Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP Group presides over the world’s second largest advertising services company. Business leaders the world over have consulted him on his views on how global economic trends will unfold. Many credit him with being far-sighted on the emergence of India and China, on the importance of the Internet and new media.
    
Today, at the Reuters Global Technology Media and Telecoms Summit, he suggested that corporations consider a complete about-face to the basic marketing idea entrenched for decades in the U.S. and Europe.  

One of the paradoxes we’re probably going to have to deal with in our industry is that historically, we’ve encouraged consumers to consume more. What we may have to do, particularly in the West as the oil price gets to $140, $150 or maybe even $200 (per barrel) … we may have to encourage people to consume less. That’s a very different approach. 

You heard it. Sorrell made the remarks when asked about his views on “going green” amid rising prices for fuel and the widespread consumer concern over the health of the planet.  

Does it make sense to encourage people to continually buy electronic equipment, which lasts a year costs a lot of money, and then you have to throw it away and that in itself causes environmental issues? Longevity may become more important. 
    
We know that consumers favor companies and brands that take environmental issues and sustainability issues seriously. If you talk to retailers like Wal-Mart for example they will tell you that irrespective of income and wealth, their customers prefer brands that are green or environmentally friendly as opposed to those that aren’t. 

Somewhere, a creative director is going back to the drawing board.

(Photo: Reuters)

Hear that distinctive call of the software maker wooing its kind? See the mobile carrier flirting with its rival in the corner? Our guests at the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit keep talking about consolidation in their industries.

Some of them expect their markets to winnow out to a handful of players. Others say slim valuations may give their companies more reasons to seek joint manufacturing partnerships. Either way, it’s hard to ignore the romance. Here are some of the things we have heard this week:

I’m not so sure that companies go away as much as there is manufacturing capacity and R&D alliances. I think that’s what we’re going to see as opposed to the absorption of companies. … I think we’re going to see several of those. Applied Materials CEO Mike Splinter

I do believe you’re going to see continued consolidation in this industry. That should not be surprising to anybody. Over the long term, networks are commodities … what you need is more and more scale and more and more cost efficiencies. Virgin Mobile USA CEO Dan Schulman

I expect the rate of consolidation in our industry to increase. There will be very few big IT companies … I absolutely believe you will be down to less than 10 big companies. Symantec COO Enrique Salem

(Photo of penguins in courtship ritual from Reuters)

Will mobile advertising make you rich?

Virgin Mobile USA CEO Dan Schulman told the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit today about a new advertising partnership with AOL’s Third Screen Media.

We asked him how big a deal it was. Schulman was enthusiastic, to say the least.

“We think it will drive a trillion dollars to us in the next four to six months.”

On the more serious side, Schulman explained that mobile advertising was still in its infancy as carriers have yet to really figure out the right way of offering people ads on their phones without becoming a nuisance.

“It’s small (in terms of revenue) and I wouldn’t even put it in the meaningful category yet. We’re experimenting with it. Mobile advertising is something you need to be quite careful with. A cell phone is a relatively intimate device.”

Virgin Mobile USA has had some success with its advertising forays. Schulman said more than 700,000 of its 5 million customers had signed up for its “Sugar Mama” promotion that let them earn free phone minutes in return for watching ads online.

Its subscribers can also put their friends to work for them with a “Sugar Mama” widget on social network Facebook. The more friends download the application and watch ads, the more free minutes their pal can accumulate.

(Photo: Reuters)

Bob Toll is moving on down to the Madison Square Park area of Manhattan, one of the favored new sources of real estate gossip in the Big Apple.
    
The Toll Brothers CEO met with us at the Reuters Housing Summit and said he was in contract to buy a condo at One Madison Park, an uber-luxury development promising a five-star restaurant, an entire floor of exclusive spa features and a private screening room built with the help of “a Hollywood powerhouse.” 
    
Toll already owns three homes, one of them on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, and has a fourth locked in a trust for the kids.
    
We’re moving to a different neighborhood, having been in one neighborhood for 28 years. Time to try another neighborhood, he said.
    
The 60-story tower has kept the gossip columns and housing blogs atwitter for months over its amenities and celebrity buyers like Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber. Not to mention an average price of $2,300 per square foot. 
    
But the interest also comes from the name, One Madison Park, since the actual address One Madison Ave is already known to Manhattanites as the golden-capped clock-tower building that graces the city’s skyline.
    
To add to the excitement, Israeli developer Yitzhak Tshuva and his Elad Properties (of Plaza Hotel fame) is apparently planning a residential project around the clock-tower building, the one called One Madison Ave. Daniel Libeskind will design.   

 We were a little confused too, so we asked him to clarify.
    
We’re going down to Madison Park, down to that area, he said. No, not the clock tower. One Mad.

Got that?
(Photo: Reuters)

Think of it as a tap on the shoulder from a four-fingered white glove – worn by a giant mouse. Disney is working on new ways for fans of its movies, cartoons and television shows to communicate with each other, whether they are surfing the Internet or playing games on a mobile phone. We spoke today with Steve Wadsworth, Walt Disney Co. Internet group president, during the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit.

Here’s how he described it: 

The third thing we’re focusing on hard with product is much more cross-platform integration. If somebody is touching or in contact with the Disney brand, whether it’s in a virtual world, whether it’s on Disney.com, whether it’s on a mobile platform, that is a contact that is well integrated with all the other connected products that we’re creating.

The idea that somebody can have an experience deep in “Pirates of the Caribbean” online, but also reach out to their friend who may be on a Disney mobile phone and get them to come join them in “Pirates of the Caribbean” online is a connected experience across platforms that we are very focused on creating for the long term.

If it wasn’t clear from the quote, Disney is launching a new virtual world based on its “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies. Does that mean we can call Johnny Depp?