighted average
exercise prices
exercise price
contractual life
$
$
Months
1.340 – 76.940
50.110
61
 
As at 31 December 2010 there was £6.8 million (2009: £5.8 million) of total 
unrecognised compensation cost related to share options. That cost is expected 
to be recognised over a weighted average period of 21 months (2009: 20 months).
Share options are satisfied out of newly issued shares.
The weighted average fair value of options granted in the year calculated using 
the Black-Scholes model, was as follows:
2010
2009
2008
Fair value of UK options (shares)
144.5p
115.5p
129.5p
Fair value of US options (ADRs)
$10.97
$8.95
$8.36
Weighted average assumptions:
UK Risk-free interest rate
1.76%
2.27%
3.93%
US Risk-free interest rate
1.05%
1.85%
2.25%
Expected life (months)
48
48
48
Expected volatility
30%
30%
25%
Dividend yield
2.5%
2.5%
1.75%
 
Options are issued at an exercise price equal to market value on the date of grant.
The weighted average share price of the Group for the year ended 31 December 
2010 was £6.78 (2009: £4.72, 2008: £5.12) and the weighted average ADR price for 
the same period was $52.51 (2009: $37.23, 2008: $48.26).
Expected volatility is sourced from external market data and represents the 
historic volatility in the Group’s share price over a period equivalent to the expected 
option life.
Expected life is based on a review of historic exercise behaviour in the context 
of the contractual terms of the options, as described in more detail below.

Our 2010 financial statements
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
179
Terms of share option plans
The Worldwide Share Ownership Program is open for participation to employees 
with at least two years’ employment in the Group. It is not available to those 
participating in other share-based incentive programs or to executive directors. 
The vesting period for each grant is three years and there are no performance 
conditions other than continued employment with the Group.
The Executive Stock Option Plan has historically been open for participation to 
WPP Group Leaders, Partners and High Potential Group. It is not currently offered 
to parent company executive directors. The vesting period is three years and 
performance conditions include achievement of various TSR (Total Share Owner 
Return) and EPS (Earnings per Share) objectives, as well as continued employment. 
In 2005, the Group moved away from the issuance of stock options for Leaders, 
Partners and High Potential Group and has since largely made grants of restricted 
stock instead (note 22).
The Group grants stock options with a life of ten years, including the vesting period. 
The terms of stock options with performance conditions are such that if, after nine 
years and eight months, the performance conditions have not been met, then the 
stock option will vest automatically.
27. Other reserves
Other reserves comprise the following:
Total
Equity
Revaluation
Translation 
other
reserve
reserve
reserve
reserves
£m
£m
£m
£m
1 January 2009
(82.9)
87.3
1,246.1
1,250.5
Exchange adjustments 
on foreign currency net 
investments 
–
–
(142.2)
(142.2)
Loss on revaluation of 
available for sale investments
–
(13.5)
–
(13.5)
Recognition and 
remeasurement 
of financial instruments 
(36.4)
–
–
(36.4)
Equity component 
of convertible bonds 
(net of deferred tax)
34.7
–
–
34.7
31 December 2009
(84.6)
73.8
1,103.9
1,093.1
Exchange adjustments 
on foreign currency net 
investments 
–
–
146.6
146.6
Loss on revaluation of 
available for sale investments
–
(59.8)
–
(59.8)
Recognition and 
remeasurement 
of financial instruments 
2.9
–
–
2.9
31 December 2010
(81.7)
14.0
1,250.5
1,182.8
28. Acquisitions
The Group accounts for acquisitions in accordance with IFRS 3 (revised) Business 
Combinations. IFRS 3 (revised) requires the acquiree’s identifiable assets, liabilities 
and contingent liabilities (other than non-current assets or disposal groups held for 
sale) to be recognised at fair value at acquisition date. In assessing fair value 
at acquisition date, management make their best estimate of the likely outcome 
where the fair value of an asset or liability may be contingent on a future event. 
In certain instances, the underlying transaction giving rise to an estimate may 
not be resolved until some years after the acquisition date. IFRS 3 (revised) 
requires the release to profit of any acquisition reserves which subsequently 
become excess in the same way as any excess costs over those provided at 
acquisition date are charged to profit. At each period end management assess 
provisions and other balances established in respect of acquisitions for their 
continued probability of occurrence and amend the relevant value accordingly 
through the consolidated income statement or as an adjustment to goodwill 
as appropriate under IFRS 3 (revised).
The Group acquired a number of subsidiaries in the year. The following table sets 
out the book values of the identifiable assets and liabilities acquired and their fair 
value to the Group. The fair value adjustments for certain acquisitions have been 
determined provisionally at the balance sheet date. 
Book value at 
Fair value
Fair value to
acquisition
adjustments
Group
£m 
£m
£m
Intangible assets
0.7 
25.5 
26.2 
Property, plant and equipment
9.1 
–
9.1 
Cash
57.0 
–
57.0 
Trade receivables due within one 
year
161.7 
–
161.7 
Other current assets
56.2 
–
56.2 
Total assets
284.7 
25.5 
310.2 
Current liabilities
(259.1)
–
(259.1)
Trade and other payables due after 
one year
(1.1)
(3.4)
(4.5)
Deferred tax liabilities
(0.1)
(9.3)
(9.4)
Provisions
(0.5)
(0.7)
(1.2)
Total liabilities
(260.8)
(13.4)
(274.2)
Net assets
23.9 
12.1 
36.0 
Non-controlling interests
(0.5)
Fair value of equity stake in 
associate undertakings before 
acquisition of controlling interest
(32.6)
Goodwill 
161.1 
Consideration
164.0 
Consideration satisfied by:
Cash
131.2 
Payments due to vendors (note 19)
32.8 
 
Goodwill arising from acquisitions represents the value of synergies with our 
existing portfolio of businesses and skilled staff to deliver services to our clients. 
Goodwill expected to be deductible for tax purposes is £14.3 million.
Non-controlling interests in acquired companies are measured at the non-controlling 
interest’s proportionate share of the acquirees’ identifiable net assets.
The contribution to revenue and operating profit of acquisitions completed in the 
year was not material. There were no material acquisitions completed between 
31 December 2010 and the date the financial statements have been authorised 
for issue.
29. Principal subsidiary undertakings
The principal subsidiary undertakings of the Group are:
Country of Incorporation
Grey Global Group, Inc
US
J. Walter Thompson Company, Inc
US
GroupM Worldwide, Inc
US
The Ogilvy Group, Inc
US
Young & Rubicam, Inc
US
Taylor Nelson Sofres Group Holdings Ltd
UK
 
All of these subsidiaries are operating companies and are 100% owned by 
the Group.
A more detailed listing of the operating subsidiary undertakings is given on pages 
10 and 11. The Company directly or indirectly holds controlling interests in the issued 
share capital of these undertakings with the exception of those specifically identified.
30. Related party transactions
From time to time the Group enters into transactions with its associate undertakings. 
These transactions were not material for any of the years presented.

