Ogilvy PR wins at PRIA Golden Target Awards

Ogilvy PR’s leading consumer and brand agency, Pulse Communications, last night picked up the top award at the PRIA National Golden Target Awards in the special event/observance category for the creation of Malaysia Kitchen Australia.

Malaysia Kitchen Australia saw Sydney’s State Theatre Laneway transformed in to Australia’s first ever Malaysia Kitchen Food Market. Creating Sydney’s hottest culinary destination the market was a modern take on the Malaysian Hawker-style market, open for 4 days only. Over 1,300 Australians visited the food market.

The event was part of a broader campaign undertaken by Pulse in conjunction with MATRADE (Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation). The campaign was aimed at raising awareness and consideration of Malaysian cuisine in Australia.

Ogilvy PR Melbourne was also recognised in the Health and Special Event categories. Kelly Ward received a Highly Commended in the Special event/observance category for Reigniting the Brisbane Good Food & Wine Show. The second award was received by Lelde McCoy together with the Organ and Tissue Authority, a Commended for the public relations campaign to support the To Donate Life, Discuss It Today – OK campaign in the Health Organisations category.

A big congratulations to Pulse and Ogilvy PR Melbourne!

Parker & Partners to receive award from Sir Martin Sorrell in London

Ogilvy PR will be represented among the best of the WPP agencies from around the world when Parker & Partners’ Mathew Jones heads to London next month to receive the company’s recently-won Atticus Award from WPP Chief Executive Sir Martin Sorrell.

Jones will also use the visit to build on the connections between Ogilvy PR’s Sydney and London offices, working alongside the company’s seasoned UK public affairs team and the broader Ogilvy PR London agency at their offices in Canary Wharf for a week.

The Atticus Awards honour original thinking in communications services and are open exclusively to professionals working in WPP companies, with Parker & Partners the only Australian winners this year.

Ogilvy PR’s public affairs and government relations agency, Parker & Partners won the Atticus Corporate Category for State of Change, a client booklet examining the policies, politics and personalities driving the new NSW Government.

A Director at Parker & Partners and the editor of State of Change, Jones will meet with Sir Martin and the other Atticus winners, which include agencies from Beijing, Johannesburg, New York and Dubai.

He will deepen relationships with our UK colleagues and meet current and former political staffers. This will include Iain Bundred, Director of Strategic Media Relations at Ogilvy PR London, who was Gordon Brown’s press secretary when he lived in No 10 Downing St, advisers to current shadow secretaries, and Conservative-aligned public affairs consultants.

With the international economic and political scene more volatile than ever, there’s never been a more opportune time to share insights and approaches, he said.

“The world continues to get smaller, and whether it’s in partnership with Beijing, Washington, or London, being able to provide a seamless public affairs offering from offices around the globe clearly sets Ogilvy PR apart,” Jones said.

“I’m really looking forward to meeting the other Atticus award winners from around the world, as well as having the opportunity to sit down with Sir Martin, who’s obviously a huge force on the global marketing and communications stage.

“The award is incredibly satisfying because it recognises the great talent we have here in Sydney, with the entire Parker & Partners team working really hard to make State of Change insightful, newsworthy and useful for our clients.”

WPP is the world leader in marketing communications services, made up of over 300 companies and 146,000 employees.

State of Change can be downloaded from the Ogilvy PR Australia website http://www.ogilvypr.com.au/news/state-change/

National Asthma Council Australia

Challenge: More than two million Australians have asthma. Despite its prevalence, myths and misconceptions about asthma still abound and hundreds of Australians needlessly die from asthma each year. Asthma cannot be cured, but it can be managed. The National Asthma Council Australia has an ongoing need to keep asthma high on the public agenda in order to improve the life and health outcomes of people with asthma and their carers.

Insights: Asthma is of concern to all Australians. Every Australian either has the condition or they care about someone who suffers from asthma. Most Australians are therefore receptive to asthma-related messages when they appear in the mass media.

The changing nature of asthma triggers throughout the year provides a regular calendar of potential touch points to engage with, and educate, the media who in turn act as a conduit to relay timely messages to the wider community.

Campaign: Recognising the relevance and topicality of asthma, Ogilvy Public Relations Melbourne developed an ongoing media relations strategy to keep credible asthma messages in the media year round, harnessing changing seasonal triggers and providing journalists with ‘one stop’ access to Australia’s leading asthma experts.

