New leadership at Ogilvy Impact
April, 20 – We are delighted to announce the appointment of Lorie Helliwell and Mike Beckerleg as new joint managing directors of Ogilvy Impact Australia.
Lorie and Mike replace Tam Sandeman who has decided to return to the UK after eight years with Ogilvy Public Relations Group of Companies – Pulse and Ogilvy Impact.
The appointments reflect a growing trend of companies recognising there is significant bottom line benefit when more focus and investment are placed on building brands from the inside out and driving strong brand ambassadorship with their people.
“With more than 15 years’ experience in the employee engagement industry, Lorie is renowned for the development and delivery of behaviour change employee programs which have driven countless business results. Together with Mike, whose significant insights from his rich experience as one of Australia’s smartest marketeers, the pair will take an already very successful and leading business to new heights,” said Kieran Moore, CEO Ogilvy Public Relations, Australia.
“Tam leaves Ogilvy Impact in tremendous shape and the new team is working in tandem with her to ensure a smooth transition period for our clients and our people.”
Lorie has been with Ogilvy Impact for over a year and was hired from the UK. She has vast experience in employee communication and prior to joining Ogilvy Impact in Australia, led in-house functions for large organisations such as BT, Telewest and Trinity Procurement, a SAB Miller company.
Mike brings 25 years’ experience on both the client and agency sides. He has overseen the brand, marketing and corporate communications divisions of such blue chip companies as Sony, Vodafone and Seiko and spent several years running Telstra, one of Australia’s largest advertising accounts.
They are both looking forward to making a strong Impact… (ahem…)
Aussies win award for pimping up IT change
On Friday 30 March, Ogilvy Impact Australia won Campaign Asia Pacific PR Awards’ Employee Communication Campaign of the Year for our All About Me McDonald’s Australia IT major change management program.
The Campaign Asia-Pacific PR Awards have become an unrivalled benchmark for the region’s external and internal communication industry and showcases the industry’s best and brightest strategies that have truly transformed businesses and brands.
Up against the likes of other major agency networks, we successfully beat the competition with a program that enabled McDonald’s Australia’s 600-strong corporate team to continue providing exceptional service and support to 85,000 employees across its restaurants following the introduction of a complex technical IT change.
Productivity levels were maintained throughout the introduction of new technology tools and survey measures identified 100% of employees supported the change and 88% believed IT was making it easier for them to do their jobs.
Using a robust, change management methodology ensured the strategy was tailored to the audience, change impacts and operational challenges. But what set this program apart was the creative genius applied to the messages, brand and execution, taking IT change to new heights.
Surprise, intrigue, experiential and interactive communication lay at the heart of the tactical plan and along with leadership endorsement and a change champion network in full swing, we ensured a highly complex IT change agenda was implemented successfully on time.
A big congratulations and a sesame seed bun to our employee engagement experts – Megan, Sabrina, Lori, Stef and Tam. Please call us if you’d like to hear more about this program and our change management methodology.
A little bit of change for Impact
Dec, 1 –Today marks a significant change day in Impact’s history as we are changing – but just a little bit. From today, we’re dropping two words from our name (‘employee communications’) and becoming ‘Ogilvy Impact’ to reflect the ever-broadening scope of our work.
Over the last 17 years we’ve been engaging and driving action not only with employees, but franchisees, members and sales channels as well. We’re still the same strategic thinkers, playful creatives, compelling storytellers and fearless doers we’ve always been helping Australia’s leading companies achieve great business results.
Being the change experts – everyone in our team has raced through the change curve, is on board with our new name and are now even more passionate about driving creativity and delivering even more award-winning work for our clients. Work that truly makes a business difference.
In the spirit of simple, clear, concise communication, that’s all we wanted to say. Happy Thursday all.
Ogilvy Impact is McCelebrating
Nov, 4 – We are very excited to announce that Ogilvy Impact Australia won two awards at Ogilvy PR’s own internal Professional Achievement Awards (PAA) this week.
The PAA’s are Ogilvy PR’s worldwide awards which give teams the opportunity to share accomplishments and recognise great work across the globe. The awards were hosted in New York, which meant a small team stayed back to represent Australia in the early hours of the morning (getting into the spirit fully and embracing the time difference by donning the latest in midnight fashion – dressing gowns and cuddly toys).
This year, it was our work for McDonald’s Australia which caught the judges attention. And even better, not only did we scoop the internal communication category, but we were also named number 1 in the Corporate category, beating off competition from our Ogilvy PR Beijing, Moscow, Taipei and San Francisco offices. The ‘All About ME: Super-Sizing IT change’ change management program turned complex technical IT change into a creative engagement piece, driving early adoption of new technology tools from all employees and lifting the culture of the organisation at the same time.
The Impact team is McCelebrating!
Ogilvy PR Australia was in total shortlisted for eight awards, and Impact was not the only one with a win. Our wonderful friends in the Ogilvy PR Melbourne team won the Social Marketing category with their ‘Organ and Tissue Authority: DonateLife Week’ campaign. Big well dones to them too.
Sabrina trumps one for Impact
Sept, 2 – This week, Ogilvy PR Australia announced its first Trumpet winners. The Trumpets is Ogilvy PR’s formal employee recognition program launched in May this year. Our company culture is built on three core values – Partnership, Learn & Grow and One Step Ahead – which are the foundations of the way we work with our clients, each other and our environments. As you would expect Impact to counsel, Ogilvy PR’s values are definitely not just a poster on the wall. Our leaders take them seriously and as such this program recognises those who exemplify them across the Ogilvy PR businesses.