Our 2010 financial statements
Notes to the consolidated financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
180
31. Reconciliation to non-GAAP measures of performance
The non-GAAP measures of performance shown below have been included to 
provide the users of the financial statements with a better understanding of the
key performance indicators of the business.
Reconciliation of profit before interest and taxation to headline PBIT:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Profit before interest and taxation
1,028.2
818.7
922.0
Gains on disposal of investments
(4.1)
(31.1)
(3.4)
Gains on re-measurement of equity on 
acquisition of controlling interest
(13.7)
–
–
Goodwill impairment
10.0
44.3
84.1
Goodwill write-down relating to utilisation 
of pre-acquisition tax losses
–
–
1.5
Amortisation and impairment of 
acquired intangible assets
170.5
172.6
78.4
Share of exceptional losses of associates
0.3
1.6
0.5
Investment write-downs
37.5
11.1
30.5
Cost of changes to corporate structure
–
–
4.6
Headline PBIT
1,228.7
1,017.2
1,118.2
Finance income
81.7
150.4
169.6
Finance costs
(276.8)
(355.4)
(319.4)
(195.1)
(205.0)
(149.8)
Interest cover on headline PBIT
6.3 
times
5.0 
times
7.5 
times
 
Reconciliation of profit before taxation to headline PBT 
and headline earnings:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Profit before taxation
851.3
662.6
746.8
Gains on disposal of investments
(4.1)
(31.1)
(3.4)
Gains on re-measurement of equity 
on acquisition of controlling interest
(13.7)
–
–
Goodwill impairment
10.0
44.3
84.1
Goodwill write-down relating to utilisation 
of pre-acquisition tax losses
–
–
1.5
Investment write-downs
37.5
11.1
30.5
Amortisation and impairment of 
acquired intangible assets
170.5
172.6
78.4
Costs of changes to corporate structure
–
–
4.6
Share of exceptional losses of associates
0.3
1.6
0.5
Revaluation of financial instruments
(18.2)
(48.9)
25.4
Headline PBT
1,033.6
812.2
968.4
Taxation1
(227.8)
(193.0)
(245.3)
Non-controlling interests
(75.0)
(69.2)
(74.8)
Headline earnings
730.8
550.0
648.3
Ordinary dividends paid
200.4
189.8
161.8
Dividend cover on headline earnings
3.6 
times
2.9 
times
4.0 
times
Note
 
1 Excluding net deferred tax credit in relation to the amortisation of acquired intangible assets and 
other goodwill items.
Calculation of headline EBITDA:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Headline PBIT (as above)
1,228.7
1,017.2
1,118.2
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment
184.9
195.3
149.6
Amortisation of other intangible assets
25.4
30.5
23.4
Headline EBITDA
1,439.0 1,243.0
1,291.2
 
Headline PBIT margins before and after share of results of associates:
Margin 
2010
Margin
2009
Margin
2008
%
£m
%
£m
%
£m
Revenue
9,331.0
8,684.3
7,476.9
Headline PBIT
13.2% 1,228.7
11.7%
1,017.2
15.0%
1,118.2
Share of results of 
associates (excluding 
exceptional losses)
(55.5)
(58.6)
(46.5)
Headline operating profit
12.6% 1,173.2
11.0%
958.6
14.3%
1,071.7
 
Calculation of effective tax rate on headline PBT1:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Taxation (note 7)
(190.3)
(155.7)
(232.9)
Net deferred tax credit in relation to the 
amortisation of acquired intangible assets 
and other goodwill items
(37.5)
(37.3)
(12.4)
Taxation1
(227.8)
(193.0)
(245.3)
Headline PBT
1,033.6
812.2
968.4
Effective tax rate on headline PBT1
22.0%
23.8%
25.3%
Note
 
1 Excluding net deferred tax credit in relation to the amortisation of acquired intangible assets and 
other goodwill items.
Headline diluted earnings per ordinary share:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Headline earnings
730.8
550.0
648.3
Earnings adjustment:
Dilutive effect of 
convertible bonds
28.3
–
0.8
Weighted average number 
of ordinary shares
1,339,004,622
1,284,880,193
1,169,602,949
Headline diluted earnings 
per ordinary share
56.7p
44.4p
55.5p
 
Reconciliation of free cash flow:
2010
2009
2008
£m
£m
£m
Cash generated by operations
1,680.1
1,137.6
1,195.0
Plus:
Interest received
50.7
99.6
133.0
Investment income
4.2
1.4
1.8
Dividends from associates
53.3
45.5
44.6
Issue of shares
42.7
4.1
10.6
Proceeds on disposal of treasury shares
–
–
6.9
Proceeds on disposal of property, plant 
and equipment
7.6
9.2
11.5
Less: 
Interest and similar charges paid
(219.7)
(248.7)
(269.2)
Purchases of property, plant and equipment
(190.5)
(222.9)
(196.8)
Purchases of other intangible assets 
(including capitalised computer software)
(27.0)
(30.4)
(23.8)
Corporation and overseas tax paid
(207.4)
(216.6)
(182.5)
Dividends paid to non-controlling interests 
in subsidiary undertakings
(66.7)
(63.0)
(63.5)
Movement in working capital and provisions
(225.5)
102.1
109.3
Free cash flow
901.8
617.9
776.9

Our 2010 financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
181
Company profit and loss account
Company balance sheet
For the year ended 31 December 2010
2010
2009
Notes
£m
£m
Turnover
–
–
Operating costs
(3.1)
(5.0)
Operating loss
(3.1)
(5.0)
Interest payable and similar charges
33
(28.8)
(17.3)
Loss on ordinary activities before taxation
(31.9)
(22.3)
Taxation on loss on ordinary activities
34
–
–
Loss on ordinary activities after taxation
(31.9)
(22.3)
Note
The accompanying notes form an integral part of this profit and loss account.
All results are derived from continuing activities.
There are no recognised gains or losses other than those shown above and accordingly no statement of total recognised gains and losses 
has been prepared.
As at 31 December 2010
2010
2009
Notes
£m
£m
Fixed assets
Investments
35
4,416.2
4,346.1
4,416.2
4,346.1
Current assets
Debtors
36
450.4
452.7
Cash at bank and in hand
1.4
1.7
 