This press office function has been undertaken by Ogilvy PR Melbourne consultants for over eight years, effectively reinforcing the Council’s position as the peak asthma body in Australia and a valuable and reliable resource for media.

Activities include health reporter liaison (consumer and medical press), development of sponsorship guidelines, media training and crisis management, as well as implementation of an annual media program designed to generate widespread grassroots awareness with angles ranging from ‘soft’ stories such as a ‘Spring Survival Guide’ for allergy sufferers and ‘Christmas Tree Asthma Trigger Alert’ to ‘hard news’ such as releasing the annual asthma death toll statistics.

The consumer media relations program is supported with an ongoing health professionals program, ensuring that health professionals who treat patients with asthma are up to date on the latest patient information and resources.

Results: Quality reporting of asthma in the consumer media keeps asthma top of mind in the community, it has reinforced the fact that we need to continue to take asthma seriously and it has increased understanding of the condition, its triggers and its management.

Media relations activities for the National Asthma Council Australia have also helped heighten political awareness of asthma and proved to be a key plank in the Council’s successful lobbying to have asthma made a National Health Priority Area.

The National Asthma Council’s press office is now the first port of call for medical journalists seeking local comment on any new asthma initiative including new research findings.

Ogilvy PR Melbourne Measure’s Up with The Department of Health and Ageing

Challenge: The Measure Up social marketing campaign aims to promote good health outcomes through the prevention and early detection of avoidable chronic diseases. The initial advertising campaign worked to raise awareness of the link between an increased waist circumference and chronic disease – but many Australians lacked the information and tools needed to help them take positive action. The challenge for Phase Two of the campaign was to provide at-risk Australians with the ‘How’ message prompting involvement and action, especially in harder to reach communities young women 20-35yrs, people in regional communities and socially disadvantaged groups.

Insight: Body image, fitness and weight are very personal subjects – lecturing is ineffective. Real inspiration needs to come from personal key influencers as well as real Aussies with real life stories in the real language spoken on the street and in the regions. By harnessing the power of grassroots communication, it is possible to engage, empower and encourage fellow Aussies to Measure Up.

Campaign: To help communicate the important ‘How’ message, Ogilvy PR Melbourne took a two phase approach: A) engaging with health practitioners and providing them with important resources to help them champion the cause with patients; and B) making the messages as accessible as possible to the target audience.

General Practitioners received an early ‘heads up’ prior to the national campaign launch via a Medical Media campaign which saw background information displayed in GP staff rooms nationally. This tactic ensured that key influencers were well briefed and able to reinforce campaign messages once the advertising campaign commenced. Support patient information resources were also provided to health practitioners with a suite of additional ‘how’ materials also developed.

To tap into the critical regional audience, Ogilvy PR Melbourne created the ‘Country Pantry’ series of ‘how to’ food and nutrition fact sheets to provide families with real tips and ideas in the language they speak at home.

Recognising that inspiring, real life stories were fundamental to encourage other Australians to take action, Ogilvy PR Melbourne produced three online videos, showcasing down to earth real life success stories, allowing a metro family, a regional family and a community group to share their inspiring stories in their own words online. Online support for the campaign grew in conjunction with the growth of the campaign and availability of new in-line support tools, which were featured on a revamped campaign website.

Results: GPs ranked the Measure Up Medical Media social marketing campaign as one of the most memorable and valuable campaigns in 2010. Research has shown high awareness for the campaign and the waist circumference message and confirmed the consultancy’s positioning of just making small changes to make a big difference. Additionally the website revamp has boosted consumer engagement and interaction allowing more real Aussies to download practical resources, such as the Country Pantry fact sheet series, share tips and inspire each other to keep their waistlines in check.

The Red Chair Series, an interview with Kieran Moore

Go to the Ogilvy PR YouTube channel.

Ogilvy PR Australia turns 10

As far as birthdays go, it’s been a beauty.

Ogilvy Public Relations’ Australian operation has turned 10 and while most birthdays are a reason to reflect on the past, we decided to celebrate the occasion by looking forward to the next decade.

In partnership with the Australian chapters of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), Ogilvy PR commissioned research asking PR professionals their thoughts on the industry in 2021: What would our role be? What would be the industry’s biggest threat? How would we measure success?

Eighteen qualitative interviews were conducted with leading industry opinion leaders to help inform the quantitative study questionnaire. That questionnaire was answered by 300 Australian PR communications professionals during July.

