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OgilvyAction London has promoted Paul Garner (above) to the role of executive creative director, UK.

Paul will work across OgilvyAction’s business in the UK with a remit to integrate the off- and online creative offers. He will report directly to OgilvyAction chief operating officer Andrew Reeves, and continue to work closely with offline creative director Jeff Witek and digital executive creative director Greg McAlinden to build the agency’s creative credentials. As ECD Paul will oversee the creative output of the biggest country office in the global OgilvyAction network.

“It’s an exciting time for OgilvyAction – activation has become one of the most important elements of the marketing mix and we’re a leader in the field,” says Paul. “Integrating the creative skills of our digital and offline teams will allow us to effectively mine the wealth of talent we already have here.”

Garner joined OgilvyAction as creative partner in 2008 from Dialogue141.  He was promoted to joint creative director in 2009, working on clients including Ford, Coca-Cola, Siemens and Kodak.

Andrew Reeves says: “Creativity remains at the core of our agency, so Paul’s promotion to executive creative director is a huge development in our business. Paul is credible, inspirational – and somewhat opinionated. His creative leadership allows us to drive the agency forward to deliver ever more holistic solutions.”

Garner, 40, graduated in 1997 and entered into a career in journalism before moving on to work at various agencies. He joined WPP agency Dialogue in 2006.

OgilvyAction wins a Merit at the MAA Awards in the Best Development of Agency Talent category.

OgilvyAction London is delighted to announce that it has today promoted Andrew Reeves to the role of UK chief operating officer.

Andrew has been part of the OgilvyAction management team since 2002, predominantly as finance director. Since 2007, his role has become increasingly commercial, both in terms of client and capabilities development across the UK and other OgilvyAction regions.

In 2009 he was appointed commercial director worldwide, after which he also took up the post of interim COO in the UK in May 2010.

As COO, Andrew’s remit includes driving the business by bolstering its capabilities and providing solutions for clients that will help the business grow. He will report directly to Action’s global CEO Steve Harding.

“We have 200 people with a wealth of talent across what we do, backed by a strong relationship with the rest of the Ogilvy Group and the WPP network,” he says. “In a climate where activation is gaining increasing traction on brand agendas, we’re well-placed to deliver innovative, creative and integrated solutions for our clients and their brands. I’m excited to be spearheading this.”

Steve Harding adds: “I’ve worked closely with Andrew since my first day here, and I always knew his future lay in general management rather than in a specifically financial role. He has immense energy, drive and enthusiasm to meet head-on the demands of an agency of our scale and expertise. I’m looking forward to working with him in this capacity.”

Andrew heads up an OgilvyAction management team that includes planning director Mike Nicholson; creatives Jeff Witek, Paul Garner, and Greg McAlindin; and client services director Stephen Abram. He now oversees the biggest country office in the OgilvyAction network.

Andrew is an Irish national who has been based in London since 1989. His CV includes stints in commercial banking before he joined Ogilvy & Mather Advertising as a management accountant in 1992. Since then, he has worked at senior level at agencies including EHS, Zinc and 141 Communications. He is also financial director for industry body MAA (previously known as MCCA). He is also a board director at the MAA (responsible for driving financial and commercial best practices within the membership) and also of Ogilvy Group UK.

OgilvyAction won last night ’s IPM Bowling tournament, beating The Marketing Store and A Little Bird in the final.

The event was at All Star Lanes in Brick Lane and was sponsored by prize incentive supplier Unmissable.

Ogilvy Group’s brand activation division OgilvyAction is delighted to announce the appointment of  Matt Gierhart (above) to the new role of head of social.

Gierhart joins from his own social media agency, The New Celebrity, run from London and New York handling global briefs with brands including Panasonic, Ford and Harcourt.

At OgilvyAction,  Matt will be responsible for exploring how social media fits within customer activation, understanding social shoppers and how they make purchasing decisions.

Matt started his career working in the US as a creative consultant at The Texas Department of Transportation, working on an initiative named “Don’t mess with Texas”. His role focused on trend monitoring and forecasting, and advising the department’s roster of ad agencies.

He has also worked in association with the Texas Board of Education to help rethink the way school districts and local communities communicate through digital channels.

Steve Harding, OgilvyAction global chief executive, says: “Matt has an extraordinary range of experience and has developed truly transferable skills in his eclectic career thus far. He has a great and well-deserved reputation as a fantastic strategic thinker and as someone who knows how to use the connections derived from social media to generate fantastic insights.”