451.8
454.4
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
37
(61.3)
(63.4)
Net current assets
390.5
391.0
Total assets less current liabilities
4,806.7
4,737.1
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year
38
(443.3)
(441.2)
Net assets
4,363.4
4,295.9
Capital and reserves
Called-up share capital
39
126.4
125.6
Share premium account
39
54.5
12.6
Shares to be issued
39
3.1
5.5
Own shares
39
(8.5)
(9.5)
Profit and loss account
39
4,187.9
4,161.7
Equity share owners’ funds
4,363.4
4,295.9
Note
The accompanying notes form an integral part of this balance sheet.
The financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors and authorised for issue on 18 April 2011.
Sir Martin Sorrell	 	
Paul Richardson
Group chief executive	
Group finance director

Our 2010 financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
182
Notes to the Company balance sheet
32. Accounting policies
The principal accounting policies of WPP plc (the Company) are summarised 
below. These accounting policies have all been applied consistently throughout 
the year and preceding year.
a) Basis of accounting
The financial statements are prepared under the historical cost convention and in 
accordance with applicable UK accounting standards and the Companies (Jersey) 
Law 1991.
b) Translation of foreign currency
Foreign currency transactions arising from operating activities are translated from 
local currency into pounds sterling at the exchange rates prevailing at the date of 
the transaction. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies 
at the period end are translated at the period-end exchange rate. Foreign currency 
gains or losses are credited or charged to the profit and loss account as they arise.
c) Investments
Fixed asset investments are stated at cost less provision for impairment.
d) Taxation
Current tax is provided at amounts expected to be paid (or recovered) using the 
tax rates and laws that have been enacted or substantially enacted by the 
balance sheet date.
Deferred taxation is provided in full on timing differences that result in an 
obligation at the balance sheet date to pay more tax, or a right to pay less tax, at 
a future date, at rates expected to apply when they crystallise based on current 
tax rates and law. Timing differences arise from the inclusion of items of income 
and expenditure in taxation computations in periods different from those in which 
they are included in financial statements. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are 
not discounted.
e) UITF 44: Group and treasury share transactions
Where a parent entity grants rights to its equity instruments to employees of a 
subsidiary, and such share-based compensation is accounted for as equity-settled 
in the consolidated financial statements of the parent, UITF 44 requires the 
subsidiary to record an expense for such compensation in accordance with FRS 20 
(Share-based payments), with a corresponding increase recognised in equity as 
a contribution from the parent. Consequently, in the financial statements of the 
parent (WPP plc), the Company has recognised an addition to fixed asset 
investments of the aggregate amount of these contributions of £70.4 million in 2010 
(2009: £54.9 million), with a credit to equity for the same amount.
33. Interest payable and similar charges
2010
2009
£m
£m
Interest payable on corporate bonds
27.9
17.1
Bank and other interest payable
0.5
0.2
Interest payable to subsidiary undertakings
0.4
–
28.8
17.3
34. Taxation on loss on ordinary activities 
The tax assessed for the year differs from that resulting from applying the current 
rate of corporation tax in Ireland of 25% (2009 – 25%). The differences are 
explained below:
2010
2009
£m
£m
Loss on ordinary activities before tax
(31.9)
(22.3)
Tax at the current rate of 25% (2009 – 25%) thereon
8.0
5.6
Factors affecting tax charge for the year:
Unrecognised losses carried forward
(8.0)
(5.6)
Current tax charge for the year
–
–
A deferred tax asset of £13.7m (2009: £5.7 million), in relation to tax losses has not 
been recognised. The asset will be recovered if the Company makes sufficient 
profits in the future.
35. Fixed asset investments
The following are included in the net book value of fixed asset investments:
Subsidiary
undertakings
£m
1 January 2010
4,346.1
Additions
70.4
Other movements
(0.3)
31 December 2010
4,416.2
 
Fixed asset investments primarily represent 100% of the issued share capital of WPP 
Air 1 Limited, a company incorporated in Ireland. Fixed asset investments were 
purchased in a share-for-share exchange. At 31 December 2010 cost and net book 
value were the same. Details of indirect subsidiaries are given in note 29.
36. Debtors
The following are included in debtors:
2010
2009
£m
£m
Amounts owed by subsidiary undertakings
450.0
451.8
Other debtors
0.4
0.9
450.4
452.7
 
37. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
The following are included in creditors falling due within one year:
2010
2009
£m
£m
Bank loans and overdrafts
–
57.8
Interest payable on corporate bonds
3.0
3.1
Amounts due to subsidiary undertakings
56.5
1.1
Other creditors and accruals
1.8
1.4
61.3
63.4
 
38. Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year
The following are included in creditors falling due after more than year:
2010
2009
£m
£m
Corporate bonds
443.3
441.2
 
In May 2009 the Company issued £450 million of 5.75% convertible bonds due 
May 2014.
39. Equity share owners’ funds
Movements during the year were as follows:
Ordinary
Share
Shares
Profit
share premium
to be
Own and loss
capital account
issued
shares account
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
1 January 2010
125.6
12.6
5.5
(9.5) 4,161.7
Ordinary shares issued
0.8
41.9
(2.4)
–
2.1
Dividends paid
–
–
–
–
(13.4)
Loss for the year
–
–
–
–
(31.9)
Equity granted to 
employees of subsidiaries
–
–
–
–
70.4
Treasury share utilisation
–
–
–
1.0
(1.0)
31 December 2010
126.4
54.5
3.1
(8.5) 4,187.9
 
Reconciliation of movements in equity share owners’ funds for the year ended 
31 December 2010:
2010
2009
£m
£m
Loss for the year
(31.9)
(22.3)
Equity granted to employees of subsidiaries
70.4
54.9
Other ordinary shares issued
42.4
3.5
Transfer from investments
–
(1.5)
Dividends paid
(13.4)
(22.3)
Treasury share additions
–
(9.5)
Net additions to equity share owners’ funds
67.5
2.8
Opening equity share owners’ funds
4,295.9 4,293.1
Closing equity share owners’ funds
4,363.4 4,295.9
 
At 31 December 2010 the Company’s distributable reserves amounted to £4,055.4 
million (2009: £4,099.6 million). Further details of the Company’s share capital are 
shown in note 26.
40. Guarantees and other financial commitments
The Company guarantees a number of Group banking arrangements and other 
financial commitments on behalf of certain subsidiary undertakings.

