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As part of our 30th Anniversary celebrations this year, Ogilvy PR was set a challenge by our Global CEO, Chris Graves. A competition was devised for anyone under the age of 30 across our 70+ offices around the world to answer the question of ‘What will Ogilvy PR look like in 2040?’

Reflecting on the enormity of what has happened since the 1980s in communications and media, this was not an easy task and with an open brief and accessibility to any media, it was time for our young minds to get their creative juices flowing.

And now for the clever bit….our very own graduate, Kate Woodruff, decided to construct a 30 verse poem based on her perspective, not just from PR but as an Ogilvy Fellow.  As a fellow, Kate has had exposure to the work in all of the Ogilvy companies and access to some of the greatest minds working in communications today.  To this end, she tracked down some of the key figures across the entire Ogilvy group and WPP network – including personal idol Jon Steel – asking where they thought communications would be and how PR would fit into the mix 30 years into the future. These conversations formed the basis of her entry.

In her own words, Kate noted, ‘We at Ogilvy PR London are continuously looking for ways to tell a story – from the anecdotes we tell journalists, to the way we package our ideas to our clients, to how we structure a pitch – the aim is to always, always tell a good story. My story is in the form of a poem: 30 verses to celebrate 30 years of greatness, in anticipation of the next 30 years to come. Poetry is a classic and timeless method of storytelling and one that is often forgotten amidst the other modern channels of communication. In a century where there are more and more ways of communicating a message, thanks to creativity and new technologies, it’s important not to leave those traditional ones behind.’

And what a storyteller she turned out to be, winning the coveted prize for the entire EAME region. The UK may get nil points at Eurovision, but when it comes to PR, we clearly rock! Huge congratulations Kate!

To view Kate’s award winning entry, please click on the following link http://www.ogilvy.co.uk/ogilvy-public-relations/magnum-oprus/

Whitehall, the scene, the world of high finance and emerging markets, the actors. Representatives from the rapidly emerging former soviet nation of Kazakhstan engaged in frenetic business networking around the lobby of Banqueting House. Ogilvy Public Relations were there to support the work of our client Kazakh Sovereign Wealth Fund, Samruk Kazyna. As we have done over the last two years, international media interviews were organised and executed.

The media came to consume a story that Ogilvy were all too familiar with. Kazakhstan had ridden the worst excesses of the global banking crisis with some acumen. Developing a new system for restructuring failing banks and standing up to the international banking community, saying: ‘You will take significant haircuts, you will take responsibility’. Not only has this concept generated significant endorsement from highly acclaimed financial commentators, but it is beginning to seep into the fabric of international policy development. Understandably, the media wanted to know more.

We peppered the two days of the KBF with one-on-one interviews and profiles of some of Kazakhstan’s financial and political decision makers, as well as providing access to the architect of the most successful bank restructuring of the 21st century, Marcia Favale Tarter.

The next two days, one spent in the halls of Whitehall and the second in the Mandarin Oriental, Knightsbridge saw Ogilvy PR organise interviews for the Central Bank President of Kazakhstan, Grigory Marchenko and Mr. Kairat Kelimbetov, CEO of Samruk Kazyna. As well as rubbing shoulders with some of the most influential states people, bankers and industrialists. Indeed we were intrigued when the former British EU Trade Minister and Business Secretary, Peter Mandelson gave an impromptu speech, praising the debt restructuring of BTA Bank.

With frequent barriers to achieving successful results, from last-minute changes of interview venues, to journalist drop-outs hours before the interview was scheduled, Ogilvy PR’s team of Owen Nanlohy, Tom Bell and Ben Lock ensured the smoothest of planned media interviews went off without a hitch.

The end result, a highly satisfied client, a deeper appreciation for the innovative ‘bail-in’ model for the banking world and a greater geographical knowledge of the hotels of Knightsbridge and Belgravia.

“With the London office continuing to grow and more and more of our clients seeking to include digital influence as part of their campaigns Michael will play a key role in the next stage of Ogilvy PR London’s development.” says Ross Cathcart, Senior Director at Ogilvy Public Relations London.

