Martin Sorrell Slams Holding Companies' Data Strategies and Insists Facebook and Google Are Not 'Frenemies'

S4 founder opened Adweek NexTech by challenging IPG and Publicis

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Martin Sorrell has examined the ways major holding companies are approaching advertising’s biggest challenges regarding customer data, and for the most part he is unimpressed.

The former WPP CEO and current executive chairman of S4 Capital opened Adweek’s inaugural NexTech conference this week with a keynote discussion that touched on many of the topics covered in his earlier interview about the inherent challenges of marketing “better, faster, cheaper” in the digital age.

In what may have been the most contentious comments of Wednesday morning, Sorrell critiqued the big-budget acquisitions of data providers by former rivals IPG and Publicis Groupe.

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