« Ogilvy Group UK Home

2010 is set to be the year that social media marketing graduates. The year when it will be included, as a matter of course, in 360 communications plans. We have seen many brands in the last year turning to social as an answer to stripped down budgets. And only to be surprised that creating an engaging voice in the social web is not as “free” as first assumed.

The 2010 graduation will bring with it a host of changes - technical, communicative and cultural. All of which will contribute to the marketing mix becoming ever more integrated. However, that true integration is not only dependant on the structure of agencies and businesses but on cementing a true social media approach in both PROs’ and clients’ attitudes.

As the web becomes ever more “real time” the inevitable question is what will happen when it can anticipate our movements, thoughts, feelings and wants before we actually have them. Brian Solis started discussions about the “Predictive Web” this month on his blog, and he may well be hitting on a point of interest for 2010. Services such as PlanCast, that allow us to update followers ahead of time about what we will be up to, are likely to be a focus of 2010 and beyond.

2009 was about getting involved with social media. Many brands were grappling to develop their online presence by tacking social media amplification at the end of a campaign, rather than adopting a fully integrated strategy. 2010 is the year of measurement and social media’s full integration into communication plans.

As users will require ways to access all of the sites they are involved with from one place and manage them all at once. This will lead to the rise in the popularity of lifestreaming tools and the management of online presences.

The popularity of applications, widgets is rising as consumers require easy-to-use tools to navigate the social web. Brands are increasingly likely to adopt this way of interacting with consumers by producing something of use and interest to their customers.

Sending a DM tweet to a contact whilst out for lunch and updating your Facebook status on the way home from work is nothing new. However, the idea of being in contact wherever and whenever is set to reach new heights of popularity this year as more and more people choose internet enabled mobile devices for staying connected 24/7 with GPS and location based capabilities to tie into new services such as Four Square.

We are incredibly passionate about the campaigns we are involved in and our hard work and dedication, going hand in hand with our innovative and dynamic clients, has resulted in a fruitful 2009. In no particular order, here are the top client campaigns that have excited us, inspired us, and achieved fantastic results:

Barbie’s 50th birthday broadcast project (Mattel)

2009 marked the 50th birthday of the world’s favourite doll and Mattel asked Ogilvy PR London to help kick off the party in Europe with a big bang at the International Toy Fair, Nuremberg in February  this year. We combined visually compelling broadcast content with innovative digital tools, including a social media press release, to provide the media around the world with an engaging story package of Barbie’s birthday.

Future Focus digital campaign (IBM)

Ogilvy PR supported the series of ‘IBM Future Focus’ events for mid-market businesses through a social media campaign. This campaign was a first for IBM in the UK, bringing together social media interaction, video content creation and live publishing across multiple platforms. Through a programme of harnessing key influencers to contribute to the content, and integrating social media in to the onsite activities, through video, live blogging and micro blogging, IBM was able to bring an audience with relatively low social media engagement into the heart of a social campaign.

Corporate digital survey project (LexisNexis)

In order to raise the profile of information service provider LexisNexis as a corporate sponsor of the Online Information 2009 event, a survey was conducted examining people’s perceptions of the importance and influence of online information in determining their purchasing decisions.  The survey results served to establish LexisNexis as a thought leader in the online social media space. We achieved positive coverage across multiple outlets, such as Brand Republic.

Rightmove iPhone app launch (2Ergo)

This trade campaign for mobile technology provider 2ergo involved working with a select number of key online influencers, technology press and mobile analysts to give them a preview of the product before it went live at an exclusive event. We also created a YouTube channel to host video content.  As a result of the coverage generated about and the app, the Rightmove iPhone app shot up to first place on the UK downloads chart within days of its release. You can view some selected trade press articles on the Mobile Choice and IT Pro websites.

The Brazilian food journey campaign (Brazilian tourist board Embratur)

The campaign aimed to endorse Brazil as a tourist destination via one of its most unique cultural offerings; its food. We invited a restaurant reviewer to experience the Brazilian restaurant scene at first hand by setting up a trip to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro with an itinerary that took in a mixture of top-end restaurants, markets, juice bars and bakeries in order to show the full spectrum of Brazilian eating. As a result of the press trip to Brazil, coverage was generated in the Financial Times, Guardian online and Evening Standard twice.

The examples above provide a small insight into the type of work we have been involved in during 2009.  Here’s to what promises to be a fantastic 2010!

Hot on the heels of the recent launch of OgilvyEarth, our sister sustainability practice, we’ve commissioned a study about businesses’ and consumers’ current views on CSR commitment. What it shows us is that regardless of the fears in the business community, consumers’ loyalty to ethical and social issues is holding up during the recession. We believe that now is the opportunity for business leaders to prove that they’re sincere and truly committed to CSR promises. 

In partnership with research firm Populus we’ve interviewed over 2,000 British opinion formers and consumers. An overwhelming majority of those business leaders (67 per cent to be precise) see trust in companies’ CSR issues as a key aspect for corporate success. At the same time, over a third of business leaders think that companies, which scale back on CSR during the economic downturn, will regret the decision come the recovery.