A social media and Internet word-of-mouth expert, Michael has 12 years’ digital communications experience gained in Asia, Australia and Europe. He joins the London HQ from Ogilvy PR/Shanghai where he founded the agency’s 360° Digital Influence practice in China.

Michael joined Ogilvy PR/Shanghai four years ago and during his tenure the agency was twice awarded Best Use of Digital at the Asia Pacific PR Week Awards for South China Morning Post and Pond’s Age Miracle. His social media portfolio also covers two of the biggest events in China’s recent history: the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games and this year’s World Expo in Shanghai.

Michael began his career at a Sydney-based magazine publishing house in the late 90s where he was charged with digitising the company’s print titles, including the Australian edition of Rolling Stone. He moved to China in 2002 and established his own digital marketing consultancy; servicing contracts in Sydney, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Barcelona. This was followed in 2005 with a brief stint as manager of Internet communications at the Asia-Pacific headquarters of Alcatel-Lucent in Shanghai before joining Ogilvy PR/Shanghai in September 2006 as Digital Influence Strategist, China.

Blog: michaeldarragh.co.uk

Twitter: twitter.com/michaeldarragh

In the first of a planned series of blog updates from our new joiners, Ogilvy PR is delighted to present AJ, our summer intern (and third from the right front row, above) and his first OPR experience…

“Picture this: an Ogilvy newbie keen to impress on their first day, 39 young British athletes waiting nervously to board a plane and a room full of press including everyone from the UK’s national newspapers to Blue Peter. Forget that nervous excitement you’d expect to feel on a normal first day, because this was no ordinary day and no ordinary role: welcome to a day in the life of an Ogilvy PR intern. The day in question – Monday 9^th August 2010 – was the launch of the first ever Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in a hotel near Heathrow.

First day, first event – surely nothing could go wrong. I’d travelled from East to West London without so much as a red signal on the underground (which for the uninformed is nothing short of a miracle for rush hour on the Piccadilly Line). Upon my arrival I confidently ordered some coffee, not realizing that although I was over an hour early, I was in the wrong hotel. 45 minutes and 4 hotels later, I’d finally arrived at my destination and was well on my way to my first fully fledged day in Ogilvy PR and all things YOG.

The set-up was slick, with all 39 athletes and media arriving at different times throughout the day. Our job: to coordinate the athletes and ensure they meet all the relevant media, whilst also organizing TV interviews to ensure we met our regional broadcast requirements for the evening news. Written down that sounds simple enough, however, actually finding the athletes proved slightly trickier with the presence of several ‘Lauras’ and umpteen ‘Sams’. All this, together with the meet and greets, kit collection and a plane to catch meant I soon found minutes turning into hours and the pressure starting to rise. But with the clock ticking and palms sweating things all started to fall into place. The highlight was seeing the interview we filmed with badminton player Sarah Milne go live on ITV Yorkshire later that evening, where she thanked her home county for its support and talked about her hopes and dreams for Singapore and beyond.

Come the end, all that was left to do was pack up and wish the athletes good luck!”

Ogilvy Public Relations in London has been appointed by US watch company Bulova Corporation, as it launches in the UK.

Earlier this year the corporation announced the establishment of a wholly-owned subsidiary responsible for the UK and Irish markets, called Bulova UK. The launch will be supported by approximately £1m in initial capital.

Ogilvy will be promoting Bulova products to trade and consumers with a programme of media and influencer relations.

The agency will focus on the brand’s heritage of design and style, combined with technology.

Ogilvy senior director Ross Cathcart says: “Bulova is an incredibly popular and well- established brand in the US and we aim to translate that success to the UK and beyond.”

Despite the sweltering heat on Friday, the Ogilvy PR team heard some inspiring stories at the Idea Shop East and got very excited about our discipline in the short talk we gave on “How To Make PR Work for You” (following on from Ogilvy comms head Kevin’s talk on the Thursday night on “Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About PR But Were Afraid To Ask”)  and our various heroes and anti-heroes  (Alistair Campbell and Ryanair, that’s you).

We talked to representatives from two organisations that are doing some genuinely innovative work in their respective (very different) fields:

CAADA (Co-ordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse) is a national charity working to prevent domestic abuse, by supporting the work of different agencies such as police and social services. For instance, they developed the MARAC (multi-agency risk assessment conference) programme, which has saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of women and children. We were struck by how much this chimed with the new Government’s call for public services to stretch their coffers further while delivering the same result, since the MARAC initiative also helps save millions of taxpayers’ money.

