Events Like Olympics, Election Bode Well For Ad Agency WPP In '12

WPP, the “world’s largest advertising agency, saw its sales jump 7.4% in 2011, with a presidential election and the Olympics said to give it a boost this year as well.” WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell said the company “did about 6% on the top line” and “for this year we're budgeting 5% to 6%.” Sorrel noted this year has the U.S. presidential election, the London Games and the UEFA Euro 2012 soccer tournament, "the third event of some major consequence to the advertising industry." Sorrel: "Those three quadrennial factors add about 1% to global growth, so we feel pretty good about 2012."

Sorrell said of the impact of Facebook, “For 2012 we're targeting about $2 billion, maybe even a little bit north of that, and with Facebook, we'd like to double up from $200 million to $400 million” (“Squawk Box,” CNBC, 3/1).