Matt adds: “My experience with customer activation has always coincided with OgilvyAction’s founding principle – that knowing consumers are the key to engaging with them and therefore to any brand’s success.”



Ford Ka is launching a nationwide integrated campaign through OgilvyAction that uses hair salon Toni & Guy to reach its target audience of young women.

The four-pronged initiative, called Discover a Style You’ll Love, kicks off in mid October for a month through activity in shopping centres (London, Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle) and all Toni & Guy salons amplified via a social media programme and supporting PR activity targeting women’s media.

Building on the proposition ‘Look deeper, you’ll discover more’, the push encourages shoppers and Toni & Guy customers to enter a competition – uploading a stylish photograph or video of themselves – to win a Ka for two months and the opportunity to take part in style adventures created for them by a team of influential bloggers.

The initiative resides online at Ford’s Ka Facebook site and there will also be a facility for consumers to enter online at each shopping centre location. Shopping centre activity concentrates on a convoy of ‘Style Kas’ that drive round local areas to encourage people into the Discover a Style You’ll Love experience at their nearby participating centre.

Their dazzling designs will stop passers-by and traffic in their tracks, allowing ambassadors with hip hairstyles and branded apparel to dispense flyers with further campaign information.

The flyers also flag up the free hair consultation on offer with expert Toni & Guy stylists at the Discover a Style You’ll Love experience and incentivise consumers to visit salons to have their image realised. Every hour, a crowd-pulling ‘Super Style’ performance will take place at the chosen shopping centre, with a resident stylist creating two fashion different looks and the audience asked to vote on their favourite.

For a month, Toni & Guy salons nationwide will display a range of collateral at key moments in the in-salon customer journey echoing campaign messages and encouraging clients to enter the online competition to win a Ford Ka of their own for two months.

The social media element of the campaign builds further interaction with Ford Ka’s target audience. It asks them to submit videos or pictures describing their look along with their social media profile links. Winners of a Ford Ka for two months will be chosen based on their style, on and offline.

They will also receive a special Toni & Guy ‘pass’ (good for unlimited use for two months) and the chance to participate in style adventures. These 12 adventures – one for each month’s ownership of the Ford Ka by six winners – will be designed by a carefully selected group of major social media influencers and tailored to each recipient. Adventures will be captured on video and seeded.

Harry Bailey, senior account manager at OgilvyAction says: “This stylish and playful national campaign will bring out the best in Ford Ka, reinforcing its stylish nature. It’s a great chance for consumers to check it out for themselves both on and offline, get involved, be rewarded for doing so and ultimately have a great experience thanks to Ford Ka.”

Howard Kee, events manager, Ford of Britain, adds: “This campaign takes the Ford Ka straight to its target audience of young women who may not normally visit or feel comfortable in the traditional dealership environment. We believe this will bring a funky and positive touch to the Ford Ka’s already mischievous image. Moreover, the integration of experiential with a powerful social media initiative amplifies the reach of our campaign like never before. ”

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 for what is bound to be an engaging and inspirational evening. He will be talking about understanding the new forces in behavioural economics (BE).

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

Earlier this month a new Digital Lab was opened at the Ogilvy offices in Westbourne Terrace.

The Lab was inspired by the original Ogilvy Digital Lab at Canary Wharf, and has been coordinated by OgilvyAction and Ogilvy Healthworld staff based at Westbourne Terrace.

The technology has been provided by our Digital Lab partners and showcases the latest and most innovative in digital technology to our staff and clients, allowing them to get hands-on experience, and to develop, test and deploy innovative content for state-of-the-art platforms:

– Augmented reality demos (CrossPlatform)
– A 360° TV (Yershon Media Solutions)
– A gaming pod (EA Video Games)
– A wireless mobile chargebox (Scramblr)
– A Holobox (activ-8 3D)
– Interactive iPhone gaming (Velti)
– Amplifi wifi content delivery technology (The Bright Place)
– A touch table (Touch It)
– QR code clothing (QRazyStuff)
– Point-and-find technology (Nokia)
– An interactive floor projection (EyeClick).

A Labs spokeswoman says: “All of this equipment has huge potential for everyone – from self-educating in the latest technologies and digital advertising opportunities to touring the Digital Lab with our clients to get them thinking and doing.”

Find out more on the Lab Rats blog here.