We are delighted to report that our very own consultant Sabrina Herbrik, has won one of these inaugural award for ‘partnership’ to the senior team around client service and driving new opportunities. Still at only the tender age of 23, Sabrina is already in her third year at Impact and has built outstanding client relationships with all her clients. It is this which has led Impact to developing further employee engagement and change communication projects for a range of leading Australian organisations, and importantly allowed them to achieve their business goals.
We are absolutely delighted she has been recognised in this way. Sabrina will now compete at the end of the year for a bigger annual award to the value of $4,000.
A big congratulations from the Impact team also go to Rudolf ”One Step Ahead’ Wagenaar and Skye ‘Learn & Grow’ Lambley from Howorth who were recipients of the other two quarterly awards.
Peripheral Vision: PR communication in 2021
July, 27 – The practice of public relations is set for major change with Ogilvy PR Australia announcing a number of initiatives aimed at taking the company – and the profession - into the next decade.
On the back of research jointly commissioned by the company and chapters of leading Australian industry body the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), Ogilvy PR has pledged to:
- Permanently stop measuring communications effectiveness by the much derided ‘Advertising Equivalent Value’ (AVE) in 2012 and evaluate the newly proposed ‘Value Metrics’ guidelines developed by the International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communications;
- Bolster its strategy, planning, creative and insights capabilities by a further 15% in the coming year by redefining and reinvesting in existing roles. As the only Australian PR agency with a Strategy and Planning Director and a dedicated strategic communications research and insights brand the company will also begin the search for a creative director this year;
- Apply a unique 360 degrees communications filter to all briefs to further capitalise on a future where employee empowerment is paramount and digital engagement is an integral part of every consultant’s skill set; and
- Embark on an ambitious in-house training program aimed at giving consultants a better hands-on understanding of the operational demands of business and clients.
Respondents overwhelmingly agreed (76%) that the term ‘PR’ will be dropped in the next decade as the role and nature of agencies and the discipline itself changes. Kieran Moore, Ogilvy PR Australia’s Chief Executive Officer, said the public relations industry needed to redefine rather than rename itself.
“We believe the age of spin, after being on life support for several years, is now dead. While we don’t agree with dropping ‘PR’ from our discipline, we think this shows that companies, organisations and individuals are demanding authentic communications advice that focuses on the reality of reputation – in the real world context of business and organisational needs,” Ms Moore said.
Ogilvy PR, Australia’s largest and most awarded agency, undertook the research with the Australian chapter of IABC to mark the company’s 10th anniversary in Australia. The research involved 300 online quantitative surveys among Australian PR and communications professionals, informed by 18 qualitative interviews conducted with leading industry figures.
The overall theme of the study was PR communications in 2021 and the responses showed that the biggest threat to the industry was the need to quantify and redefine the way PR outcomes are measured, while the “socialisation of brands” – the ability of companies to be seen as an integral and benign part of a target audience’s lives – was highlighted as the main role (67%) for PR in the future.
“This research further emphasises that communications is both an art and a science,” Ms Moore said. “More than ever before, brands must remain authentic as audiences are looking for engagement that interests, excites, amuses and provokes thought. PR practitioners need to become even better story-tellers as they relate a brand’s messages in compelling ways, whether you’re client or agency-side.”
Translating an organisation’s stories was ranked as the most important quality for PR communication practitioners in the next decade (25%) by those on both sides of the agency and client fence.
With commentators predicting labour shortages once the huge baby boomer demographic moves into retirement, the research found a strong expectation that employee value will rise in the next decade. Seventy-nine per cent of respondents thought that by 2021 employees will be an organisation’s most critical brand ambassadors and 78% agreed that employees will expect to play a role in shaping company brands of the future.
‘’That finding aligns with all the research and experience we have gathered through our employee communication consultancy, and it’s why we are going to further stress to our clients the necessity for internal and external communications to create a united front.’’ Ms Moore said.
Key research findings and industry reaction can be found at:
http://www.ogilvypr.com.au/category/peripheral-vision-study
For a full copy of the research results please contact:
Katherine Scott
Strategy and Planning Director
Ogilvy PR Australia
About Ogilvy PR Australia
Ogilvy PR is the largest and most awarded public relations agency in Australia, scooping more than 50 Australian and global trophies in the last two years, including the top honour amongst all WPP owned PR agencies. Ogilvy PR is made up of specialist agencies including: Howorth (business and technology communications), Pulse (consumer communications), Impact Employee Communications, Parker & Partners (bi-partisan public affairs specialist), Ogilvy PR Health and Cannings (corporate communications). Ogilvy PR Australia is jointly owned by WPP and STW Group, Australia’s leading marketing, content and communications services group.
About the IABC Chapters of Australia
Founded in 1970, The International Association of Business Communicators provides a professional network of over 15,500 business communication professionals in over 80 countries. Australian members are drawn from a cross-spectrum of organisations, including the corporate, consulting, government and not-for-profit sectors. Our overriding commitment is to contribute to the success of our organisations through effective communication practice.
A roaring success for Impact
July, 7 – By Maha Obeid for Marcoms News
An integrated brand campaign with Ogilvy & Mather in Hong Kong has seen Impact take home a prestigious Bronze PR Lion from last month’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Chaired by Dave Senay, President & CEO of Fleishman-Hillard, the PR category entered its third year in 2011 with 819 entries, a 43 per cent increase on 2010.
Impact scored one of 15 bronze lions for its work on the ‘Inside Out” campaign (below, pictured) for Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, taking the stage with other bronze-winning campaigns including Greenpeace’s ‘A New Warrior’.
