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.
Employees recognised as critical channel in new Australian research
August, 5 – BY TAM SANDEMAN – Last week I was fortunate enough to be on a panel discussing and debating the findings of some fantastic new research, out this week from Ogilvy PR Australia and the IABC, looking at the future of the communication/PR industry in 2021. The good news for us who work in the internal communication fraternity – and for business in general – is that 79 per cent of respondents agreed that employees would emerge as the most critical channel for an organization in the next decade. At last I say. But I also say – given the respondents were communication professionals, I can’t help but be disappointed this was not closer to 100 per cent. This is by 2021 we’re talking.
Organisations should have realised this already. In fact, those we are working with who put their employees first are creating powerful armies of brand ambassadors who now, thanks to the internet and prolific use of social media, are delivering an extremely authentic and believable voice. They are able to exert influence about a brand in a far greater way than advertising, and perhaps more than PR. But can they? That is the question?
When will organisations learn to loosen the hold they have on what employees can and can’t say online? When it boils down to it, it’s a trust issue.
Many organisations simply don’t trust their people to do the right thing. And this therefore becomes a culture issue. If organisations want to make this work they have to let go, empower their people to say the right stuff online, not stop them from saying anything. Most companies spend more time telling their people what they can’t say rather than helping them with what they can.
We’ve been saying for years that until people see internal – i.e. their people – as part of the external solution, we will stay still. As all employee communication professionals know – a mighty untapped resource lays dormant in many organisations and we’re still trying to wake the giant. But we can’t do it alone.
For employees to be great brand ambassadors – and I mean really great brand ambassadors – we must equip them in being able to tell a good story. As we know, people remember stories not facts. There’s nothing more powerful. However, if genuine and compelling storytelling is at the heart of what we do, then why did only 56% of respondents in the survey say that by 2021 equipping employees on message delivery would be a core discipline? That’s nearly half of respondents who said it wouldn’t be. And this is from communication professionals.
So, to our crystal balls – what will the future hold for our industry? Looking forward, we will see internal communication as a core competency of all leaders and middle managers and a significant rise in training in this regard; storytelling for all employees; KPIs around communication.
Finally, marketing teams who are starting to look at their internal audience strategically, a word of warning: mugs, mousemats and posters will not achieve behaviour change. Only authentic engagement and empowerment with trust at the centre will suffice…
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.
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.
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.
IABC World Conference 2010 – Day One
June, 9 – BY TAM SANDEMAN – 
This week, the home of the Blackberry (the phone not the fruit), Toronto, sees the world conference of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) which had its fill of Ogilvy Public Relations.
Scott Kronick, president of Ogilvy PR North Asia, represented us in speaking about “Brand Building in China”. Scott’s insights reflect his 19 years in Asia, complete with success stories and failures of brand building efforts. The thirst for knowledge about China was evident through a very well attended session.
However, I am here to attend sessions on employee engagement, communication and change – hear and possibly bring back new thinking.
Day one saw various themes running through a packed agenda of sessions – change management, employee communications and leadership communication.
From the first sessions, the most obvious issue presenting a significant opportunity for improvement for internal communicators, is that there is now a recognised lack of confidence in senior leadership from employees.
This problem has grown since 2003, as cited by Professor Veronica Hope Hailey, from Cass Business School in London, who has been researching change communications for over 20 years (including Australia). Interestingly, she sees real danger in 2010, that leaders will attribute the reason for this breakdown in trust to the economic downturn. And, more importantly, going into recovery will NOT rebuild trust in organisations. Leaders need to invest time in improving the way they communicate and engage, and do it better than they ever have before.
Secondly, (and unsurprisingly) all sessions I attended highlighted the strong need for authenticity in leaders. As communicators we must work with senior leaders enabling them to communicate strategy and direction in a real, authentic manner. Only then will we ensure we turn business strategy into action.
Lastly, as with all our work, driving interaction and conversation will be fundamental for success as leaders trying to engage employees in business critical initiatives.
One particular first day highlight was hearing keynote speaker, Kevin Warren, CEO and President of Xerox Canada. A leader who truly lives and breathes employee communication and engagement and one who directly attributes positive outcomes on the bottom line to their investment in this area. Even better was his inspiration – a sign he’d seen on the wall of Ford Motor Company – “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”, emphasising your strategy is nothing if you can’t get the people piece right.
Another highlight for our team must be our attendance at the prestigious IABC Gold Quill Awards dinner which saw us collect our two Gold Quills of Excellence for work with Bayer ANZ and Ford Australia, as well as a best of the best award for the Ford work. No other consultancy took as many awards and proved again, Australia and particularly Ogilvy Public Relations punches well above its weight on the world stage.
So far, Toronto has treated me well, and I’ve also managed to catch the BlueJays vs the New York Yankees before the conference started. Given Toronto is also the city of choice for this year’s very imminent G20 frivolity… if they coped with an Ogilvy PR invasion, they’ll be OK.
More from day two to follow…
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