Our 2010 financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
183
Independent auditors’ report
Independent Auditors’ report to the members 
of WPP plc
We have audited the Group and parent company financial 
statements (the ‘financial statements’) of WPP plc for the year 
ended 31 December 2010 which comprise the accounting 
policies, the consolidated income statement (excluding the 
US Dollar information), the consolidated statement of 
comprehensive income, the consolidated cash flow statement, 
the consolidated balance sheet, the consolidated statement 
of changes in equity, the parent company profit and loss 
account and balance sheet and the related notes 1 to 40. 
The financial reporting framework that has been applied 
in the preparation of the Group financial statements is 
applicable law and International Financial Reporting 
Standards (IFRSs) as adopted by the European Union. The 
financial reporting framework that has been applied in the 
preparation of the parent company financial statements is 
applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards 
(United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
This report is made solely to the Company’s members, as 
a body, in accordance with Article 113A of the Companies 
(Jersey) Law 1991. Our audit work has been undertaken so 
that we might state to the Company’s members those matters 
we are required to state to them in an auditors’ report and 
for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, 
we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other 
than the Company and the Company’s members as a body, 
for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we 
have formed.
Respective responsibilities of directors 
and auditors
As explained more fully in the Directors’ Responsibilities 
Statement, the directors are responsible for the preparation 
of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they 
give a true and fair view. Our responsibility is to audit and 
express an opinion on the financial statements in accordance 
with applicable law and International Standards on Auditing 
(UK and Ireland). Those standards require us to comply with 
the Auditing Practices Board’s (APB’s) Ethical Standards 
for Auditors.
Scope of the audit of the financial statements
An audit involves obtaining evidence about the amounts 
and disclosures in the financial statements sufficient to give 
reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free 
from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud 
or error. This includes an assessment of: whether the 
accounting policies are appropriate to the Group’s and the 
parent company’s circumstances and have been consistently 
applied and adequately disclosed; the reasonableness of 
significant accounting estimates made by the directors; 
and the overall presentation of the financial statements.

Our 2010 financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
184
Independent auditors’ report
Opinion on financial statements
In our opinion:
	 the financial statements give a true and fair view of the 
state of the Group’s and of the parent company’s affairs as 
at 31 December 2010 and of the Group’s profit and parent 
company’s loss for the year then ended; 
	 the Group financial statements have been properly 
prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the 
European Union;
	 the parent company financial statements have been 
properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom 
Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
	 the financial statements have been prepared in accordance 
with the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991.
Separate opinion in relation to IFRS as issued 
by IASB
As explained in the accounting policies to the financial 
statements, the Group, in addition to complying with its legal 
obligation to comply with IFRSs as adopted by the European 
Union, has also applied IFRSs as issued by the International 
Accounting Standards Board (IASB). In our opinion the 
Group financial statements comply with IFRSs as issued 
by the IASB.
Other matters 
In our opinion:
	 the part of the Directors’ Remuneration Report to be 
audited has been properly prepared in accordance with the 
UK Companies Act 2006 as if that Act had applied to the 
Company; and
	 the information given in the Directors’ Report for the 
financial year for which the financial statements are prepared 
is consistent with the financial statements.
We have reviewed the directors’ statement contained within 
the Directors’ report in relation to going concern as if the 
Company had been incorporated in the UK and have nothing 
to report to you in that respect.
Matters on which we are required to report 
by exception
We have nothing to report in respect of the following:
Under Companies (Jersey) Law 1991 we are required 
to report to you if, in our opinion:
	 proper accounting records have not been kept by the 
parent company, or proper returns adequate for our audit 
have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
	 the financial statements are not in agreement with the 
accounting records and returns; or
	 we have not received all the information and explanations 
we require for our audit.
Under the UK Listing Rules we are required to review 
the part of the Corporate Governance Statement relating to 
the Company’s compliance with the nine provisions of the 
June 2008 Combined Code specified for our review.
Graham Richardson (Individual responsible for the 
Audit) for and on behalf of Deloitte LLP
Chartered Accountants and Recognised Auditors
London, United Kingdom
18 April 2011

Our 2010 financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
185
Five-year summary
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
Income statement
Billings1
42,683.6
37,919.4
36,929.0
31,665.5
30,140.7
Revenue
9,331.0
8,684.3
7,476.9
6,185.9
5,907.8
Operating profit
973.0
761.7
876.0
804.7
741.6
Headline PBIT2
1,228.7
1,017.2
1,118.2
928.0
859.0
Profit before taxation
851.3
662.6
746.8
719.4
682.0
Headline PBT3
1,033.6
812.2
968.4
817.3
766.3
Profit for the year
661.0
506.9
513.9
515.1
482.6
Balance sheet
Non-current assets
13,087.6
12,756.2
13,355.7
8,689.9
7,732.3
Net current liabilities
(817.3)
(971.0)
(1,028.7)
(1,342.7)
(1,120.4)
Non-current trade and other payables
(870.4)
(908.8)
(1,042.9)
(796.6)
(715.6)
Provisions for liabilities and charges (including provision for post-employment benefits)
(403.1)
(404.7)
(407.9)
(251.8)
(292.4)
Net assets
6,647.9
6,075.7
5,959.8
4,094.8
3,918.4
Net debt
(1,888.4)
(2,640.4)
(3,067.6)
(1,285.7)
(814.6)
Average net debt
(3,056.0)
(3,448.0)
(2,206.0)
(1,458.0)
(1,214.0)
 
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
Our people
Revenue per employee (£000)
92.0
82.5
76.7
72.9
76.0
Gross profit per employee (£000) 
84.4
75.8
71.9
69.0
72.2
Average headcount
101,387
105,318
97,438
84,848
77,686
Share information
Headline4 – basic earnings per share
59.3p
45.1p
56.7p
47.7p
42.5p
– diluted earnings per share
56.7p
44.4p
55.5p
45.8p
41.2p
Reported  – basic earnings per share
47.5p
35.9p
38.4p
39.6p
36.3p
– diluted earnings per share
45.9p
35.3p
37.6p
38.0p
35.2p
Dividends per share5
17.79p
15.47p
15.47p
13.45p
11.21p
Share price – high
795.0p
614.5p
648.0p
787.5p
706.5p
– low
572.5p
353.0p
310.3p
576.5p
609.0p
Market capitalisation at year-end (£m)
9,982.4
7,658.3
5,052.8
7,708.9
8,566.4
Notes
 
1 Billings is defined on page 186. 
 
2 The calculation of headline PBIT for 2010, 2009 and 2008 is set out in note 31 of the financial statements. 
 
3 The calculation of headline PBT for 2010, 2009 and 2008 is set out in note 31 of the financial statements. 
 
4 Headline earnings per share for 2010, 2009 and 2008 is set out in note 9 of the financial statements. 
 
5 Dividends per share represents the dividends declared in respect of each year.
The information on this page is unaudited.