With the Impact team dusting off the trophy this week, Megan Caulfield, Impact’s Associate Director (pictured), said the campaign’s success came from working with Shangri-La’s employees.
“Our involvement extended from running training sessions through to the development of support materials that helped leaders not just ‘tell the story’ but to engage in real conversations about what the brand means for employees day to day,” she said. “In targeting employees first we could ensure the brand promise was delivered to customers successfully.”
The campaign centred on delivering the Shangri-La brand promise of treating guests not as king, but as kin.
“From the outset we recognised that for the Shangri-La brand proposition to inspire employees, it needed to be credible, consistent and relevant. Therefore our strategy focused on gaining leadership buy-in and encouraging discussions about the behaviours that underpin Shangri-La’s family philosophy,” Caulfield explained.
Caulfied said the team was proud to bring home the award, at the same time as bringing home Shangri-La’s message.
“It’s extremely gratifying to see the great results of the campaign, which is testament to the critical role of employee engagement as part of a broader brand strategy. It’s also exciting to then be recognised with a Bronze PR Lion, which the entire team feels very proud of.”
Cannes Lion Win
July, 4 – The team at Impact is very proud to announce the latest addition to our trophy cabinet with a Bronze PR Lion from the recent Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Recognised for our work with Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts as part of a joint campaign with our Ogilvy & Mather colleagues in Hong Kong, the award is testament to the critical role of employee engagement as part of broader brand campaigns.
‘Inside out’ was the result of an integrated brand campaign that focused on building the brand from the inside out, ensuring employees had a genuine understanding of the values and behaviours needed to deliver the Shangri-La brand promise – treating guests not as king, but as kin.
In its 58th year, the Cannes Lions Festival is recognised as the most prestigious international awards celebrating creativity in communication, with more than 24,000 entries from across the globe.
David Ogilvy’s century celebrated in 1960’s style
June, 24 – Ogilvy Australia companies revisited the golden age of advertising and communications yesterday, with a series of events commemorating the 100th birthday of founder, David Ogilvy.
Following publication of two full page advertisements in The Australian and The Australian Financial Review that reminded the industry of David Ogilvy’s legacy and the current relevance of his founding principles, Ogilvy Australia staff across the country joined colleagues from around the world in a range of celebrations.
Ogilvy offices were transformed to resemble the Madison Ave of 1961, revisiting David Ogilvy’s early industry years and channelling the personality traits of the infamous practitioner. Traditional bagel stands served breakfast on arrival to work with bell boys on lift service and a scavenger hunt searching for Ogilvy’s pipe was held, prompted by clues from Ogilvy himself.
The celebrations culminated in cocktail events in both Sydney and Melbourne with martinis and scotch served on arrival and the melodies of 1960s jazz entertaining staff throughout the night.
“The celebrations staged across the country this week have demonstrated the passion and creativity that still exists amongst our fellow practitioners and fun that can be had when we remember where we started,” Moult said.
“It helps staff further engage with the philosophy and approach of our founder.”
The anniversary celebrations were initiated and coordinated by Ogilvy’s Young Turks, members of the internal Young Turks training, mentoring and development program introduced by Moult earlier this year.
Ogilvy Group companies within Australia include Ogilvy & Mather, Ogilvy PR Australia, OgilvyOne, and Ogilvy Group Melbourne. They are part of STW Group, Australia’s leading marketing content and communications services group.
Ogilvy at 100 – Australia Celebrates
June, 23 – On the day its global founder would have turned 100, Ogilvy Australia companies are today reminding the industry that the early principles of advertising and communications are still as relevant as they were 50 years ago.
The companies have joined forces to run full-page advertisements in both today’s edition of The Australian and The Australian Financial Review to remind the industry of the pedigree of Ogilvy himself and to think about what his views would be if he were operating in today’s industry.
Ogilvy Australia’s Executive Chairman, Tom Moult, explained: “David Ogilvy’s principles, approach to his work and his clients is as relevant today as it was when he was conquering Madison Avenue.”
“Although the industry and the way we practice have changed dramatically, David Ogilvy would have embraced all aspects of digital marketing and the opportunities it presents to brands, organisations and the industry.
“To work at a company founded by David Ogilvy is inspiration in itself. It’s that kind of legacy that pushes you to explore ideas and ways of thinking, and drives you to new and better things. We wanted to pay our respects to the great man, but also to celebrate just what made him such a pioneer in this industry and how that can inspire people today,” he added.
Anniversary celebrations will be in held in Ogilvy offices around the country with themed parties, competitions and events throughout the day to further engage all staff with the philosophy and approach of their founder.
One of the advertising industry’s most famous and lauded figures, David Ogilvy began his business career as a door-to-door salesman of Aga cookers in Scotland. He founded his agency in 1948 with no clients and a staff of two, building it into an empire that was eventually acquired by WPP in 1989. His books Ogilvy on Advertising and Confessions of an Advertising Man are among the most influential and widely-read publications concerning the industry. His famous campaigns for Schweppes, Guinness, Rolls-Royce, among others, remain highly influential, and his legacy led him to be widely known as “The Father of Advertising”, as well as gaining him the honour of a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
The anniversary celebrations in Australia were initiated and coordinated by Ogilvy’s Young Turks, members of the internal Young Turks training, mentoring and development program introduced by Moult earlier this year.
Ogilvy Group companies within Australia include Ogilvy & Mather, Ogilvy PR Australia, OgilvyOne, and Ogilvy Group Melbourne. They are part of STW Group, Australia’s leading marketing content and communications services group.
