« Ogilvy Group UK Home

Ogilvy has been appointed by AGA to develop the iconic cooker brand’s new ad campaign.

Ogilvy Advertising – in conjunction with sister agencies OgilvyAction and Ogilvy PR (who will be handling events and PR respectively to help create a 360 campaign) – will initially be working on brand strategy and development, with an above-the-line campaign expected from September. The above-the-line campaign will encompass press, radio and digital.

Ogilvy has a distinguished history with AGA. Long before he set up O&M, David Ogilvy (below) was AGA’s door-to-door sales rep in Scotland (before being a salesman, he was a chef in Paris, which may have helped him get the job).

The AGA was the most expensive cooker on the market, and it was the height of the depression, but Ogilvy was so successful at selling door-to-door that in 1935 (aged just 24) he was asked to write “The Theory & Practice of Selling The AGA Cooker”, which became the company’s sales bible. Fortune magazine later called it “the best sales manual ever written”.

Despite this, Ogilvy has never had the AGA brand as a client before. Although Mather & Crowther, the UK agency run by David’s big brother Francis, did have the account back in the late 1920s and 1930s. Coincidentally, David, while working at Mather & Crowther in 1935, penned his first-ever ad (a print execution based on Manet’s painting Dejeuner sur l’Herbe) for Aga.

Will Awdry, managing director of Ogilvy Advertising said: “In the current economic climate, a new business win is always gratifying, and a piece of domestic business – with 300 years of UK manufacturing history to boot – especially so.

“And for us as an agency, we’re reconnecting with our founder’s DNA; this task has a big emotional and historical resonance – David Ogilvy was a salesman for Aga in the 1930s, and was so good at his job that he was asked to write  the sales manual. Much of what he wrote is still used by the company today, some 75 years later.  For us at least, it feels as if the brand has come home.

“We’re delighted to be helping one of the great, timeless classic brands pilot its way to further greatness. We’ll be building on foundations laid by David Ogilvy’s door-to-door efforts.”

Will Awdry (above), one of the four creative partners at Ogilvy Advertising has been appointed acting managing director of Ogilvy Advertising.

Will takes up his post with immediate effect, and will be responsible for leading the agency until a new chief executive is appointed. He will be supported by the incoming Ogilvy Group UK chairman Paul O’Donnell, and Ogilvy’s vice-chairman Rory Sutherland.

Will began his career in account service at Publicis in 1983. Two years later, he joined Bartle Bogle Hegarty as a copywriter. After nine years, he left to become head of copy at Leagas Delaney, returning to BBH after a brief period, later to become creative director on various accounts and to launch an integrated division.

In 2000, he joined Partners BDDH as sole creative director, helping the agency to top the new business league for two consecutive years. He then moved to DDB London as creative director on international accounts in 2003.

Will joined Ogilvy in 2006 as creative partner on Dove across the world, becoming one of the agency’s four creative partners in early 2008.

Throughout his career, Will has worked with over 50 clients in many categories, both consumer and business to business. He has broad international experience. He has also won extensive creative, effectiveness and craft awards for both himself and his teams.

Away from work, he is married with a young son and daughter.

The other creative leaders at the agency are: Alasdair Graham, Dennis Lewis and Greg Burke.

• For more on the new leadership at Ogilvy Group UK, please see the “News” section of the “One Agency” page.

Here’s the Ford Mondeo “Baby Animals” ad which is back on TV, having had its first showing in 2007. The advert was made by Ogilvy Advertising London and Ogilvy Stockholm.

Following the sheer volume of public demand the Ogilvy Ford Europe team, together with Universal Music, has released the song from the Ford Ka “Go Find It” ad, above.

“I’m Not Invisible” is a digital download single performed by The Tease featuring Megan Wyler and if the initial response is anything to go by, the song could be a summer favourite.

Since the single’s release last week the “I’m Not Invisible” YouTube channel already has 5,000 views, with the exclusive acoustic track at nearly 1,500. The  Myspace page has had over 2,500 hits.

Our very own Greg Burke, Ogilvy Advertising’s creative partner for Ford, helped develop the track and the video was shot by award winning music and commercial director Nick Gordon, who directed the Placebo video for ‘Pure Morning’ and the Sony ‘Music Pieces’ commercial.

Please click on the highlighted links above to check out the relevant sites and, of course, click here to download from iTunes.

We hope you enjoy it!

Ogilvy Advertising last week won two Silver Lions at the International Advertising Festival in Cannes. This year there were over 22,600 entries from 86 countries competing for the coveted gongs in this, the 56th year of the famous awards ceremony.

In the Films section, MTV Cribs – Knife Crime won silver in the Product & Service Public Awareness Messages category.

And in the Media category, Fanta Stealth Sound System won silver for the Best Use of Other Digital Media Including Mobile Devices section.

Click here to watch the MTV Cribs – Knife Crime TV ad. And click here to watch the Fanta Stealth Sound System viral.

A full list of all category winners are available on the Cannes official website.