Our 2010 financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
186
Financial glossary
Term used in Annual Report
US equivalent or brief description
Allotted
Issued
ADRs/ADSs
American Depositary Receipts/American Depositary Shares. The Group 
uses the terms ADR and ADS interchangeably. One ADR/ADS represents 
five ordinary shares
Average net debt and net debt
Average net debt is calculated as the average daily net borrowings of 
the Group. Net debt at a period end is calculated as the sum of the net 
borrowings of the Group, derived from the cash ledgers and accounts 
in the balance sheet
Billings
Billings comprise the gross amounts billed to clients in respect of 
commission-based/fee-based income together with the total of other 
fees earned
Called-up share capital
Ordinary shares, issued and fully paid
Combined Code
The Combined Code on Corporate Governance published by the 
Financial Reporting Council dated June 2008
Constant currency
The Group uses US dollar-based, constant currency models to measure 
performance. These are calculated by applying budgeted 2010 
exchange rates to local currency reported results for the current and 
prior year. This gives a US dollar-denominated income statement and 
balance sheet which exclude any variances attributable to foreign 
exchange rate movements
ESOP
Employee share ownership plan
Estimated net new billings
Net new billings represent the estimated annualised impact on billings 
of new business gained from both existing and new clients, net of 
existing client business lost. The estimated impact is based upon initial 
assessments of the clients’ media budgets, which may not necessarily 
result in actual billings of the same amount
EURIBOR
The euro area inter-bank offered rate for euro deposits
Finance lease
Capital lease
Free cash flow
Free cash flow is calculated as headline operating profit before non cash 
charges for share-based incentive plans, depreciation of property, plant 
and equipment and amortisation of other intangible assets, including 
dividends received from associates, interest received, investment 
income received, proceeds from the issue of shares, and proceeds from 
the disposal of property, plant and equipment, less corporation and 
overseas tax paid, interest and similar charges paid, dividends paid 
to non-controlling interests in subsidiary undertakings, purchases of 
property, plant and equipment and purchases of other intangible assets
Freehold
Ownership with absolute rights in perpetuity
Headline earnings
Headline PBT less taxation (excluding net deferred tax credit in relation 
to the amortisation of acquired intangible assets and other goodwill 
items) and non-controlling interests
Headline EBITDA
Profit before finance income/costs and revaluation of financial 
instruments, taxation, investment gains/losses and write-downs, 
goodwill impairment and other goodwill write-downs, amortisation 
and impairment of intangible assets, share of exceptional losses/gains 
of associates, costs incurred in 2008 in changing the corporate structure 
of the Group and depreciation of property, plant and equipment
Headline operating profit
PBIT excluding share of results of associates before investment gains/
losses and write-downs, goodwill impairment and other goodwill write-
downs, amortisation and impairment of acquired intangible assets and 
costs incurred in 2008 in changing the corporate structure of the Group

Our 2010 financial statements
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
187
Financial glossary
Term used in Annual Report
US equivalent or brief description
Headline PBIT
Profit before finance income/costs and revaluation of financial 
instruments, taxation, investment gains/losses and write-downs, 
goodwill impairment and other goodwill write-downs, amortisation and 
impairment of acquired intangible assets, share of exceptional losses/
gains of associates and costs incurred in 2008 in changing the corporate 
structure of the Group
Headline PBT
Profit before taxation, investment gains/losses and write-downs, 
goodwill impairment and other goodwill write-downs, amortisation and 
impairment of acquired intangible assets, share of exceptional losses/
gains of associates, costs incurred in 2008 in changing the corporate 
structure of the Group and revaluation of financial instruments
IFRS/IAS
International Financial Reporting Standard/International 
Accounting Standard
LIBOR
The London inter-bank offered rate
OCI
Consolidated statement of comprehensive income
Operating margin
Headline PBIT as a percentage of revenue
Profit
Income
Profit attributable to equity holders of the parent
Net income
Pro forma (‘like-for-like’)
Pro forma comparisons are calculated as follows: current year, constant 
currency actual results (which include acquisitions from the relevant 
date of completion) are compared with prior year, constant currency 
actual results, adjusted to include the results of acquisitions for the 
commensurate period in the prior year. The Group uses the terms 
‘pro forma’ and ‘like-for-like’ interchangeably
Sarbanes-Oxley Act
An Act passed in the US to protect investors by improving the accuracy 
and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities 
laws, and for other purposes
Share capital
Ordinary shares, capital stock or common stock issued and fully paid
Share premium account
Additional paid-in capital or paid-in surplus (not distributable)
Shares in issue
Shares outstanding
Turnbull Report
Guidance issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & 
Wales on the implementation of the internal control requirements of the 
Combined Code and the UK Corporate Governance Code at the request 
of the London Stock Exchange
UK Corporate Governance Code
The UK Corporate Governance Code published by the Financial 
Reporting Council dated June 2010

Share owners by geography  %
UK 
38
US 
34
Asia Paciﬁc, Latin America, 
Africa & Middle East, Canada
and Continental Europe  
28
Share owners by type*  %
Institutional investors 
94
Employees 
3
Other individuals  
3
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
189
Share owners’ register
A register of share owners’ interests is kept at the Company’s registrar’s office in Jersey and is available for inspection on 
request. The register includes information on nominee accounts and their beneficial owners.
Analysis of shareholdings at 31 December 2010
Issued share capital as at 31 December 2010: 1,264,391,221 ordinary shares.
Number of shares held
Number of holders
% owners
Shareholdings
% Outstanding
1-100 
 2,696 
21.35
 101,300 
0.01
101-250 
 1,432 
11.34
 257,301 
0.02
251-500 
 1,603 
12.70
 604,750 
0.05
501-1,000 
 1,620 
12.83
 1,230,545 
0.10
1,001-5,000 
 1,903 
15.07
 4,305,886 
0.34
5,001-10,000 
 377 
3.00
 3,694,232 
0.29
10,001-25,000 
 515 
4.08
 8,675,453 
0.69
25,001-50,000 
 474 
3.75
 18,175,372 
1.44
50,001-100,000 
 493 
3.90
 36,115,896 
2.86
100,001-500,000 
 1,037 
8.21
 250,926,455 
19.85
500,001-1,000,000 
 258 
2.04
 179,856,411 
14.22
1,000,001-2,000,000 
 114 
0.90
 159,315,911 
12.60
2,000,001-3,000,000 
 41 
0.32
 97,711,709 
7.73
3,000,001-4,000,000 
 22 
0.17
 73,425,755 
5.80
4,000,001 and above 
 43 
0.34
 429,994,245 
34.00
Total
 12,628 
100.00%
 1,264,391,221 
100.00%
Share owners by geography
%
Share owners by type
%
UK
38
Institutional investors
94
US
34
Employees
3
Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa & Middle East, Canada and Continental Europe
28
Other individuals
3
Total
100
Total
100
About share 
ownership
Information for share owners
* In addition, 2.3% of the Company’s share capital is under option to employees.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
190
About share ownership
Information for share owners
  