NEW RESEARCH RELEASED TODAY
May, 18 – Less than 50 percent of Australian business leaders believe enough resources are allocated to training middle and front-line management, resulting in a significant lag behind senior leadership in communication skills of these lynchpin team members, according to a report launched today.
The report, Australia’s Commsoscopy, is the second independent report[1] commissioned by leading employee communications consultancy, Impact Employee Communications examining the effectiveness of medium to large organisations in communicating the employment ‘deal’, or Employee Value Proposition (EVP), to Australian workers.
According to Impact’s Managing Director, Tam Sandeman: “We know that clearly communicating the employment ‘deal’ – what employees get for what they give – is one of the main ways employees are attracted, engaged and retained by organisations. This is ever critical given the talent shortage.
“However, our study found there are some significant gaps in its delivery, particularly in terms of communication frequency and the ongoing role of an organisation’s leadership team throughout an employee’s tenure with an organisation,” she said.
The study also found that while most organisations recognise the importance of communicating the ‘deal’ and believe they have the right communications abilities within their senior teams to deliver this message, they often fall short as they are failing to put the right tools or resources in place.
“Given the vital role people managers play in retaining employees and improving their performance, the resistance from organisations to introduce communications skills for middle or front-line managers is an unnecessary and damaging compromise,” she added.
Social media was also found to be an increasingly used tool in making a difference in the effectiveness of communicating and demonstrating most of the EVP attributes.
“We found organisations that embrace social media perceive themselves as better communicators of their employment deal than those that don’t. This included allocating more support resources for middle and front line management,” said Sandeman.
“Currently, only 29% of Australian organisations are using social media for employee communication. Respondents cited that the slow growth has been due to a range of barriers (46% s believing that it poses too many legal and other risks).
“Considering and including elements of social media as part of internal communication strategies is now a must-have. It can not only engage employees but be used to identify knowledge, ambassadors and talent. It also ensures businesses look as though they’re keeping up with the fast-paced external media world we all experience outside work,” she explained.
These findings aim to help organisations identify some of the gaps in communication and ultimately assist in building this approach. By doing this, they are able to ensure the employment story improves relations between the organisation and employee but importantly, delivers a tangible impact on retention and engagement.
“Organisations need a strong, strategic internal communications plan, and it’s got to be more than a newsletter, the odd roadshow or the company strategy on a mouse-mat,” said Sandeman. “It was surprising to see only 38% of organisations with 500-599 employees had an internal communication approach in place. They’re missing an opportunity. We know companies who are communicating effectively are delivering greater returns to shareholders than those which are not. So it’s a costly oversight.[2]”
The 18 page report can be downloaded here: Impact Employee Communications, Australia’s Commsoscopy
Impact Employee Communications is Australia’s leading employee communication consultancy and is part of Ogilvy PR, the largest and most awarded public relations agency in Australia. Ogilvy PR Australia is a joint venture between Ogilvy PR Worldwide and STW Group, Australia’s leading marketing content and communications services group.
For further information:
Tessa Sexton
STW Group
Ph: +61 421 098 674
Graduation celebrations
May, 6 – We’re all incredibly proud of Emma in our office as she graduates today at her university ceremony in Newcastle and is celebrating in style with friends and family. Emma is just starting her career in employee communication and has already worked on a large scale product launch, a global survey, communication awards and communication research. One of our company values is to “learn and grow”, which Emma exemplifies in everything she does. We’ll be raising a glass to her later on as we welcome in the weekend.
OgilvyEarth supports Earth Hour
March, 24 – Earth Hour is just around the corner and whilst Facilities Managers will be on top of the big ticket items for office buildings, we as communicators can help encourage and engage work colleagues to do their bit and contribute personally. So why not take ten minutes to communicate Earth Hour in your employee news channels today. Even though the environment is a serious subject, doing something positive doesn’t have to be. Make your internal communication fun and engaging; perhaps set an employee challenge, a reminder screensaver or a light hearted call to action from a leader.
To be part of Earth Hour, when you’re leaving the office this Friday – hopefully you are not working in the office on Saturday night… but if you are then it must be really important, so you are excused – shut down and pull the plug on your computer, mobile phone chargers and any other items not in use. Where there is a switch, at least turning equipment off at the wall. And while you’re at it, why not engage your employees to get involved in Earth Hour at home too.
Whilst Earth Hour is a once a year campaign and ideally you exercise these behaviours all the time, getting involved in it helps you to think about what you can do to reduce energy use. The campaign has been very successful in raising awareness globally, so great to support the cause.
When I first had a go at switching appliances off at the wall at home and turning off unnecessary lights etc for Earth Hour a few years ago, I continued it as standard practice (I forgot occasionally to start with, but persistence paid off) and managed to save $30 a quarter on my electricity bill. Better than a kick in the pants and made a couple of very nice bottles of wine taste even better.
So spread the word!
Also check out this fun YouTube clip to share with colleagues, friends and family in the lead up to Earth Hour:
For more information on how you can support Earth Hour go to http://www.earthhour.org
Robbie Brown, Sustainability Strategist, OgilvyEarth
Ogilvy PR invests in first Strategy & Planning Director
Febr, 1 – Ogilvy Public Relations Australia, a joint venture between Ogilvy PR Worldwide and STW Group, has appointed its first-ever Strategy & Planning Director; returning antipodean Katherine Scott.
Starting immediately, Katherine will work across all Ogilvy PR Australia companies, including Howorth, Impact Employee Communications, Ogilvy PR Health, Parker & Partners and Pulse Communications.