The survey results also prove that recession has done little to curb consumer demand for products with social and environmental credentials. Nearly 40 per cent of consumers are actually more concerned with environmental and social issues than they were before the recession began. There is also a growing trend to put business under more scrutiny. Some 29 per cent of consumers admit to paying more attention now to a product’s environmental and social credentials compared with 12 months ago.

In our view one possible victim of the recession is consumer trust in businesses’ commitment to sticking to their word on sustainability. Surprisingly enough, only one third of consumers expressed confidence in UK companies to remain committed to their social and environmental promises.

To see what the papers and trade’s have being saying about this check out the Financial Times,  The Independent, PR Week or UTalkMarketing.

Swine Flu is moving fast, WHO flu expert Dr Keiji Fukuda said yesterday that: “Containment is not a feasible operation” and that it has raised the alert level to four (only two steps short of a full pandemic).  News and information on the issue in the digital world is moving at an incredible pace but there are now on-line means of monitoring and managing it. We have set up a simple listening post which can be used to focus relevant information into one useful place - http://tinyurl.com/ogilvyswineflu. It is worth checking out the site that Ogilvy in Asia have set up on this particular issue – flu.ogilvy.com.hk/.

Whether it becomes a pandemic or not Swine Flu will have implications for business especially in this time of low confidence – share prices in the airline industry are falling sharply, the pork industry is bracing itself for falling sales and on a smaller level business trading with Mexico will experience an impact. If it does become a pandemic then the implications will be much more widespread and, as Mexico is already experiencing, have a substantial economic and business impact.

Getting into the habit of setting up the sort of monitoring processes highlighted above will help shape your ability to manage your reputation and minimise any potential financial impact. Make sure your pc, laptop and mobile are connected and delivering clear perspectives on the world you operate in.

For more information on Crisis Response Management, take a look at the following presentation:

Ogilvy Public Relations has won a brace of new corporate technology accounts, following global competitive pitches. The new clients, MTS and Infortrend are both retained accounts. As Russia’s largest mobile phone operator MTS services over 91 million subscribers and Infortrend, the Taiwanese network storage solutions provider, is recognised as one of the industry’s pioneers in providing reliable, fault-tolerant technology with a PR programme covering seven countries in three regions.

In selecting Ogilvy PR, Infortrend’s EMEA marketing director Jon Ashley paid tribute to the agency’s broad range of expertise: “Ogilvy PR’s creative approach… is like a breath of fresh air and the team just convinced us with their originality, enthusiasm and broadcast and digital abilities,” he said.

These two wins follow on from a successful 2008 for new business for Ogilvy PR, a fact recognised by OPR London’s technology lead Clare Gibbins; “we’re certainly on a roll with new technology clients. These… hits are an enormous success for our tech PR practice and build on our IT and telecoms sector expertise.”

by John Heredea 

London. It’s an inspirational city. Chalked full of museums and theatres, all within a stone’s throw of each other. However, Canary Wharf can often seem far removed from the inspirational surroundings tourists to the city are greeted with.

Given the global remits and international scope of the FM Global account, it thus made sense to hold our European PR Summit in a city where one can’t help but be inspired by their surroundings. Hence, the UK OPR FM Global team crossed the channel and journeyed to Paris in early July to meet with both our French and German OPR colleagues and FM Global’s European communications team for brainstorming sessions and to share ideas with our continental colleagues across the water.

Given the international make-up of the group (the UK team alone comprised of two Americans, a Canadian and a German, and one lonely Brit) we relished in the opportunity to liaise with our international colleagues on a day out of Canary Wharf. After a productive and collaborative half-day meeting, the teams decided to soak in some French culture, with a stroll along the Champs Elysees, brief tours of the Eiffel Tower and Arc De Triomphe and a brilliant dinner at a local brasserie prior to heading back to London.

All in all, a successful day out. We must have become inspired by our Parisien surroundings, as we’re currently implementing many of the strategies and initiatives outlined during the brainstorm.

by Tim Whirledge 

Good news- here at Ogilvy PR in London, we’ve been selected as Agency of Record for Embratur, the Brazilian Tourism Board.

We’ve been chosen to showcase the diversity and affordability of Brazil as a holiday destination to Blighty holiday makers. The team will support Embratur’s consumer marketing and trade activities at key industry events including World Travel Market in November.

Chris Fuzinatto, Director of the Brazilian Tourist Office in London said, “Ogilvy PR London was a natural choice to implement and coordinate our UK activities because of their understanding of and passion for the travel sector as well as their proven experience in delivering results.  We look forward to sharing our story so that people can discover the many hidden wonders of Brazil.” 

Our very own Rosie Robbins added, “Embratur’s sponsorship of the London Bossa Nova Festival in early July will be a swinging start to our campaign”.

Rosie, (for those of you who aren’t travel and tourism journos!) is our travel and tourism specialist here in the Wharf and claims to be able to speak fluent Spanish and Portugese. She qualifies this having had “a bit of banter” during an earlier campaign for Embratur, with none other than Brazilian World Cup winning legend Carlos Alberto, listening to him talk through his 1970 ‘wonder goal‘! It’s a terrible existence hey Rosie; all that South American travel and fire-side chats with living football legends?!