American Depositary Receipts (ADRs)
Each ADR represents five ordinary shares.
ADR holders receive the annual and interim reports 
issued by WPP plc.
WPP plc is subject to the informational requirements of 
the US securities laws applicable to foreign companies and 
files an annual report on Form 20-F and other information 
with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. These 
documents are available at the Commission’s website, 
www.sec.gov. Our reports on Form 20-F are also available 
from our Investor Relations department in New York.
ADR dividends
ADR holders are eligible for all stock dividends or other 
entitlements accruing on the underlying WPP plc shares and 
receive all cash dividends in US dollars. These are normally 
paid twice a year.
Dividend cheques are mailed directly to the ADR holder 
on the payment date if ADRs are registered with WPP’s US 
depositary. Dividends on ADRs that are registered with brokers 
are sent to the brokers, who forward them to ADR holders. 
WPP’s US depositary is Citibank N.A. (address on page 191).
Dividends per ADR in respect of each financial year are 
set out below.
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
In £ sterling
First interim
29.85p
25.95p
25.95p
21.60p
18.00p
Second interim1
59.10p
51.40p
51.40p
45.65p
38.05p
Total
88.95p
77.35p
77.35p
67.25p
56.05p
In US dollars2
First Interim
46.15¢
40.66¢
48.07¢
43.24¢
33.18¢
Second interim1
91.37¢
80.53¢
95.21¢
91.39¢
70.13¢
Total
137.52¢
121.18¢ 143.28¢ 134.63¢
103.31¢
Notes
1	 Prior to 2008, final dividend.
2	 These figures have been translated for convenience purposes only, using the 
approximate average rate for the year shown on page 156. This conversion should not 
be construed as a representation that the pound sterling amounts actually represent, 
or could be converted into, US dollars at the rates indicated.
Dollar amounts paid to ADR holders depend on the 
sterling/dollar exchange rate at the time of payment.
No withholding tax is imposed on dividends paid to ADR 
holders and there will be no entitlement to offset any part 
of the notional UK taxation credit against any US taxation 
liability. The dividend received will be subject to US taxation.
Following the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation 
Act of 2003, certain dividends subject to US taxation may be 
taxed at a reduced rate of 15% if various conditions are met; 
share owners are advised to consult their professional 
advisors accordingly.
Financial calendar
	 The 2010 second interim dividend will be paid on 4 July 
2011 to share owners on the register at 3 June 2011.
	 Interim statements for the half-year ending 30 June are 
issued in August. 
	 Quarterly trading announcements are issued in April 
and October.
	 First interim dividends are paid in November.
	 Preliminary announcements of results for the financial 
year ending 31 December are issued in the first quarter.
	 Annual Reports are posted to share owners in April.
	 Annual General Meetings are held in Dublin in June.
Share price
The closing price of the shares at 31 December was 
as follows:
At 14
April 2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
Ordinary 
10p shares
723.0p
789.5p
609.5p
402.5p
647.0p
690.5p
Within the UK, the latest ordinary share price information 
is available on the Cityline service operated by the Financial 
Times (telephone 0905 817 1690; calls charged at 75p per 
minute at all times).
Share price information is also available online at 
www.wpp.com/investor.
Dividends
Ordinary share owners have received the following dividends in respect of each financial year:
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
First interim dividend per ordinary share
5.97p
5.19p
5.19p
4.32p
3.60p
Second interim dividend per ordinary share
11.82p
10.28p
10.28p
9.13p
7.61p
Total 
17.79p
15.47p
15.47p
13.45p
11.21p
Income access share arrangements have been put in place by the Company. The mechanics of the income access share arrangements mean that the Company will declare a second 
interim rather than a final dividend. The Board has no plans to announce any additional dividend in respect of the year ended 31 December 2010. Share owners who hold more than 
100,000 shares and who wish to receive their dividend from a UK source must make an election and should contact Computershare Investor Services for the relevant forms. Share owners 
who held 100,000 or fewer WPP ordinary shares on the date of admission of the Company’s shares to the London Stock Exchange or (if later) on the first dividend record date after they 
became share owners in the Company, will be automatically deemed to have elected to receive a UK-sourced dividend. All elections remain in force indefinitely unless revoked. Unless 
share owners have made, or are deemed to have made, an election under the Dividend Access Plan, their dividend will be paid from an Irish source and will be taxed accordingly.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
191
About share ownership
Information for share owners 
Tax information
UK taxation
Income tax credits on dividends
For dividends received direct from WPP plc or from WPP 
DAS Limited via the Dividend Access Plan, the tax credit 
available to individual share owners resident in the UK is 
one-ninth of the dividend; tax credits are not repayable to 
UK holders with no tax liability. Individuals whose income 
is within the lower or basic tax rate bands are liable to tax 
at 10% on the dividend income and the tax credit will satisfy 
their income tax liability on UK dividends. For higher tax 
rate payers the rate of tax on dividend income for dividends 
received on or after 6 April 2010 is either 32.5% or 42.5% 
for individuals with income of £150,000 or more, with relief 
available for the tax credit referred to above. The gross 
amount of the dividend will be regarded as the top slice of 
the WPP share owner’s income and will be subject to UK 
income tax as set out above.
Dividends paid by WPP plc will generally be subject to 
Irish dividend withholding tax (DWT) at the standard rate 
of income tax (currently 20%) unless the share owner is 
within one of the categories of exempt share holders as 
provided in Irish law or by virtue of a relevant tax treaty. 
DWT is not payable where an exemption applies provided 
that WPP plc has received all necessary documentation 
required by the relevant legislation from a WPP share 
owner prior to the payment of the dividend. Share owners 
are advised to consult their professional advisors on this 
point. Where a non-Irish resident share owner is entitled 
to exemption from DWT but DWT has to be deducted 
from the dividend by WPP, a claim may be made for a 
refund of the DWT to the Irish tax authorities.
Dividends received from WPP plc by individual share 
owners resident in the UK will generally be subject to UK 
income tax on the gross amount of any dividends paid by 
WPP before deduction of Irish withholding tax (if any) 
with a tax credit equal to one-ninth of the dividend received. 
UK resident WPP share owners may be able to apply for an 
exemption from withholding taxes under Irish domestic law 
or the UK-Ireland double tax treaty. Her Majesty’s Revenue 
& Customs will generally give credit (such credit being 
limited to the UK-Ireland double tax treaty rate) for any 
Irish DWT withheld from the payment of a dividend (if any) 
and not recoverable from the Irish tax authorities against 
the UK income tax payable in respect of the gross amount 
of the dividend.
Access numbers/Ticker symbols
NASDAQ
Reuters
Bloomberg
Ordinary shares
–
WPP.L
WPP LN
American Depositary Shares
WPPGY
WPPGY.O
WPPGY US
Online information
WPP’s public website, www.wpp.com, provides current 
and historical financial information, news releases, 
trading reports and share price information. Go to 
www.wpp.com/investor.
Registrar and transfer office
Computershare Investor Services (Jersey) Limited
Queensway House
Hilgrove Street
St Helier
Jersey
JE1 1ES
Enquiry number: 0870 707 1411
American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) office
Citibank N.A.
PO Box 43077
Providence
RI 02940-3077
Telephone enquiries: within the US +1 877 248 4237
Telephone enquiries: outside the US +1 781 575 4555
E-mail enquiries: citibank@shareholders-online.com
WPP registered office 
22 Grenville Street
St Helier
Jersey JE4 8PX
The Company’s registered number is 101749.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
192
About share ownership
Information for share owners
  