Ogilvy PR’s CEO Kieran Moore said: “Strategic planning for clients is becoming increasingly important in the PR industry. Katherine has both the experience across multiple sectors and an outstanding track record of delivering outstanding work for some of the biggest UK brands and organisations. London’s loss is our gain – her insights, passion and personality will make a huge contribution to our teams and our work.”
Originally from New Zealand, Katherine has arrived back in Australia after five years as an Associate Director with leading agency Fishburn Hedges, spearheading high-profile campaigns for the likes of London 2012, British Telecom and campaigns in the public sector. A true generalist, she has more than 10 years’ experience in communications planning, issues management, account handling and campaigning and has held senior positions in leading agencies in the Middle East, China and New Zealand.
Based out of Sydney but servicing Ogilvy PR offices in Canberra and Melbourne, Katherine will focus on campaign development for new and existing clients, supporting the increasing demand for multidisciplinary programs which focus on audience insights and engagement, creativity and channel strategy and integration.
“Very few barriers still exist between traditional communication disciplines. Strategic planning is no longer a mysterious art form reserved for the ‘paid-for’ world.
“In Ogilvy PR I discovered that rare thing; a like-minded agency that has the depth to be a genuine multi-disciplinary strategic planning partner for clients and one that is bold enough to invest in placing audience insights and engagement at the heart of new and existing briefs,” said Scott.
Ogilvy PR is the largest and most awarded public relations agency in Australia, scooping more than 50 Australian and global trophies in the last two years, including the top honour amongst all WPP-owned PR agencies.
New leadership at Ogilvy PR
Febr, 1 – Ogilvy Public Relations Australia, a joint venture between Ogilvy PR Worldwide and STW Group, has announced a leadership change, appointing Kieran Moore as Chief Executive Officer of its Australian operation. Current CEO, John Studdert, will become Executive Chairman of Ogilvy Public Relations Australia, in addition to his growing role as a Regional Director of Ogilvy Public Relations Asia Pacific.
Ogilvy PR Australia includes Howorth, Pulse Communications, Impact Employee Communications, Parker& Partners and Ogilvy PR Health. It has offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra and more than 120 employees.
Both appointments are effective from January 1, 2011. Moore is currently the Joint Managing Director of Howorth where she has been for almost eight years.
“Kieran has been an instrumental player in the growth of Howorth and has been an active driver of Ogilvy PR’s marketing, business and leadership development. She is a sought after practitioner and delivers some of the most awarded work in the country,” Studdert said.
“I can think of no one better to lead Ogilvy PR Australia coming in to its 10th year.”
Studdert’s increasing regional focus follows international recognition of his successful leadership of Ogilvy PR Australia during the past three years. Under his helm, Ogilvy PR has grown revenue and reputation, opened an office in Melbourne and launched a number of very successful specialist areas including Australia’s leading communications sustainability practice, OgilvyEarth, 360 Digital Influence, Ogilvy Social Marketing and research arm, Ogilvy Illumination.
In his new role as Executive Chairman, Studdert will continue to support Ogilvy PR Australia through longer term business-building initiatives. In his regional role, he will work with Steve Dahllof, President and CEO, Asia Pacific, Ogilvy Public Relations to help drive innovation and growth across the Asia Pacific region.
Steve Dahllof, President and CEO, Asia Pacific, Ogilvy Public Relations, said: “These changes come on the back of an incredibly strong year for Ogilvy PR Australia. During the course of 2010, it has successfully identified opportunities and converted these into revenue streams through the creation of exciting new specialist practice areas.”
Graham White, current Joint Managing Director of Howorth will become the sole Managing Director of Howorth Communications. He will continue to lead and drive Australia’s number one technology agency and focus on the growth of Howorth’s ever-expanding business to business and lifestyle practices. In addition to his role at Howorth, White leads Ogilvy PR Australia’s Digital Influence practice, 360 DI which today boasts eight staff and is experiencing revenue growth of 300% year on year.
Ogilvy PR is the largest and most awarded public relations agency in Australia, winning more than 50 Australian and global awards including the top honour for all WPP-owned PR agencies worldwide in the last two years.
More awards for Impact
Dec, 21 – Impact has had a month of success, winning award after award at the recent Asia-Pacific PR Awards and the Ogilvy PR Professional Achievement Awards.
The Asia-Pacific PR Awards recognise the best work in the communications industry. Now in their 10th year of competition, the awards are dedicated to celebrating outstanding work and across the region. We’re thrilled to announce our win:
Employee Communications Campaign of the Year, Impact & OgilvyEarth – Bayer Australia
The Ogilvy PR Professional Achievement Awards, internal to Ogilvy, were broadcast live to approximately 70 Ogilvy PR offices around the world to celebrate the year’s best client work. A very excited group held down the fort from 1.30 to 3.15am to represent the Australia team. Australia has a strong track record in these highly sought after internal awards and 2010 was no exception. Impact cleaned up, winning awards in two categories:
- Crisis Management – Ford Australia: Driving a great result for Australia – Ogilvy PR Australia
- Internal Communications – Bayer Australia and New Zealand: “Small Changes = Big Change” – Impact Employee Communications
At these awards global CEO, Chris Graves, announced a new award category in honour of David Ogilvy. The Giant Award is for people of any level worldwide who made a giant contribution to our company this year, exhibits and lives the giant characteristics David Ogilvy looked for, and someone who is decent to their colleagues and gives back to the Ogilvy community and society. There are only four of these awards and one of them went to our very own Tam Sandeman, Managing Director of Impact Employee Communcations.
Congratulations to Tam and all the teams involved in the winning campaigns.