Together with Sam Brown, CAADA’s Head of Communications, we explored ways to help a complex set of audiences better understand that the tragedy of domestic abuse does really affect everyone.

The team at Screen Deep create events and experiences in film, theatre, music, games and live events, from the Red Restaurant 1930s jazz experience in Brighton to the interactive pop-up cinema Touch It. Quite frankly they ooze creativity, so it was up to us to help identify best way to seed their future projects to key influencers and potential new audiences. Watch out for them – they’re coming soon to East London…

Ogilvy Idea Shop is an initiative that seeks to offer free consultancy to small and medium-sized businesses . On Monday (14th June), a mini-version of  Idea Shop visited The Tourism Society Annual Conference to offer travel industry professionals a social media masterclass, free consultancy and lots of good ideas for growing their business.

The Tourism Society Annual Conference is an opportunity for travel professionals  to network and attend  seminars to discuss the industry and its future.

New technology and challenging economic and environmental circumstances are raising important new questions for anyone who is responsible for a travel brand in 2010. How can one reach an increasingly niche and fragmented set of consumer audiences? What will stop a customer service hiccup from turning into a reputational disaster? How can a brand communicate its sustainability policy without being accused of greenwash? With falling newspaper circulations, should travel companies still be inviting journalists on press trips? What is Twitter, and should we all be Tweeting?

The Ogilvy PR team spent the day helping attendees address these challenges, right across the range of PR practices including Consumer, Corporate and Broadcast PR, and Digital Influence – identifying and engaging influencers and activating people in social media.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable day, with the team fielding questions about the value of Twitter to a travel business, ways in which training outfits can equip small businesses to promote themselves without the advantage of a big budget, and even simple things such as getting started on Facebook; no question was too large or small to command out attention.

With great tools like the new Apple iPad (above) on hand we were able to very simply show people how to navigate online assets that would allow them to start conversations with consumers and influencers and promote their businesses, now what could be more valuable than that?

Ogilvy PR London has just returned a little bleary-eyed but hugely motivated and united from its first overnight Away Day.

The setting: a beautiful collection of converted farm houses in the Kent countryside – heated swimming pool, tennis courts and rolling hills included.

The idea: to form a collective vision for the future, of best practice and team cohesion. We wanted to take a whole day out to make sure that everyone’s ideas were heard – from account executives to business partners – and to formulate a five-year plan that would see us getting bigger, stronger and better over the coming years.

The outcome: a happy bunch of campers raring to put all creative and practical insights into practice to the benefit of both the internal team, and most importantly a happy client. In summary, the whole experience was hugely rewarding and motivating, something that is perhaps scarce at this point in time in a tumultuous industry.

The day comprised of a series of team talks and group work where activities centred on our vision for the future, our strengths and weaknesses, a master class on winning new business and a thoroughly enjoyable business partners’ Q&A session. When all the serious work was done and our flip charts pushed aside, a serious amount of fun ensued…

A group of us went clay pigeon shooting – gold stars went to account directors Drennan Du Plooy and Celestine Cheong, whilst the greatest improvements came from Katie Darwin and Owen Nanlohy (think zero to hero).

Those left behind benefitted from the French Boules skills of semi-professional European champion, Senior Director Ross Cathcart. A tight competition ensued culminating with a nail-biting grand finale with Ross and Ricky Vazquez only just taking the title from brilliant newcomers Alex Clack and player-of-the-moment Lindsey Reaney.

A delicious and ample(!) Hog Roast, a highly competitive quiz, Owen’s homemade cocktails and the soundtrack from Glee ended a perfect day. No need to mention the coach ride home the next morning…

Last night the biggest names in the PR industry gathered in the  Roundhouse Theatre in Camden for one of the most important evenings in the PR awards calendar – The 2009 EMEA Sabre Awards.

