Ogilvy & Mather has announced the launch of 'Social@Ogilvy', a new worldwide practice connecting the agency's social-media experts. Social media was previously a specialist offering with Ogilvy Public Relations only. However, the network has made the move to create a cross-discipline team, made up of members from all parts of the Ogilvy organisation.
The practice will be led by John Bell as global managing director of Social@Ogilvy. Hong Kong-based Thomas Crampton (pictured) is also part of the leadership group, named a director of the unit in Asia-Pacific.
Commenting on the uniqueness about the initiative, Thomas Crampton, Asia-Pacific director, Social Media, Ogilvy & Mather, said, "The external launch of Social@Ogilvy is about moving Ogilvy ahead of the market to the next stage of social media. Already the most awarded team in APAC for social media, we intend to keep that lead through innovating ahead of the market. Social media started as a consumer phenomenon that then evolved into social media marketing. The area where we find clients most interested now, however, is in the next stage: Social Business. Social business involves helping clients to bring social into all parts of their work, from internal communications to marketing and even product design through co-creation."
Commenting on its impact in India, Crampton, added, "The most significant implication for Indian opportunities is that we will be weaving social into all work that we do, whether it is a client in advertising, OgilvyOne or other part of the agency. The evolution of social media very much plays to our advantage as a full service agency, since social media cannot be looked at as a tool for PR or advertising. By its nature, social media breaks down traditional silos. That is what we intend to help or clients do as well."
On the overlap of Social@Ogilvy with existing digital practices of Ogilvy India, Crampton, explained, "There is a 100 percent overlap with Neo and OgilvyOne. They are, in fact, crucial parts of Social@Ogilvy. We are not creating a new unit, but gathering the experts across the network to offer the best of Ogilvy's social offer. This means tapping OgilvyOne for expertise in Social CRM, tapping Neo for their expertise in social advertising, etc. Our promise to clients is that no matter what door they come into Ogilvy - PR, advertising, OgilvyOne or other - they will get access to the region's best strategists for social media."
Bell noted that Ogilvy has been working hard to apply a "best practice" use of social media to its clients. "The real power of social media for business in 2012 and beyond lies in fully integrated solutions, not stand-alone social programmes.”
The practice consists of 550 social-media experts from around the world, with further access to 4000 digital marketing specialists. It is headquartered in New York, but Paul Heath, chief executive officer of Ogilvy & Mather Asia-Pacific, expects the unit will do plenty of work in Asia-Pacific, where it will work in 23 cities across 15 territories.
“The demand for world-class digital and social media solutions across Asia-Pacific is growing rapidly," he said. "Social media has been the fastest growing discipline over the last two years. Social@Ogilvy brings our social media specialists from all disciplines into an integrated team that supports clients at every stage of the game.”
(with inputs from Campaign Asia-Pacific)
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