Capital gains
As liability to capital gains tax on a disposal of WPP shares 
will depend on individual circumstances, share owners are 
advised to consult their professional advisors.
Scrip dividend
Subject to share owner approval at the Company’s Annual 
General Meeting, the Board also proposes to put in place a 
scrip dividend scheme which will enable share owners to elect 
to receive new fully paid ordinary shares in the Company 
instead of cash dividends, commencing with the second 
interim dividend for 2010. Details of the scrip dividend 
scheme, including the taxation of the scrip dividend and 
details of the election date for the proposed scrip dividend 
alternative in respect of the second interim dividend for 2010, 
will be sent to share owners together with the notice of the 
Company’s Annual General Meeting.
Capital gains tax
The market value of an ordinary share at 31 March 1982 
was 39p. Since that date rights issues have occurred in 
September 1986, August 1987 and April 1993. For capital 
gains tax purposes the acquisition cost of ordinary shares 
is adjusted to take account of such rights issues. Since any 
adjustments will depend on individual circumstances, share 
owners are advised to consult their professional advisors.
Republic of Ireland taxation
Income tax credits on dividends
An Irish resident or ordinarily resident individual WPP share 
owner who is an individual who does not make, or is not 
deemed to have made, an election to receive dividends via the 
Dividend Access Plan will be subject to Irish income tax on 
the gross dividend at their marginal rate of tax plus the health 
levy and, in certain circumstances, PRSI (pay related social 
insurance). The gross dividend is the dividend received plus 
DWT withheld. Irish resident individual WPP share owners 
are generally entitled to credit for the DWT deducted against 
their income tax liability and to have refunded to them any 
amount by which DWT exceeds such income tax liability.
If a WPP share owner makes, or is deemed to have made, 
an election in accordance with the terms of the Dividend 
Access Plan in respect of dividends to be paid by WPP, such 
WPP share owner will receive dividends direct from WPP 
DAS Limited. No DWT will be levied on dividends paid 
by WPP DAS Limited.
An Irish resident or ordinarily resident individual WPP 
share owner who receives dividends from WPP DAS Limited 
via the Dividend Access Plan will be taxed upon the cash 
dividend received at their marginal rate of tax plus the 
health levy and, in certain circumstances, PRSI. Irish 
resident taxpayers will not be entitled to claim credit for, 
or repayment of, the one-ninth UK tax credit attaching to 
such dividends for UK tax purposes.

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
193
2006	
 Accountancy Age Awards 
Winner, FTSE 100 Companies.
 LACP Vision Awards 
Platinum Award. Ranked 
6 (out of 2,500 worldwide 
entries) in Top 100 Annual 
Reports.
 International ARC Awards 
Ranked 19 (out of 425 
worldwide entries) with a 
Gold, Silver and Bronze.
2007
 LACP Vision Awards 
Gold Award, in Top 100 
Annual Reports.
 International ARC Awards 
Winner, Best International 
(Western Hemisphere); 
Gold, Silver, Bronze and two 
Honors Awards. 
 Annual Report on 
Annual Reports 
(“A rating First Rate”).
 Ranked 15 out of 100 in 
Smiths Ratings of FTSE 100 
Online Annual Reports.
2008	

 Building Public 
Trust Awards 
Winner. FTSE 100 category 
for excellence in corporate 
reporting.
 LACP Vision Awards 
Silver Award, in Top 100 
Annual Reports.
 International ARC Awards 
Gold and Honors Awards. 

