1 July 2008
By Kevin Whitlock
Meet the latest member of the OgilvyOne London family – Chris Lonie. Chris has joined as creative partner for British Gas, responsible for all on and offline work for the brand in the UK.
Chris has been in the advertising business since the age of seven, when he starred in a 1973 TV ad for Penguin biscuits (he was paid the princely sum of £5 for this endeavour). He began his adult career in above-the-line advertising at Edinburgh agency Faulds, which was followed by two stints at Craik Jones and spells at Rapier and DLKW.
In the course of his career he has worked on a number of high-profile brands, including Land Rover, HSBC, Morrisons, COI, BT, British Midland Airlines (now BMI) and the Independent newspaper. Among his achievements have been a DMA Grand Prix for his work on Young Person’s Railcard, and getting in the D&AD Book for one of his Indie campaigns.
Chris says of his appointment: “After an enjoyable and productive spell freelancing, I thought it was time to move up to the next level. I wanted more than just a job, I wanted a really challenge, which is what my new appointment offers me. I’ve heard many good things about OgilvyOne and know a lot of the people here; this,along with the opportunity to work on a huge and prestigious brand like British Gas meant that I had to join Colin [Nimick] and his team.”
Outside of work, Chris is a keen military historian and an enthusiastic collector of contemporary art. He’s also a big fan of stand-up comedy – he sat on the jury of the Perrier Awards at the Edinburgh Festival a couple of years ago.
24 June 2008
By Kevin Whitlock
Great news for music lovers everywhere - we have won a special “Alumni” project brief from the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (NYO).
The NYO, which was founded in 1948, offers young musicians between the ages of 13 and 19 orchestral training in the symphonic repertoire. The 160-strong Orchestra performs regularly in some of the UK’s most prestigious venues with internationally renowned conductors such as Sir Colin Davis and Sir Simon Rattle.
As a registered charity, the NYO receives no direct government support and relies of the generosity of private and corporate donors and supporters to carry out its work. In its diamond jubilee year, the organisation has decided to focus on raising both its national profile and tapping into its army of alumni (former members of the NYO include Simon Rattle, Mark Elder, Thomas Ades, Judith Weir and Alison Balsom).
OgilvyOne has been engaged to approach the 1,250 passive alumni and reconnect them with the NYO in the hope of enlisting their financial support. It is also hoped that some of these “passive” alumni will be able to help establish contact with as many of the 975 or so former members who have completely lost touch with the Orchestra as possible.
Work on the project will start in July, with OgilvyOne initially helping NYO with its databases and creating an email campaign. A creative campaign should follow shortly afterwards.
Sam Williams-Thomas, deputy managing director and head of new business at OgilvyOne London says: “This is a very interesting piece of work for a client which plays a vital role in the cultural life of the nation. It offers a number of opportunities which I think many of the creatives here will be extremely keen to get their teeth into. It’s going to be fun, as well worthwhile.”
The NYO is actively supported by British Gas, another of OgilvyOne London’s clients.
12 June 2008
By Kevin Whitlock
Today Emma de la Fosse, creative partner at OgilvyOne London, jetted off to the South of France for the Cannes Lions festival. But she won’t be attending as a delegate, she has been asked to sit on the jury of the Direct Lions – a huge honour, and recognition of her achievements within, and service to, the direct industry. She’ll be evaluating the best DM work from around the globe, with the winners announced on the evening of 16th June.
Emma has been at OgilvyOne since 1999. Together with her art director (and husband) Charlie Wilson, she has garnered awards for both integrated and direct campaigns including two Grands Prix from Campaign, Gold and Silver Lions, four Gold Direct Marketing Association Awards, and awards from D&AD and The One Show (so she’s no stranger to awards herself).
6 June 2008
By Kevin Whitlock
One of the biggest problems that utilities and telecomms companies face is that of customer “churn”, with promiscuous consumers looking around for the best deals. Persuading lapsed customers that the grass wasn’t necessarily greener on the other side is tricky… memories can be short.
To help BT win back customers who’d defected we came up with a “While you were out we tried to deliver …” Royal Mail card to communicate what has changed about BT’s service.
Marketing magazine described it thus: “It looks authentic enough at first glance to make the reader believe they have missed an important package or letter – only after reading the card does it become clear that it is advertising BT. This is misleading in the best possible way – it is clever, innovative and shows real effort.
“This can’t be said of every mailer that comes through the letterbox, and
the piece shows imagination, using the right channel, format and environment to get consumers to sit up and take notice, and setting the brand apart from its numerous competitors.”
5 June 2008
By Kevin Whitlock
OgilvyOne London today announced that it has added another piece of British Airways business – the £2m-plus digital European and African account – to its client list.
The latest task – which was won after a competitive pitch against the joint forces of Publicis and Zenith Optimedia – comes just a week after we won the biggest pitch of 2008 so far, the global DM and loyalty communications business, won after a three-way shootout with WWAV Rapp Collins and Carlson.
OgilvyOne’s relationship with the airline began at the end of last year, when it won the digital Asia-Pacific account.
