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Richard Wheaton, managing director of neo@ogilvy UK, will be a keynote speaker at next month’s ad:tech conference in London.

Now regarded as one of the highlights of the digital year, ad:tech will be held at Olympia on 21st and 22nd September.

Richard will be speaking at a session on “The Power of Data”, and looking at the awesome potential of this underused tool in the marketer’s arsenal.

“As the world we live in and the way we communicate becomes more digital the abundance of personal data that is created and is stored has ballooned,” says Richard.  ”How this data is treated and what it is used for has become a source of debate for the media industry.”

Richard and the panel of speakers will attempt to outline the opportunities for consumers and advertisers, and debate the risks and rewards for all parties in return for consumers’ permission to use that data.  The goal is to share insight into the value of the data available online, and to have a debate about sound industry practice and the responsibility shared amongst a wide range of stakeholders to safeguard consumers.

As well as Neo, some real online heavyweights will be speaking and attending – including Ogilvy clients Louis Vuitton Mote Hennessy, BT , Coca-Cola and Unilever, as well as the BBC, Facebook,  Google and Dell.

For more info, visit www.ad-techlondon.co.uk

Welcome to the Neo Academy Graduation Blog page for the Social Media Team!

If you are here it means that you have seen our email and have done a search online for “neo academy graduation” so you are now on your very own Social Media adventure.

Our goal is to take you through the complete Social Media journey as seen from the eyes of a consumer/customer (minus the fact that we’re telling you all of this :P) which will help serve as a springboard for conversation at our Neo Academy Graduation presentation!

We want to know what users think about Social Media and this is where you come in. You have already been exposed to 3 parts of the journey (affiliate email, search, blog). All that is left is for you to join our very own “Neo Academy Graduation” group on Facebook and complete a very important task: post comments on this page to tell us what Social Media means to you and how you think it can be used successfully in a marketing campaign! Engage with our campaign and enter to win a £5 Starbucks voucher. All you have to do is join our community on Facebook, have your say and voice your opinions about Social Media!

Click on this link to visit our Neo Academy Graduation Facebook Page and you’ll be able to request an invitation (top right). The fabulous Andy will grant you such a desirable status and then the world (or at least this page) is your oyster – post away, upload away, interact and communicate away! Please just remember to answer the two questions above in the process.

We know not everyone has a Facebook account (gasp! boo! hiss!) so in this case, please just email our team with your thoughts on Social Media.

Thanks all for participating our very own Social Media experiment in the name of Neo Academy Graduation and we look forward to seeing you all next Tuesday!

- The Neo Academy Graduation Social Media Team

Neo@Ogilvy UK has been ranked seventh in the 2009 New Media Age Top 100 list for UK digital media agencies. The table ranks agencies on the annual total UK billings and is yet another piece of good news in what has already been an impressive year for the agency, which only last month announced Sony as their second major account win in the last nine months.

Managing director Richard Wheaton says: “This is a great achievement for our agency after only three years in existence, and testament to the fantastic work from the Neo team growing both GBM and local client billings.”

The full NMA report is out now in good old fashioned print form and we’ll be adding a link to the online version soon.

So just what is One Ivy Log all about?

So you’ve built a great website. Now, how is anyone going to find it?

10 years ago Google was born, today there are over 1 billion global searches daily, and 81% of users enter a website through a search engine.

Brands are driving these searches with every single communication that they have with their audience. So they spend a good deal of money and time to build a great website for searchers to find. But alas! it doesn’t get any visitors.

There are millions upon millions of pages of web content out there and your client’s website is totally lost in the noise. When search engines ignore their site, their site becomes non-existent in the cyber world. The real problem with their website is that it failed to harness the most cost-effective and powerful Internet marketing strategy: Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)!

So what does this mean for you and your clients? Your clients have to have a search marketing strategy – because otherwise their marketing is driving consumers to their competitors.

SEO is a process that requires expertise, careful planning and strategy, and a long-term approach. Join us at the Lab Lunch on October 6th at 12 noon to get up to speed with SEO and be ready to harness the power of search engines for your client!

Neo@Ogilvy is celebrating its second major account win of the year following its appointment by Sony Europe’s TV division to handle all paid search activity.

The win, following a two-week competitive pitch against two other leading search agencies, comes just months after the agency netted the British Airways UK affiliates and media attribution programme.

Neo’s winning team was led by Neo’s UK Managing Director, Richard Wheaton and Sophie Collins, Neo’s Head of Search. Neo has launched the search campaigns for Sony’s BRAVIA products across 29 European markets in support of the BRAVIA Motionflow campaign, with the goal of driving sales of BRAVIA’s new LCD televisions.

Christian Luecke, Director, Consumer Marketing TV & Online Marketing at Sony, said: “We are delighted to confirm the appointment of Neo to manage our paid search activity across Europe. Neo has demonstrated a real understanding of the needs of our brand. Search is now a central part of our communication mix, and we are committed to investing in it to help our customers find the right BRAVIA TV, and to learn more about their needs and intent through this channel.”

Richard Wheaton said:  “We won based on the understanding we have built up of Sony’s needs, from our work with their online shop over the past three years, where we have been delivering direct online sales at increasing levels of efficiency quarter on quarter. It is a tribute to our search network in Europe and our ability to deliver branding and ROI driven search tactics.”

Neo@Ogilvy, with help from OgilvyOne London, has helped client Cisco reach a high proportion of its target audience through innovative online activity. On 1st July, and in what we believe to be a first for the site, Cisco ‘took over’ the Telegraph’s finance and technology channels in the new ‘megabanner’ format (see above), giving Cisco total ownership around all relevant content. With a high reach among Cisco’s target audience, the Telegraph offers a fantastic medium to efficiently communicate Cisco’s brand message to a relevant and interested demographic.