The aforementioned Bossa Nova festival will celebrate fifty years of the chilled-out Bossa Nova sound this year and will play host to acclaimed international musicians bringing a little bit of Rio to the South Bank. Well, nearly.

Our MD Kerrin said; “Adding such an important and beautiful country to our growing travel portfolio strengthens our reputation for providing journalists with creative and interesting ideas for travel and lifestyle stories. Furthermore, our broadcast and digital specialists will bring the sights and sounds of Brazil directly to holidaymakers surfing the ‘net looking for exciting and adventurous new destinations.” 

by Laurence Cook 

Choice is hell.  If you don’t believe me, just try to make a quick decision on what to buy on any supermarket shelf you can name.  There’s just too much to take in.

Fragmentation is the defining trait of modern life, not surprising when we are told daily of technology’s explosive impact.  We have more media channels than we know what to do with.  Torrents of information make our lives more stressful.  Everything is quicker.  Faster.  Immediate.  Whatever it is, we need it now. 

It is bad enough in our daily lives, but when you look at the impact of this trait in business, it is very serious indeed.

Corporate reputations have never been so at risk as they are today seemingly held together by gossamer threads. 

Broad goals and common themes are lost in microscopic analysis.  Silos develop.  Momentum stalls.  Far from moving in one purposeful direction, businesses discover they are in an expanding universe each department pulling away in all directions from the central core.  And, as with space, this movement is invisible to the naked eye; until it is too late.

Business is aware that forces are at work, but the remedies tend to focus on the effect rather than the cause.  Employee engagement schemes work at cross-purposes to investor relations programmes.  Customer experience development is developed in isolation to marketing initiatives.  Compliance to ever-increasing regulatory requirements is at odds with internal communications programmes encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship.  The result is not dissimilar to the permanent hole in the road as each utility takes its turn to dig up the road for essential maintenance in some Sisyphean job creation scheme. 

Often the remedies bring abrupt shifts in direction and emphasis, which test and stretch stakeholder relationships.  And, erode value and reputations.

This is a considerable management and leadership challenge.  And a communication opportunity.  Ambition and perception must be backed by reality.  It involves a concerted communication effort across the silos and functions of a modern organisation.  It is communication beyond the glossy ad campaign, the internal newsletter and state-of-the art digital online platform.  It is communication intimately linked to the operational well-being and structure of the business.

It is a focus on communications that realigns the business behind a credible, common goal, communications that recognises the importance of variety and innovation.  But, most important, communications that looks to results directly measurable in hard cash and active management of the risks to reputation inherent in operational structures.

Our goal at Ogilvy 2020 is to identify and mend the connections between the critical components or drivers of value in a business – ambition, reality and perception.  We create a planned interplay between these critical elements to help unlock hidden value in a business, reallocate resources efficiently and help make sure all pull in the same direction. 

Ogilvy PR has been shortlisted for 10 European SABRE Awards! 

Our European CEO Martin Liptrot said, “I am delighted to see us have so many great campaigns shortlisted for Sabre Awards in 2008. On behalf of the whole Ogilvy family we send our congratulations to those offices who have been selected and hope that we get to bring some more trophies home from Venice later this month.”

The SABRE winners will be announced at an award ceremony in Venice on Thursday 22 May. Good luck to everyone shortlisted from London!

A recent article on psychological research sheds interesting light on people’s behaviour in relation to price.  At its most basic, people expect more expensive things to work better, taste better and look better.  Think about it yourself.  How often have you spent more on something on the basis that the price is indicative of quality?  A bottle of wine, perhaps?  Organic food?  What this…hang on!  This is what brands have always been about.  A brand at its most basic was a marker of quality.  A guarantee of certain contents; certain processes followed; a contract with the purchaser that this was the real McCoy – it built an expectation.  And, as such, it cost a little more.

So why is this research interesting?  The researchers were perpetrating a fraud.  The wine used for the test was the same cheaper variety.  The drugs tested were in fact placebos with no medicinal value whatsoever. 

Interestingly, when the price was not shown the wine drinkers preferred the lowest priced.  When they trusted their own judgement, they went for what they liked, not a promise.  And that, to my mind, is why brands fight for their lives everyday.  If a brand fails to deliver on its promise, be it in big a way or small way, its reputation takes a knock, eroding trust and its value falls.  That’s bad for business. 

Consumer brands can focus on a dominant audience and a clearly defined set of characteristics – taste, colour, aroma – to revive their reputation.  Corporate brands (who might own a consumer brand or two) have a much wider range of people whose expectations need fulfilling such as investment performance, job security, responsible citizenship and so on.

Businesses need to manage their reputations actively on all fronts if they are to prosper and grow.  Effort here will help build up their immune system for bad times and keep them fit and healthy in good.  To be fair most businesses try to do this and devote resources to ensuring their vision, image and culture are all clearly defined though they are managed independently by different elements in the company. 

However, these three building blocks of reputation are dependent on each other and mutually reinforcing, which means we have opportunities to work across the management spectrum to make sure these connections work.  And when the connections do work, a company can live up to expectations.

Laurence Cook