The new account will be run out of London, led by Jo Coombs, and we’ll be taking responsibility for the airline’s digital advertising across 40 European and African countries. Neo, our digital media planning and buying shop, will handle the digital media planning. Another agency will be handling the UK digital account.
This is the first time BA has appointed a single agency to handle its Euro-African business - previously it appointed agencies on a project-by-project basis.
Annette King, managing director of OgilvyOne London, said: “This makes it a hat trick for us — the grand slam of pitches. First the Asia Pacific digital business. Then the global direct and loyalty business. Now the European digital business. We are absolutely thrilled and look forward to being able to bring our full might to work for British Airways – strategically, creatively, digitally and globally. We are very extremely proud to add this great British brand to our client portfolio.”
27 May 2008
By Kevin Whitlock
Another great British brand joined the Ogilvy family today with the announcement that OgilvyOne London had scooped the worldwide British Airways direct marketing and loyalty communications business.
The team – led by managing director Annette King and client services director Jo Coombs – won the business after a lengthy pitch, which ended in a three-way shootout with Carlson and WWAV Rapp Collins.
OgilvyOne will now be handling all loyalty and direct marketing work for the airline globally, run out of London. This is the first time BA has ever consolidated all of its DM and loyalty business into one agency.
Congratulations to everyone (including friends and colleagues from around the OgilvyOne global network) involved - unfortunately there’s not the space to list them all here. Also thanks to all the managers, creatives, account handlers and support staff who kept our existing clients happy while this labour-intensive pitch went on.
Annette King said: “This is a dream account for us, one that we have coveted for many years. It is both a great British and a great Global brand which we are truly thrilled to have won as a result of this hard-fought, but very well-run pitch. We won based on our thinking, our creative, our analytics, our attitude, our commitment, our focus and our all out desire and passion to win. We can’t wait to get started - after we’ve finished celebrating!”
We can tell this is going to be the start of a beautiful friendship – the client even very kindly sent us a congratulatory cake, which Annette is watching over like a hawk (wise, as this place is full of gannets and vultures).
23 May 2008
By Kevin Whitlock
“Get into the outdoors” is BBC2′s new series of programming for outdoor enthusiasts. To generate interest in the series, Auntie has compiled a set of trailers that see five BBC2 viewers wrenched from their day jobs to embark on an adventure in Wales.
One of the five is Tess Thomson, PA to OgilvyOne’s Jane Hodson and Mick Byrne. Tess is a typical city girl with a dislike of mud and creepy-crawlies but gamely went for an audition and won one of the five places.
To create footage for the campaign, Tess and her four co-stars embarked on a three-day “survive and connect” course, which took place in the Brecon Beacons mountain range in South-East Wales.
The team had Ray Mears teaching them how to build a campfire and Bill Oddie organising a birdwatching trip. Participants were also given their own cameras to record video diaries, which have been spliced together to form the films.
Their footage, which appears online as well as across BBC2, is being used to promote a series of programmes including Ray Mears Goes Walkabout, Across the Andes, Springwatch, Wild China and Tribal Wives.
Watch the trails here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo/noise/?programme=outdoors
20 May 2008
By Jane Hodson
Welcome the latest addition to the OgilvyOne London clan - Rhian Woods, our new head of marketing analytics in the Consulting Practice.
Marketing analytics is a big growth area for Consulting at OgilvyOne – as our clients increasingly ask for ever greater accountability for their marketing spend, we need to make sure we are ready and prepared to take on that challenge.
Rhian joins with experience across an array of industry sectors, where she has helped scores of clients gain the optimum value from their data through improved insights into their customers. Her approach to developing client relationships is very much ground-up, concentrating on identifying practical quick wins, solving specific business challenges and gaining positive results for the client.
She’s a real asset for both OgilvyOne and our clients.
8 May 2008
By Kevin Whitlock
Here’s a nifty new campaign for British Gas. It’s become fashionable over the past couple of years to trade in your gas-guzzling motor for a more “environmentally friendly” car – a hybrid like the Toyota Prius, for example.
But figures from the Energy Saving Trust and the Vehicle Certification Agency show that an old, inefficient domestic boiler can increase one’s carbon footprint by far more than a 4×4 (27% of the nation’s carbon emissions come from heating and lighting our homes, half of which is accounted for by domestic boilers; transport, by contrast, accounts for just 15%).
So, trading in that inefficient old boiler for a new condensing one can not only save you lots of money, it can also reduce your carbon footprint. Which is the bigger environmental villain: a boiler or car?
Using this insight, creative partners Charlie Wilson and Emma DeLa Fosse and planner Brian Sassoon came up with a neat piece of DM in the shape of a rubber door wedge bearing the message “Wedge your front door open. It’ll give you a sense of how much energy your old boiler is wasting”. Press ads (see above) created by the same team also appeared in newspapers such as London Lite, The Evening Standard and thelondonpaper.
There’s also an interactive website, www.britishgas-gasguzzler.co.uk