Twitter has potential benefits and pitfalls to brands, like any instantaneous tool. Whilst some companies are quick to react to the consumer and engage with them on a more personal level; others fear this source of consumer interaction, burying their head in the sand whilst turning their heads and indulging in tunnel vision. A dexterous feat I’m sure you’ll agree.

But positive and engaging stories continue to emerge. One consumer whilst tweeting about being rewarded with free drive time from Streetcar, happened to highlight in his next tweet the need for £12.11 to be donated to the Make-A-Wish foundation, in order to reach his £5,000 milestone for his charity motorcycle ride. Swift of reaction, and eagle of eye, the early rising Streetcar team donated the money and sent their best wishes.

What a tremendous use of a new channel to engage with their customers. It should stand as an example to all brands that wish to build stronger relationships and harness the power of Twitter.

Neo@Ogilvy UK, the digital media planning and buying arm of OgilvyOne London, is taking on the responsibility for comprehensive media attribution analysis of British Airways’ display, affiliate and search digital media in the online marketing process from March.

The media attribution programme tracks all media investments and determine the most efficient online customer paths of British Airways’ UK sales, using Neo’s in-house toolset.  Neo’s work will enable the airline to calculate the most efficient media mix for the first time, and to optimise results from each marketing touchpoint.

The Neo team will work with British Airways’ online media agency ZenithOptimedia to create the most cost effective online sales strategies.

Richard Wheaton, Neo’s managing director, said: “ “We are looking forward to extending our relationship with British Airways and adding value with our new tools and services. We’ve got some very exciting click path analysis tools which will allow the airline  to gain new insights into the effectiveness of its sizable digital investment.”

This win alongside Neo’s appointment to run BA UK’s affiliate programme in the same pitch process are the first pieces of UK business for the agency, which already manages similar assignments in Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific. They also further strengthen the relationship between BA and OgilvyOne London, which manages the airline’s global loyalty and direct marketing programmes.

By Anna Gibbons

James Bond is one of the UK’s most iconic and enduring symbols of luxury, success, travel and adventure. When Bond takes his credit card from his wallet, anything less than the Platinum Card from American Express would seem out of place.

In April 2008, Neo UK facilitated a meeting between The Times, James Bond’s beloved newspaper, employer of Ian Fleming in the 1930s and sponsor of the “For Your Eyes Only” James Bond and Ian Fleming exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, and American Express’ Platinum Card, the card of choice for travellers and adventurers.

As a result, The Platinum Card from American Express is the sole sponsor of all Bond and Fleming content on TimesOnline. Over the months leading up to ‘Quantum of Solace’ launch, a rich pool of content was developed to include archived content from the Times, interactive maps, a virtual exhibition reflecting the Imperial War museum content and more recently, the movie trailer and reviews. Creative was developed by Ogilvy with a James Bond theme which added to the user experience. Times readers were able to interact with the Bond /Fleming content throughout the TimesOnline site with additional promotion through editorial links, co-branded banners on the site and in the paper.

In addition, the Platinum Card sponsorship has facilitated some exciting and innovative initiatives from the Times such as the ‘Be a Bond Baddie’ viral application (in the spirit of 2007′s Christmas Elf viral), the ‘Be Bond’ video series which follows Times journalist Hugo Rifkin on his quest to become Bond, an interactive map and an interactive, viral game which involved decrypting codes, solving clues and (virtually) jet setting to exotic locations.

Activity will be live until late November, so click here to access all the 007-related content and to create your own Bond Baddie to send to your friends (or enemies!)

by Sladjana Ljubojevic 

Mobile advertising has become a buzz word in the last few years, and is gaining increasing popularity amongst leading advertisers. A substantial rate of growth is forecasted as smartphone prices drop, networks become faster and data packages cheaper.  Neo and Cisco decided to tap into this new technology with a mobile paid search campaign.

Mobile advertising campaigns generally have lower traffic volumes, especially when it comes to searches related to technology as it receives the majority of traffic from ring tones, wallpaper, news and entertainment queries.  However after recent site updates, Cisco thought it an excellent opportunity to trial a new mobile search offering and raise awareness of their mobile site.  

Google’s mobile search is executed in a very similar way to their search network offering:  keywords compete in an auction and are bought on a CPC model with a choice of search or content networks. The character restrictions for text ads are considerably smaller with only 2 lines of 18 characters each, creating quite a challenge for brand messaging.  As smartphone keyboards are generally small, mobile search queries are mostly 1 or 2 word generic phrases.

We used a selection of mostly 1 and 2 word mobile searches relating to Cisco’s brand and small business solutions:  Mobility, Small Business, Network Technology, Routers and Technology.

The mobile search activity has been live for 8 weeks with traffic volumes steady but low as expected, however the CPC’s were at 29% of the search campaign making it a cost effective way to deliver traffic to Cisco’s site. The highest traffic areas were from Brand, Mobility and Network Technology keywords, which is a similar trend to the search campaign.  1 word searches delivered 70% or clicks with 2 words at 30% and 3 words less than 1% with overall CTR at the high end of the industry average at 0.5%

Cisco and Neo will continue to run mobile search activity while improving performance with regular keyword optimisations and the possibility of expanding into new networks and territories to move the account forward. Overall, it has been a cost efficient method of driving traffic and raising awareness of the Cisco mobile site.  By embracing mobile search outside of its popular entertainment sector, Cisco is advancing their position as a technological leader.