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That was the title of the PR Moment event hosted here at Ogilvy Public Relations this past Wednesday. Chaired by our EAME CEO, Stuart Smith, and with over 100 people in attendance; it was standing room only as representatives from both British Gas and Age UK shared their lessons and findings from their own Facebook marketing endeavours.

Some examples include Rob Mansfield citing that Age UK use Facebook for conversation, feedback and of course, to be a more human brand. With over 5m over-50s on Facebook, Age UK’s choice of social platform is a wise one indeed. Good work.

Following on from that, Laura Price from British Gas talked through their key reasons for Facebook usage; pro-active response, self-help and engagement. With each different area providing a different service for their consumers, Laura pointed out that although many people ‘like’ their page simply to complain, at least that British can do something about it, i.e.: converse with their fans in order to fix the problem at hand.

A telling statement, and one that we agree with.

Also, a worthy mention of customer service tool ‘Get Satisfaction‘, which British Gas also use by way of a Facebook app to help manage the flow of their customer queries.

Finally, our latest recruit James Whatley stepped up to speak about which organisations should use Facebook (and which should not). His slides are up on Slideshare and we throughly recommend clicking through for a peruse (along with slide notes!) to see what he was talking about…

All in all a great night was had by everyone who attended. Keep an eye on PR Moment for information about the next upcoming event and perhaps we’ll see you there!

Ogilvy Public Relations/London has appointed James Whatley as Senior Associate Director, 360° Digital Influence. Reporting to Michael Darragh, James brings seven years experience developing integrated marketing communications campaigns.

James joins from 1000heads where he played an integral part on global award-winning campaigns such as Nokia / Tron: Legacy, the Foursquare-enable d gift machine and, most recently, The Dark Knight Rises limited edition Lumia. Outside of his work with Nokia, James has also worked on projects with Heineken, MARS, P&G and YouthNet.

James’ career highlights and awards include winning best viral campaign (SoMeComms), best use of existing social media channels (Digital Impact Awards) and best viral (Cream London) for Nokia/Tron Legacy.

Michael Darragh, Head of Digital, London, said:

“James joins Ogilvy PR at a time of increased demand for social counsel from corporate brands. Our digital practice is growing rapidly and James’ expertise in enterprise social media strategy, wholly integrated marketing communications programmes, and mobile, adds another string to Ogilvy PR’s bow.”

In his new role, James will lead social business and B2B communications strategy for global clients.

About his appointment, James Whatley said:

“I am very, very excited about joining a fantastic team who are not only going through a period of meteoric growth, but also have the ambition to match.”

James’s appointment is effective immediately and follows recent senior digital hires at Ogilvy PR including Eb Adeyeri (LEWIS PR), Michael Cooper (Wolfstar PR) and Kristin Parrish (Ogilvy PR/Atlanta). Ogilvy PR’s global 360° Digital Influence group was named “Most Outstanding Digital/Social Consultancy” at The Holmes Report’s 2011 Global SABRE Awards.

James is:

• Alumni at The Marketing Academy (Marketing Hall of Legends UK)
• Co-Founder, Writer and Presenter at The Really Mobile Project
• A keen mobile industry commentator and analyst
• Founder at Mobile Geeks of London
• Advisor to a number of start-ups

You can follow him on Twitter as @whatleydude

Seasoned, Award-Winning European Consumer Marketing Specialist Takes on Prominent Regional Role.

We are excited to announce that Michael Frohlich has been appointed to the newly-created role of Managing Director, EAME Consumer Marketing practice. Reporting to Stuart Smith, Frohlich brings more than 17 years expertise in building effective and award-winning consumer marketing campaigns for his clients.

Frohlich joins from the Bell Pottinger Group (part of Chime plc). He led multinational campaigns for some of the world’s leading brands and public figures and has worked across a range of PR and marketing disciplines and businesses including: brand strategy and planning; health; political campaigning; consumer; corporate; tech; marketing services.

Stuart Smith, CEO of the EAME region said:

“We’ve had a great 2011 and we are investing further in the business. Michael is a formidable consumer strategist and astute business leader whose experience, international outlook and energy extends our ability to offer truly global, creative and integrated solutions for brands and businesses. He has led teams to win some of the top awards in the world for creative work and I am confident he will bolster an already flourishing EAME consumer team.”

In his new role, Frohlich will work closely with the consumer practices in other offices throughout EAME to drive business development and contribute across practices in the areas of strategy and creative development. During his time at Chime plc, Frohlich was founder of Resonate Communications, which was named as one of the Best PR Agencies in the UK by Marketing Magazine. He co-founded a joint venture between Resonate Communications and VCCP advertising agency, focusing on ‘social communications’.

Frohlich has won and led teams to win, numerous industry awards (including: Gold at Cannes Lions Festival; UK PR Week Award; Media Guardian Campaign of the Year) and served as a judge at the 2010 Cannes PR Lions Festival. He was also recognised as one of the top 3 “Most Promising Young UK Business Leaders” in the Daily Telegraph Awards, named to the PRWeek Power Book from 2007-2011 and sits on the Public Relations Consultancy Association PR Council.

About his appointment, Michael said:

“Given all the changes in our industry as communications and marketing channels continue to converge, there is nowhere I’d rather practice creative, edgy campaigns for brands than an integrated communications firm full of smart people which is enjoying great growth and winning awards. I look forward to working with the network of entrepreneurial and innovative professionals. ”

Frohlich will join Ogilvy PR in February 2012, further strengthening Ogilvy PR’s EAME leadership team which also includes Sandra Saias, recently transferred from Ogilvy PR’s Chicago office as MD Strategy + Planning EAME, and Kaitlyn Wilkins who leads the EAME 360o Digital Influence team.