Ogilvy House achieves 5 Star rating
Dec, 6 – At the CitySwitch AGM last month hosted at the Town Hall by Clover Moore MP, Lord Mayor of Sydney, STW Group were recognised as a Green Leader for our 5 Star NABERS rating achievement.
Last year Ogilvy House went live with sharing our energy performance via the enGauge screen in reception. The enGauge screen is a great way to share tips with employees and visitors to Ogilvy House on what we can do at work and home to lighten their environmental footprint. It also provides transparency about how we are performing against our NABERS Tenancy energy rating goal, in line with our commitment as a CitySwitch Signatory.
A 5 Star NABERS Tenancy Energy rating demonstrates best practice; market leading performance in energy efficiency benchmarked against the current market performance and assessed on actual building performance over a 12 month period.
Thank you and congratulations to everyone at Ogilvy House who put in the extra effort to conserve energy. We will strive to keep focussed and continue to challenge ourselves, to make a difference.
City Switch Green Leaders
More sustainable success
Sept, 24 – We’re delighted to announce that more environmentally friendly news came our way last night as the winners at the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA)’s NSW Golden Target awards were announced. Impact and Bayer Australia and New Zealand’s B-Green project, which drove and achieved measurable behaviour change across its Australian and New Zealand workforce around sustainability, was announced the overall winner of the Internal Communication category.
The project, created and executed by Impact’s specialist sustainability and CSR Ogilvy Earth team led to a raft of energy, recycling and other initiatives in the company. The program has already won an international gold quill of excellence and was also recently awarded the best internal communications program for all Bayer companies worldwide.
Better news is that it now goes forward to a national stage where it will compete against other state awards for the overall national prize.
Two other Ogilvy PR agencies were recognised with Pulse Communications scooping two of the consumer marketing prizes and Howorth winning a high commendation for its work on the Telstra Productivity Index.
Inside Waste Magazine
Aug, 12 – One of our OgilvyEarth colleagues, Josh Levin, has had a byline published in the latest issue of Inside Waste magazine. Check out his article below!
Published in Inside Waste - Issue 37 July/August 2010
I have had the pleasure of working intimately with Australia’s waste management industry over the last two years as a public affairs adviser to some of Australia’s leading environmental management corporations, industry roof bodies, property developers and advocacy organisations.
These experiences have led me to appreciate that for the most part the waste management industry has a profoundly positive sustainability story to tell but it generally approaches the telling of these stories in a reactive manner.
I, though, am a firm believer the positive narrative ought to be told proactively and by operating in this manner your business will thrive commercially.
Now, I’m not going to use this space to tell you about the intricacies of your own businesses , but rather to talk about what I know best: communications and public affairs.
One way to quantify the value of communicating sustainability is to ask: is it worth doing for broader reputational reasons – in other words – is it important to your stakeholders? Or, is there a risk to my organisation if we don’t communicate what we are doing in sustainability sense to our stakeholders?
A national poll recently commissioned by Parker & Partners found that 82 per cent of Australians want action on climate change now, with the majority of them wanting strong action.
It may not be the # 1, or even # 2 issue for the bulk of Australia’s suffrage in this election, but there is no doubt that whichever party can best demonstrate its commitment to taking action now on climate change will benefit from a real boost in electoral support.
This is particularly relevant for organisations whose operations have a clear physical impact upon their communities a la the waste sector.
As most readers would be aware, the visibility of an organisation’s activities is usually what drives community concern and/or media interest – with each stakeholder group utilising the other to apply pressure.
The very nature of government for example, is that it watches these groups particularly closely. Media and community pressure are important drivers of political influence. And in an industry as regulated as the waste sector, government perception is critical.
Government also has a more elevated role in ensuring the best possible legislative and regulatory frameworks are in place to deliver good public policy outcomes.
The reality is that in pursuing sound public policy in the sustainability space, there is always a stronger likelihood of government focusing on those organisations which have the largest impacts on the community – in doing so it allows them to make the most amount of difference whilst applying the least amount of burden on the community.
There are of course other stakeholder groups in addition to the aforementioned, however we’ve found that these are the core set of protagonists which organisations grapple with when identifying the opportunities and risks for communicating their sustainability track record.
Which brings us to the issue of how organisations should approach the way they communicate their sustainability activities.
There are three broad principles which I believe are vital in telling your sustainability story: :
· It must be real, meaningful and authentic
· It must be demonstrable – and be able to be measured and evaluated
· It must be positioned in the context of a commitment to ongoing improvements
Obviously, organisations which don’t take their sustainability credentials seriously enough – or worse, try to pretend they are more sustainable than they actually are (the dreaded ‘greenwash’) – run the risk of attracting high levels of scrutiny from government and media, and thus damaging their brand in the eyes of their customers and the broader community.
One play for the sector would be to communicate the renewable energy potential of landfill, or the decline of greenhouse emissions from the waste sector as a whole, to stakeholders and the community at large. I’ll leave the nuances to you.
IABC Gold Quill Awards
June, 21 – Tam Sandeman collecting the last of our three awards at the IABC Gold Quill awards dinner in Toronto. Two for our issues management communication work with Ford Australia and one for Bayer for work under our Ogilvy Earth brand. We were the only consultancy to head onto the stage three times – proving Australia can punch above its weight on an international stage.
Melissa Darke, Tam Sandeman and Mark Schumann chair of the IABC
Triple Global Recognition
Apr, 16 - 
Today we’re delighted to share that Impact has been recognised on the world communication stage not once, not twice, but three times over. In the year we celebrate our fifteenth birthday, we’ve won two International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Gold Quill Awards of Excellence and have also just been named best in show, winning the IABC’s annual 2010 Special Business Issue Award. The awards are recognised as the most prestigious and highest level of professional acknowledgment within internal communication globally, and we’re ecstatic.
