Next week, to celebrate the launch of the new Ford S-MAX in the UK, Ford – together with interactive arts collective Seeper – is producing two ground-breaking multi-sensorty interactive digital projection events to entertain the public.

The first event, on Thursday 9th September, will be taking place in London at Senate House (above – Malet Street, Russell Square, WC1). The building will be transformed into a digital ice block, complete with climbers, avalanches and drama! Spectators will be encouraged to get involved by ‘cutting away’ at the ice with specially designed ‘laser guns’.

And on 11th September, the Ventilation building at Georges Dock in Liverpool (below) will be hosting the other event, to a similar theme.

So if you are free on either of these evenings, in either of these cities, please come along and witness the action first-hand.

You can keep up-to-date with all the latest info surrounding the events by joining the events page on facebook here

To find out more about Seeper and how their previous events have looked, click here.

The Ogilvy Group UK is a proud member of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) UK which runs popular thought leadership events all year round, which – as well as being interesting – are a great opportunity to meet WOM and social marketing practitioners (client and agency side).

Our very own vice-chairman, Rory Sutherland (above), is speaking at the next thought leadership event on Thursday, 16th September at OgilvyAction HQ in Westbourne Terrace, West London, for what is bound to be an engaging and inspirational evening. He will be talking about understanding the new forces in behavioural economics (BE).

Give a little back, listen as well as talk, be useful, be engaging, be entertaining and be informative: This short O&M film on the “evolution of advertising” demonstrates how, in the 21st century, the most effective advertising is built around dialogue and engagement with the consumer.

To celebrate the art of gifting, OgilvyAction has collaborated with Scotch® Pop-Up Tape to create an interactive game of Pass the Parcel on their microsite.

Take a trip down memory lane by playing the game to see if you’re a winner. Just click on this link here: http://ptp.3muk.co.uk/. There are plenty of great prizes up for grabs, including Kodak EASYSHARE P725 Digital Frames, iPod Shuffles, Molton Brown travel sets and Milka chocolate.

After you’ve played, why not pass the parcel onto your friends & family via Facebook, Twitter or email and give them a chance to win too – they might even let you share their prize.

Good luck

You may have seen new Ford of Britain campaign “The Ford Standard” popping up in the press, on radio, escalator panels, and on 48/96 sheets over the past month – or at least you’ll have noticed the various “&” symbols around the place!

And now we’re pleased to share the TV ad which goes live today (23rd August). Click on the link above to view.

Kudos to everyone working on the campaign: Andy Dibb, Daz and Tom, Sally Miller, Cliff Feraday, Lesley Scott, Mike Ong, Chris Parsons, Jawad Ashraf, Sarah Blaize-Coar, Marina Clement and Rob Smith.

Last night a BBC TV news crew visited Wardour Street in London’s Soho for the opening of Otarian’s launch event (organised by Ogilvy PR – see post below) and broadcast this four minute clip on the late evening news, featuring an interview with Radhika Oswal, founder and CEO of Otarian.

Click on the link above to watch.

Last night several hundred people gathered at Otarian’s first London restaurant in Wardour Street, Soho to meet Otarian founder and CEO Radhika Oswal and her staff.

The event was organised by Alex Clack and the team from Ogilvy PR and was a huge success, with media worthies, bloggers and foodies enjoying the restaurant’s fabulous decor and delicious food.

Otarian is completely vegetarian and operates in the same “”fast casual” sector as established names like Leon, opening its first branches in New York in April. It claims to be the world’s first chain to carbon-footprint every menu item to internationally recognised standards.

Not only is all the food sustainable – the company has a “no air freight” policy – but all packaging is reusable, compostable or recyclable. Even the interior and fittings in the restaurants have been chosen in order to minimise their environmental impact. A minimum of 98% of all waste produced by the restaurants will be composted or recycled (visit Otarian‘s website – designed and built by Ogilvy – for more info).

In addition to OPR’s work, Ogilvy & Mather has been appointed to create outdoor, press, ambient and digital advertising. Sister agencies neo@ogilvy and OgilvyAction are also helping out, making this a truly integrated account.

The first ads will appear in the London Evening Standard tomorrow (19th August).

Below: Mrs Oswal is interviewed by the BBC (top); and musicians serenade the guests (bottom).

Back in July we got very excited about our second Idea Shop event, Idea Shop East.

Well, for all of you who asked if there was going to be a film about the three days we spent in Roman Road, we can now reveal Idea Shop East: the movie! Watch the video above to see how the event was run, who turned up and which Ogilvyites helped out.

To read more about the Idea Shop and find out about the businesses and organisations that applied, go to the dedicated website by clicking here.

On Friday (20th August) Ogilvy Group UK client Otarian – the fledgling restaurant chain is working with Ogilvy & Mather, Ogilvy PR, OgilvyAction and neo@ogilvy – will be opening its first two UK restaurants.

To celebrate, tonight the agency and client held a big party for bloggers, foodies and the media at the Wardour Street branch – here an ogilvy.co.uk operative makes their way from Oxford Street to the party (see video above).

Come back tomorrow for more on Otarian.

Ogilvy Public Relations in London has been appointed by US watch company Bulova Corporation, as it launches in the UK.

Earlier this year the corporation announced the establishment of a wholly owned subsidiary responsible for the UK and Irish markets, called Bulova UK. The launch will be supported by approximately £1m in initial capital.

Ogilvy will be promoting Bulova products to trade and consumers with a programme of media and influencer relations.

The agency will focus on the brand’s heritage of design and style, combined with technology.

Ogilvy senior director Ross Cathcart says: “Bulova is an incredibly popular and well established brand in the US and we aim to translate that success to the UK and beyond.”