Following a champagne reception in the stalls of the theatre, the agencies were invited to take their places for the start of the awards. Representing Ogilvy PR London were Clare Gibbins, Clair Whitefield, Rachael Rees, Blair Metcalfe and Lindsey Reaney. We were joined also by our colleagues from OgilvyHealth PR, SPN Ogilvy (Russia) and Ogilvy PR Czech Republic.

The night was a triumph – Ogilvy PR London alone was nominated for six awards covering the length and breadth of our PR offering from Tech to CSR, Corporate to Consumer Marketing.

The nominations celebrated work across clients from all practices including Mattel, Unilever, FremantleMedia, EMBRATUR and a special mention for our environmental product OgilvyEarth; which received particular praise in light of the very successful Hopenhagen project (below) for the COP15 climate conference in Copenhagen last year.

The consumer team were the real winners of the evening however, collecting a Sabre Award for Best Household Product for the team’s work on the Unilever Cleaner Planet Plan, an environmental initiative which launched in 2009 across the laundry category and which includes huge household names such as Persil, Surf and Comfort. The team also collected a Bronze Award for Media Placement thanks to The EMBRATUR Taste of Brazil Project which saw journalist Charles Campion complete the mean feat of touring over 20 Brazilian restaurants over 4 days and which secured coverage with London Evening Standard, the Financial Times and Guardian Unlimited.

An enjoyable evening was had by all – the team chowed down on an interesting dinner consisting of a trio of peas, vanilla and lime mash and a stuffed cabbage; excitedly tweeted from their table and had a little dance before turning in for the evening .

With a total of six awards won by the Ogilvy PR Worldwide team, the team emerged from the awards as one of the big winners of the evening alongside fellow PR giants such as Fleischman-Hillard, Frank PR and Weber Shandwick.

So who won what?

• Thinking of You – Kyivstar with SPN Ogilvy (Employee Communications category)
• The Cleaner Planet Plan - Unilever with Ogilvy PR London (Non-Corporate Charities and Not for Profits)
• Hopenhagen - United Nations with Mannov representing Ogilvy (Poster/Calendar Photography)
• Exploring the ‘truth’ behind Psoriasis - Wyeth Pharmaceuticals with OgilvyHealth PR (Website);
• Hopenhagen - United Nations with Mannov representing Ogilvy (Media Placement)
• Taste of Brazil - EMBRATUR with Ogilvy PR London (Media Placement)

This July as part of the Ogilvy Group UK’s pop up branch opening on London’s Roman Road, local community organisations will be able to benefit from Ogilvy PR’s expert advice absolutely free.

Over three days the Ogilvy Idea Shop, will serve as a free advertising and marketing clinic for local businesses, community projects, charities, arts groups and other organisations and individuals in East London and Ogilvy PR is encouraging everyone to sign up for this service.

 “Ogilvy Ideas Shop is a fantastic opportunity to pass on our knowledge and big brand experience to charities and local organisations that need marketing support but cannot afford to employ a full time communications professional. I volunteered at the first Ogilvy pop-up shop in Brixton and what was so exhilarating was meeting people and businesses with a whole range of marketing, advertising or communication issues and then seeing them walk away with tailor-made ideas and tactics that they could implement as soon as they left,” said Clair Whitefield, account manager at Ogilvy PR.

Idea Shop will be staffed by volunteers from across Ogilvy including top-notch advertising, public relations and marketing creatives, strategists and planners who ordinarily work for the agency’s big brands and will be on hand to offer advice on a variety of subjects including advertising, public relations, digital, email, social media, strategy, direct marketing, branding, design, search, SEO and copywriting.

This is the second time Ogilvy has run Idea Shop, having taken over a unit in Brixton Market in February. During the three day event Ogilvy volunteers met with 63 organisations such as Oh Sew Brixton, Artisan Carpentry, cancer care charity Macmillan and after school club Kids’ City, and gave more than 100 hours’ worth of free advice.

Anyone interested in attending the Idea Shop is invited to book in for a 90 minute session by going to www.ideashop.www.ogilvy.co.uk by 11th June
The Ogilvy Idea Shop will pop up at 430 Roman Road, London, E3 5LU from Thursday July 8 to Saturday July 10.
A dedicated website and blog is now up and running, http://ideashop.www.ogilvy.co.uk/.

You can also follow Idea Shop on Twitter @Idea_Shop.