Location: New York
URL: www.ogilvy.com
Key executive: John Seifert, chairman-CEO
Employees: N/A
2010 revenue: N/A
2010 b2b revenue: N/A
Key clients: Cisco, IBM, SAP, Siemens, UPS
Major 2010 campaigns: IBM, “The Smarter City,” online, out-of-home; SAP, “Run Better,” TV, print, online; UPS, “We Love Logistics,” TV, print, online, out-of-home
Comments: Won new accounts including the American Bar Association, Ikea, Intercontinental Hotel Group and Zurich Financial; increased overall agency revenue 10%; launched new practice areas in performance marketing, digital video and social selling; 60% b2b
Ogilvy & Mather North America is using its considerable creative strength to help some of the largest b2b companies around the globe develop campaigns that showcase not just the products and services they sell but how they are making a difference in the world.
The agency, which counts clients including CDW, IBM Corp., SAP, Siemens and United Parcel Service of America, grew its overall revenue 10% last year through expanded work for these clients, as well as new business from the American Bar Association, Intercontinental Hotel Group and Zurich Financial. “Despite predictions that 2010 would be a relatively soft year of recovery, it came back roaring,” said John Seifert, chairman-CEO of Ogilvy North America, New York.
Seifert said the agency's b2b clients are taking a new approach to enterprise branding.
“They are trying to position their companies in a way that is larger than just the things that they sell or even the nature of the business or the sector they're in,” he said. “Companies want to move up this branding ladder from what they sell to the culture of their corporation to ultimately what role they play in society.”
There is no better example of this, he said, than IBM's “Smarter Planet” initiative, which debuted in November 2008 and added new executions last year, including a Smarter City website and interactive billboard that demonstrates how IBM is improving such key city systems as energy, healthcare and transportation.
“Deep in their DNA was the belief that they could think about the biggest challenges in the world and use their inventiveness, knowledge and expertise in technology and beyond to help deal with some of the world's biggest problems,” Seifert said.
Ogilvy also developed a global branding campaign for software company SAP, called “Run Better,” which debuted last October. It includes TV, print and online, and shows how SAP helps customers such as BlackBerry (Research in Motion), Forbes Media and NEC Corp. run their businesses better.
“They wanted a global idea—something universal—and they also wanted to put their customers into the story,” Seifert said. “They very much see the storytelling that goes around how SAP helps businesses run better.” At the heart of the campaign is a microsite that features in-depth stories of how SAP helps its customers manage their businesses.
For UPS, which Ogilvy won in late 2009, the agency introduced a rebranding campaign with the tagline “We love logistics.” The effort includes TV, print, online and out-of-home and features a song, “That's Logistics,” to the tune of the Dean Martin hit “That's Amore.” The ads show how UPS employees help customers with logistics challenges, from shipping to inventory.
“This elevates the brand to look at what the whole company stands for—beyond the ad campaign to what they represent in the world,” Seifert said.
To keep up with new developments in technology and analytics, Ogilvy launched new practice areas last year in performance marketing, digital video, social selling and cross-cultural marketing.
“We cannot hire enough folks in the whole social media/social influence area,” Seifert said. “It is an expanding practice of skills and tools that was born out of PR and is now driving into every discipline, from advertising to direct marketing to retail marketing.”
—K.M.