Our first Gold Quill of Excellence and the 2010 Special Business Issue Award were won by our change communication team for our work for Ford Australia. The awards recognised what was a complex campaign for a company in an industry facing a challenging operating environment. The work ensured crucial public employee and union support for a difficult business announcement, contributing to an overwhelming raft of positive media articles across all media outlets.
Our second Gold Quill was won together with Bayer Australia and New Zealand. This award recognised communication excellence for the development and execution of Bayer’s B-Green project which drove and achieved measurable behaviour change across its Australian and New Zealand workforce around sustainability. The project, steered our specialist sustainability communication team operating under our OgilvyEarth practice, led to a raft of energy, recycling and other initiatives and was also recently awarded the best internal communications program for all Bayer companies worldwide.
“These awards demonstrate Impact can compete on a world communication stage and recognise we’re delivering the highest possible level of strategic and creative counsel to gain vital employee support for business critical initiatives for companies in Australia,” says joint managing director, Tam Sandeman.
“This is the first time two top awards have been won by the same company in Australia and winning the overall Business Issues award was the icing on the cake. More importantly, it showcases work in two areas gaining increasing importance on every Australian business’ agenda – sustainability and change,” adds Stephen Hale, co-MD.
The awards will be given at the IABC’s international conference in Toronto in June 2010.
Impact stays on top
Nov, 12 – Asia Pacific PR Awards. There’s pre-Christmas cheer in abundance at Impact with two wins this week at the region’s premier PR awards. Impact was named best in show in the employee communication category – with an honourable mention for its work engaging Australian employees in Coca-Cola South Pacific’s Live Positively global sustainability platform.
A second accolade came in the form of a certificate of excellence for the team’s major crisis/issues management work carried out for Ford Australia earlier this year resulting in overwhelming employee support around a potentially contentious announcement.
We’re also thrilled to announce Ogilvy PR Worldwide was named overall Asia Pacific Network of the Year.
Impact’s wins were amongst 13 in total for Ogilvy PR’s regional group, six of which came from Australia.
Click here for more information on the winners.
Copenhagen into Hopenhagen
Nov, 1 – On 7 December, leaders from 192 countries will gather at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, to determine the fate of our planet. Let’s help turn Copenhagen into Hopenhagen.
Hopenhagen is a movement, a moment and a chance at a new beginning. The hope that in Copenhagen this December we can build a better future for our planet and a more sustainable way of life. It is the hope that we can create a global community that will lead our leaders into making the right decisions.
Hopenhagen is change – and that change needs to be powered by all of us.
The mission is to connect every person, every city, and every nation to Copenhagen. To give everyone hope, and a platform from which to act. To create a grassroots movement that’s powerful enough to influence change.
Visit hopenhagen.org to learn more. Sign the petition, spread hope and help lead the change.
Ogilvy in conjunction with other members of the International Advertising Association has assisted the UN in making Hopenhagen happen.
Good things come in three
Sept, 25 – PRIA Awards. Impact was commended at the Public Relations Institute of Australia’s 2009 State Awards of Excellence in Sydney last night.
Our strategic communication campaign for the Coca-Cola Live Positively Festival was commended in the internal communications category. The Live Positively Festival, commissioned by Coca-Cola South Pacific, focused on engaging local employees around the company’s global sustainability and community initiative, Live Positively.
Also recognised last night was our sister agency Howorth Communications. They were highly commended in the health organisation category for ‘Social Network is Livewire for Sick Kids’, commissioned by Livewire, and commended in the business to business category for ‘Identifying the Gap: The Telstra Productivity Indicator’, commissioned by Telstra Enterprise & Government.
Together with Howorth, we’re looking forward to the upcoming PRIA’s Golden Target Awards on 26 October where all three projects will be in the running for further industry recognition.
Social Media Event
Sept, 24 – Social Media Event: This morning, 35 employee comms professionals gathered at Ogilvy House for a hearty breakfast of yammer, tweets and wikis. The drawcard was Brian Giesen, Ogilvy PR Worldwide’s director of 360° Digital Influence, explaining why social media matters for employee communication now more than ever before.
Brian discussed the recent trends in social media internally and externally, and how it’s being embraced as an effective employee engagement tool in organisations globally.
Click here to download Brian’s presentation. Feel free to share it with your colleagues.
If you need a hand using social media to tackle your business challenges, call Tam Sandeman or Stephen Hale on +61 (2) 8281 3222.
Taking a fresh and creative approach to employee communication
We’re proud to be the platinum sponsor of the upcoming Melcrum Strategic Communication Management Summit, being held in Sydney on 16-17 September.
The two-day summit is Australia’s leading forum for internal communicators. Its focus is how communication can help rebuild employee engagement, organisational culture and trust in leadership.
On day 1 of the summit, Impact will be leading an interactive session on how to take a fresh and creative approach to employee communication as a way to cut through the communication clutter and drive effective behaviour change.
And on day 2, Ogilvy PR’s director of 360° Digital Influence, Brian Giesen, will be presenting on social media. Brian will discuss how social media is being used by organisations globally to communicate effectively internally. He’ll explain the business relevance of social media tools – from Yammer to YouTube – and why internal communicators should care.
For more information about the summit, visit http://www.melcrum.com/scmsummit/au2009/index.html or call Melcrum on 61 2 8249 8352.
The Inside Story on employee communication in Australian organisations
With global economic uncertainty still bobbing around in the psyche of employees, organisations are now more than ever recognising the critical need to communicate and engage their workforces.
