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The Syngenta Photography Award was launched at Somerset House on Wednesday 15th May and is open to the public from 17th-20th May. The theme of ‘Rural-Urban’ is the first in this new international competition that aims to stimulate dialogue around key global challenges. It has attracted some 2,500 photographers from around the world.

The open competition included themes ranging from urban sprawl and infrastructure to greener cities and food production. It was won by Holly Lynton from the USA with her submission Turkey Madonna, a haunting moment on an organic farm showing a young woman transformed into a tender Madonna as she gathered a group of turkeys soon bound for dinner tables.

The winner of the professional category, Jan Brykczynski, has won a commission to carry out a proposed project on the rural-urban theme. His chosen subject, Farming Tribes, will explore the relationship between human beings and nature in four of the world’s major urban spaces – New York, Yerevan in Armenia, Warsaw and Nairobi.

Ogilvy Primary Contact are proud to be have been involved in the success of the new competition. We worked with leading media brands, The International Herald Tribune and New York Times, to promote the event to potential entrants and the general public, and wrote material for the exhibition brochure and display panels.

The winning entries can be seen at www.syngentaphoto.com

At the last Marketing Society B2B dinner, one speaker expressed the view that social media had finally closed the gap between Sales and Marketing. It was a bold statement, but in our experience it does seem to be coming true of one key area.

The lead management process has always demanded good alignment between Marketing and Sales. Traditionally, Marketing nurtures a lead until it is ‘sales-ready’ and then hands over to Sales. Roles and responsibilities on either side of that hand-off are usually quite distinct.

Social media and other content channels are, of course, blurring this distinction. Now, prospects “nurture” themselves, seeking information and making their own way through the marketing funnel. Marketing can actively encourage this process by building “thought-leadership” sites.

It’s obvious that Sales can benefit from the content provided by Marketing. But the relationship is two-way. In our experience, an authoritative sales person seeding content via their own social media profiles on LinkedIn and other social sites can be one of the most efficient ways to generate engaged traffic to a thought leadership site.

I use the phrase ‘engaged traffic’ carefully. Total traffic will be lower than from other digital channels such as paid search or e-newsletters. But the level of engagement – pages viewed, content downloaded, visit duration – often proves to be higher. We’ve even found that sales-seeded content can outperform digital display adverting in terms of both overall traffic and engagement. And, as a channel, it’s effectively free.

What’s more, it gives Sales and Marketing a joint sense of ownership of the lead nurturing process and content strategy. And it enables the brand to demonstrate true “joined up” thinking.

There are many areas where Sales and Marketing can work together better. But the data certainly suggests that social media are one way to make this happen.

With the year of the 2012 Games drawing to a close, sponsors will be busy trying to answer one question: was it worth it?

For most sponsors, measurement is tricky enough – with intricate models largely built around brand metrics and their linkage to purchase behaviour.

But for B2B sponsors of such a consumer-focused event, it’s an even more complex story. A large proportion of the audience will have little idea who the B2B sponsors are, and certainly won’t see themselves as part of the target market.

So any calculation will have to evaluate the true reach in terms of the sponsor’s prospects, the financial benefit of the emotional engagement with their business audience (always a hot topic), the possible benefits of broader consumer knowledge of the brand, and the value of corporate hospitality for key customers. In terms of the return to the business, it can be a tough one to call.

But there is one group of clear winners. Sponsorship of an event like the 2012 Games can be a powerful opportunity for businesses to do what is often most critical (and most costly) in a B2B sell – a real life demonstration of their products and services.

So UPS can demonstrate how they have the capability to handle the biggest-ever peacetime logistics operation. Dow can demonstrate how their materials are capable of meeting the construction demands of a building as iconic as the Olympic stadium, and Deloitte can show how they help solve the planning and operational challenges of such a vast undertaking. It’s not just about parting with money for the rights to expose the brand, it’s about helping to make the Games happen.

It’s one of the oldest truths about B2B marketing – in many cases it’s the product demo that seals the deal. And to present that demo in a context that’s as interesting and emotionally engaging as the 2012 Games is a great opportunity. The rational and emotional in perfect harmony – pure gold for B2B marketers.

Gareth Richards, Managing Director, Ogilvy Primary Contact

Our brand campaign for Sage sets out to show how their software and services can help micro businesses grow and succeed.

Sage is trusted and well-known to small and medium businesses, especially for its accounts software. The new campaign is designed to broaden this perception to smaller and start-up businesses, and present the benefits of Sage’s full range of products such as CRM and HR software, and its cloud offering.

Under a platform of ‘Discover your business potential’, the campaign highlights the sort of insights Sage can provide to business owners, far beyond the sort of statutory reporting that accounting software normally offers.

National and business press advertising, online, and radio, drive to a range of content and case studies designed to provide practical help and support to micro businesses and those thinking of starting a business for the first time.

Telling the stories behind their role in delivering the London 2012 Games has been a powerful way for UPS to engage their staff, customers, prospects, and a broader public. As the Olympics gives way to the Paralympics, this film tells how UPS delivered the kit of the ParalympicGB athletes. Caz Walton, OBE, winner of ten Paralympic gold medals, remembers what a proud moment it is when athletes receive their kit for the first time.

As official logistics provider of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, UPS is responsible for delivering over 30 million items of inventory and equipment. It’s a massive task. And the partnership is much more than an exercise in brand visibility, it’s a real demonstration of the strength of UPS’s capability. The latest TV spot brings home the relevance to UK businesses with a simple message – if UPS can handle a complex task like the 2012 Games, imagine what they can do for your business. TV runs alongside press, radio and outdoor; driving traffic online where video case studies build the story of the biggest ever peacetime logistical exercise.

FM Global is a commercial property insurer with a unique engineering-based approach. A familiar business brand in North America, the company is now raising its profile amongst risk management professionals and the C-suite in the UK. With risk management growing as a boardroom issue, Ogilvy Primary Contact is differentiating FM Global through empathy with strategic business issues concerning risk. The launch campaign highlights supply-chain risk and FM Global’s capabilities in this area. Specialist press, business and specialist online, along with search and PR, link through to a campaign site that offers trusted thought-leadership content to drive engagement, subscription and sharing.

Ogilvy Primary Contact has created a new campaign for Syngenta, one of the world’s leading crop protection companies.

In an age of increasing food consumption, the repercussions of crop failure are almost unthinkable. And with the world’s population estimated to top 9 billion by 2050, the debate about how we maximise growth efficiency is more pressing than ever. OPC has created a pertinent set of ads positioning Syngenta at the forefront of this debate.

Syngenta recognises the need to create the solutions to realise farming’s full potential and promote and lead the discussion on producing greater yields in sustainable ways.

OPC’s work does exactly this, canvassing interest for the two main themes of Syngenta’s campaign: maximising crop yields and water conservation. Written by Graham Bunting and art directed by Robin Atkins, the campaign launches in multiple formats including international press, selected news websites and prominent poster sites at airports.

A specialist website provides an online hub of information and discussion about the need to realise farming’s full potential.

To visit Syngenta’s website, and find out more about their work, click here.

As a leader in network IT solutions for businesses, BT Global Services wanted to increase their thought-leadership credentials within the boardroom. ‘Bigger Thinking’ was born.Bigger Thinking recognises that in the fast paced world of business, the need to step back and see the bigger picture is greater than ever. A 360° suite of global communications allows BT to inform, generate and share ideas on big issues in business today. This higher-level dialogue can be seen at www.biggerthinking.com.