 Annual Report on 
Annual Reports 
Ranked 11 out of 300
(A rating “Excellent”).
 IR Magazine 
No. 1 Online Annual Report.
2009
 Accountancy Age Awards 
Winner, FTSE 100 Companies.
 LACP Vision Awards 
Gold Award, in Top 100 
Annual Reports.
 International ARC Awards 
Gold Awards for Overall 
Annual Report, Interactive 
Annual Report, Written Text, 
Green/Environmentally 
Sound Annual Report, 
plus one Silver and two 
Bronze Awards. 
 Digital Impact Awards 
Silver Award, Best Online 
Annual Report.
 Galaxy Awards 
Bronze Award, Online 
Annual Report.
 Astrid Awards 
(for design communications) 
Gold Award, Online 
Annual Report.
Recognition for past WPP Annual Reports

1 front cover
3 page 14
6 page 188
8 back cover
2 page 13
4 page 103 and 99
5 pages 8 and 9
7 page 2
9 page 7 and 105
10 page 18
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
194
  About the artist
K
vˇeta Pacovská, whose vibrant work illustrates 
this report, has long been one of Eastern Europe’s 
leading artists. At least 100 national and 
international exhibitions have been devoted to Pacovská’s 
paintings and collages.
Born in 1928 in Prague, she studied at the Prague 
Academy of Applied Arts. It was there that she became 
imbued with the spirit of the European Avant Garde, with 
artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Joan Miró 
and the Bauhaus movement exerting particular influence.
That heritage is immediately identifiable in her 
distinctively graphic use of colour. Pacovská says: “White 
and black are included in the colour spectrum but for me 
they are colours and mean maximum contrast. And 
maximum contrast is maximum beauty”. The two other 
colours usually present in her work are a raw, fiery red and 
vivid green, along with pink, yellow and blue.
The result is a bracing connection with the senses. “It is 
like music”, she has said. “Each individual tone is beautiful 
by itself and in certain groupings we create new dimensions, 
harmony, disharmony, symphonies, operas and books”.
It is in the last that Pacovská has perhaps achieved her 
greatest recognition, as well as being widely imitated. She 
refuses to be constrained by the two-dimensional nature of 
print. “A book is architecture for me”, she has said. “It is a 
given sealed space into which I compose painted, written, 
cut and empty pages”.
She says she started producing books for her own children 
and over the past four decades she has written and illustrated 
more than 60 titles, winning the Hans Christian Andersen 
prize for literature for young people in 1992. Her works 
have been translated into many languages including English, 
German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Danish, Japanese 
and Chinese.
I
n recent years, WPP’s Annual Reports have drawn visual 
inspiration from individual markets important to our clients 
and our companies. Since 2005, we have looked respectively 
to India, China, Africa, Brazil and, last year, the US. This year 
we take our visual cue from Eastern Europe (one of the faster-
growing regions of the world), featuring the vibrant work of 
acclaimed Czech artist, Kvˇeta Pacovská.
About the artist

11 page 134
13 page 148
15 pages 1 and 192
17 pages 24, 25, 27 and 28
12 pages 78 and 79
14 pages 30 and 31
16 pages 110 and 111
WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010
195
All images published by:
www.minedition.com
copyright © minedition rights &
licensing ag, Zurich, Switzerland
1	 From Cinderella 
	
published 2010, ISBN 987-988-18485-3-6
2	 From Blau, Rot, Alle 
	
published 2011, ISBN 978-3-86566-134-0
3	 From Number Circus 
	
published 2010, ISBN 978-988-19152-9-0
4	 From Little Flower King 
	
published 1987, ISBN 978-988-18485-6-7
5	 From Blau, Rot, Alle 
	
published 2011, ISBN 978-3-86566-134-0
6	 From Little Flower King 
	
first published 1987, ISBN 978-988-18485-6-7
7	 From Little Flower King 
	
first published 1987, ISBN 978-988-18485-6-7
8	 From Number Circus 
	
published 2010, ISBN 978-988-19152-9-0
9	 From Number Circus 
	
published 2010, ISBN 978-988-19152-9-0
10	From Number Circus 
	
published 2010, ISBN 978-988-19152-9-0
11	From Cinderella 
	
published 2010, ISBN 987-988-18485-3-6
12	From Little Flower King 
	
first published 1987, ISBN 978-988-18485-6-7
13	From Cinderella 
	
published 2010, ISBN 987-988-18485-3-6
14	From Little Flower King 
	
first published 1987, ISBN 978-988-18485-6-7
15	From Little Flower King 
	
first published 1987, ISBN 978-988-18485-6-7
16	From Little Flower King 
	
first published 1987, ISBN 978-988-18485-6-7
17	From Number Circus 
	
published 2010, ISBN 978-988-19152-9-0

WPP  ANNUAL REPORT 2010 
196
  
Where to find us
Parent company centres
WPP Ireland
6 Ely Place
Dublin 2, Ireland
Tel	 +353 1669 0333
Fax 	+353 1669 0334
WPP New York 
100 Park Avenue 
New York NY 10017 
Tel 	+1 (212) 632 2200
Fax	 +1 (212) 632 2222
WPP London
27 Farm Street
London W1J 5RJ
Tel	 +44 (0)20 7408 2204
Fax 	+44 (0)20 7493 6819
WPP Asia Pacific
Yebisu Garden Place Tower, 30/F
4-20-3 Ebisu
Shibuya-ku
Tokyo 150-6030
Tel	 +81 90 9688 1951
Fax	 +852 2280 5412
WPP China
31/F The Center
989 Changle Road
Shanghai
Tel	 +86 21 2405 1649
Fax 	+86 21 2405 1600
Contact points
Investor relations
Paul Richardson
Group finance director
Tel	 +1 (212) 632 2200
Fax	 +1 (212) 632 2222
prichardson@wpp.com
Chris Sweetland
Deputy Group finance director
Tel	 +44 (0)20 7408 2204
Fax	 +44 (0)20 7493 6819
csweetland@wpp.com
Fran Butera
Investor relations director
Tel	 +1 (212) 632 2235
Fax	 +1 (212) 632 2493
fbutera@wpp.com
Investor information
Investor relations material 
and our financial statements 
are available online at 
www.wpp.com/investor.
Media relations
Feona McEwan
Group communications director
Tel	 +44 (0)20 7408 2204
Fax	 +44 (0)20 7493 6819
fmcewan@wpp.com
Kevin McCormack
US press officer
Tel	 +1 (212) 632 2239
Fax	 +1 (212) 632 2280
kmccormack@wpp.com
Belinda Rabano
Asia Pacific 
corporate communications
Tel +86 10 8520 3066
Fax +86 10 8520 3033
brabano@wpp.com
Group information
If you would like further general 
information about WPP, its companies 
or any of the programs, publications 
or initiatives mentioned in this 
Annual Report, please visit our 
website, www.wpp.com, or email 
enquiries@wpp.com
For more about WPP companies’ 
professional services, please contact:
Jonathan Lenson
jlenson@wpp.com
 
For more about WPP in specific 
regions, please contact:
 
WPP China
Scott Spirit
Chief strategy officer
sspirit@wpp.com
 
WPP Latin America
Ann Newman
anewman@wpp.com
 
WPP Tokyo
Stuart Neish
sneish@wpp.com 
 
WPP news and updates
Register for free news bulletins and 
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Where to find us

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on Revive 50:50 White Silk paper. This 
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with the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). 
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©WPP 2011

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