The Inside Story is our latest research into how Australian organisations are managing employee communication.
According to this new independent study:
- Surprisingly, not all organisations affected by the downturn are communicating change impacts to their people
- More attention is however being paid to communicating organisational values
- Organisations are continuing to pay more attention to communicating environmental sustainability internally
Our study, undertaken by Sweeney Research, is Australian-centric and the first of its kind. It involved 100 public and private-sector organisations across a range of industries and identifies trends and insights around the current and changing internal communication landscape, and importantly, how Australian organisations are managing employee communication during the downturn.
To discuss insights from this report, or if you’ve got questions or need advice on how we can help, call Tam Sandeman or Stephen Hale on + 61 2 8281 3222 or email us at info@impact.com.au
Download The Inside Story here
Digital Expert Arrives Downunder
Brian Giesen, the vice-president and senior strategist with Ogilvy PR’s 360° Digital Influence Group in Washington DC, has joined Ogilvy PR Australia as a Digital Strategist. Brian will be based in Sydney until May 2010.
An award-winning global expert, Brian brings more than ten years of experience developing, managing and executing a range of digital marketing and social media campaigns for brands such as Lenovo, Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, DuPont, Yum!, National Institutes of Health and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
Brian will provide senior counsel on crisis and issues management from a digital perspective, educate employees on the fundamental parts of digital influence strategy and educate on a range of digital tools to help build further understanding on the power of digital influence among both existing and new clients.
“This is a well timed appointment and provides all the Ogilvy PR companies in Australia the opportunity to further grow our digital influence skills as they become increasingly important to our client’s communications campaigns,” Ogilvy PR’s Managing Director John Studdert said. “Brian will also boost our leadership position in the Australian market across each of the areas of specialisation, while maintaining a high-level global role based out of Sydney.”
“The Australian Ogilvy PR companies have already established themselves as leaders, having executed a number of digital campaigns for their clients,” Giesen said. “I’m excited at the prospect of now working alongside them in person, to merge our international experience from our overseas campaigns, with local and regional clients.
“With the explosive growth of online media, consumer word of mouth and new technologies springing up every day, we now have to create comprehensive digital strategies for clients who want to engage customers or constituents in direct conversation. We’ve spent several years developing our methodology for identifying and engaging these new influencers in a way they find valuable, and it is this discipline we call digital influence.”
Brian’s arrival in Australia follows the appointment last month of Thomas Crampton as Ogilvy PR’s Asia Pacific Regional Director of 360° Digital Influence. Thomas is a veteran, award-winning journalist and digital media specialist. In addition to his Australian responsibilities, Brian will support Thomas and the region.
Brian will be speaking at The Insight Exchange’s launch event, The Power of Influence, on 19 May 2009, where he will give an overview of how influence impacts the success of businesses. For more information visit www.theinsightexchange.com
Talking Matters in a Downturn
Introducing Talking Matters: how to achieve business goals in a downturn through effective employee communication - an Impact Employee Communications point of view paper.
These are uncertain times for organisations and their people. The need to communicate to today’s employees clearly, transparently and regularly is more critical than ever.
We know this is a major area of concern for business leaders and professional communicators right now as we head into a downturn. So, as the leaders in employee communication in Australia and the region, we’ve developed a short point of view paper, Talking Matters: how to achieve business goals in a downturn through effective employee communication (PDF, 1 MB).
The paper details how the employee communication landscape is changing due to the downturn, and, importantly, what organisations must do to address this in order to maintain employee engagement and productivity, achieve change success and minimise disruption during the downturn.
To discuss any of this, or if you’ve got questions or need advice on how we can help, call us on + 61 2 8281 3222 or email us at info@impact.com.au.
Leading media mind joins Ogilvy PR
Ogilvy PR has lured one of Australia’s most experienced media practitioners to join its senior ranks and work across the company’s six specialist firms.
Sam North, former Managing Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and Sun Herald, joins Ogilvy PR in the newly created role of Media Director, beginning February 2, 2009. He brings more than 30 years of experience across the fields of media and management to the role.
As Media Director, North will provide senior counsel on media engagement, crisis and issues management, lead media training programs, and help develop staff across Ogilvy PR’s specialist consultancies. He will also represent Ogilvy PR as a spokesperson at industry events, and importantly, partner with each of Ogilvy PR’s firms to support their respective areas of specialisation.
Ogilvy PR’s Managing Director John Studdert said North’s broad and deep experience in media across print and television journalism, teamed with his senior management skills would bring “enormous benefit to the entire Ogilvy PR offering in Australia”.
“Sam has a fairly unique mix of management and media experience that works particularly well within our model of deep specialisation,” he said.
“With such a broad skills set we felt it important that Sam work across all our firms to provide the kind of senior counsel that is so valued by our clients. We are excited to have him join our management team, and look forward to utilising his experience and seniority.”
Sam’s career spanning 30 years and engaging, either as a writer, interviewer or manager, with every Prime Minister from Gough Whitlam to the present will bring a wealth of experience to Ogilvy PR. Prior to his role as Managing Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and Sun Herald, he worked as Chief of Staff during the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and represented Fairfax on the Australian Press Council. Before joining Fairfax, he worked as an on-camera reporter for television news.
Ogilvy PR Australia is a joint venture between Ogilvy PR Worldwide and STW Group, Australia’s leading marketing content and communications services group. Specialist Ogilvy PR firms and affiliates in Australia include Pulse Communications, Impact Employee Communications, Ogilvy PR Health, Parker & Partners, Howorth Communications and Cannings.