Some of the findings were in accord with our expectations, others surprised us. A summary of the key findings can be found here and if anyone requires a full copy of the research results they can contact Katherine Scott at katherine.scott@ogilvy.com.au

But research should lead to something so we set about deciding just what we could do to ensure that Ogilvy PR maintains its position of professional and intellectual leadership in Australia for the next decade and beyond.

So we 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 our 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 Ogilvy PR 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.

In company with IABC, we announced our plans and unveiled the research at two major events.

The first, in Sydney in front of a gathering of around 70 existing and prospective clients and industry professionals, featured a lively panel discussion moderated by Ogilvy PR Australia’s CEO Kieran Moore. Panellists were Nick Baker, the executive general manager of marketing for Tourism Australia, Ogilvy PR’s regional CEO and President Steve Dahllof, Leanne Joyce, IABC board member and group manager – communications with AusTrade, Professor Jim Macnamara, the deputy dean from University of Technology Sydney’s faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and Tam Sandeman, the managing director of Impact Employee Communications, Ogilvy PR’s internal communications company.

A Melbourne event the following day attracted a crowd of around 90 people, with Steve Dahllof reprising his Sydney appearance on a panel which included renowned futurist James Cowley, Andrew Maiden, Telstra’s executive director – communications, Jacqui Moore, the group general manager marketing for Country Road, and Tony O’Dea, the manager – campaigns and research for the Victorian Department of Justice. Sarah Wilson, the prominent journalist and blogger, beautifully handled a last-minute transition from panellist to moderator when Q&A’s Tony Jones was an 11^th hour scratching due to ill-health.

The research findings and Ogilvy’s response garnered plenty of media coverage, with The Australian and a number of industry publications covering the issue. In fact, a week after the announcement the article was still tracking as the ‘most read’ article on www.campaignaisa.com

Research, action, reaction . . . it makes a good campaign template and puts the fizz of the future into a birthday bash.

Connecting with Ogilvy PR

If you’re as big a fan of the Transformers film franchise as I am, you’d be familiar with Sam Witwicky’s persistent inability to find a “real job”. Hollywood has always dealt in currency of the extreme but here, as in life, the sheer competition between graduates makes the prospective job marketplace pretty challenging.

Indeed, for a lot of us Gen-Y’ers with our 12-hour tertiary week, how do you get your beaten-up and worn-out pair of Nike’s into the door of your dream job? The answer, as I’ve found this week, lies in connecting with people. Ogilvy PR is a global brand with global clients. It is a giant. But the strength of its network, integrated thought leadership and ultimately the work they produce is heavily driven by the brands commitment to its people.

It has been a huge week, both personally and professionally. Between the ‘Ogilvy On 2021’ business breakfast, having lunch with the Asia-Pacific CEO of Ogilvy PR Worldwide, Steve Dahllof, reinventing my on, and offline brand, presenting for practice interviews, discussing overseas employment opportunities, completing digital media training and engaging with account coordinators to managing directors, my passion points have become clearer and my confidence in the business of communication has certainly strengthened.

But what is the future of the public relations industry you ask? As a graduate of Ogilvy PR’s Finishing School I see strategy planning, cultural anthropology, being prepared to connect brands to consumers through storytelling and ultimately, challenging the status quo as the key skills to all young communicators keen to kick down the door to their dream job.

I’m not big on emotional goodbyes but to everyone from the Ogilvy PR family both in Melbourne and Sydney, I would like to thank you for the journey.

Adding the finishing touches

Exactly one year ago I’d packed my bags and moved to one of the most dynamic cities in the world to pursue a career in public relations. My foray into the wonderful and magical world of PR hit a high note when I won the ultimate and most coveted of prizes: an entry into the rarefied environs of the top PR agency in Australia, Ogilvy Public Relations. Being the winner of the Ogilvy PR Finishing School competition in Sydney provided me with the extraordinary prospect of learning from some of the foremost experts in the field.

The wonderful team who organised my week made sure that nothing was left to chance. Every aspect of career and personal development was addressed by highly experienced professionals. My training included induction courses with all Ogilvy PR companies and practices, personal branding exercises, presentation skills training, social media training, etiquette and client management training and so much more.

Ogilvy PR takes employee relations very seriously as evidenced by Impact Employee Communications, which is dedicated entirely to improving employee relations. During the course of my week as I met people from the various companies, what struck me the most was that they all understood the core values and principles of the company and strived to integrate it into their practice of PR. Ethics and integrity is a top priority for the company which was evidenced in things such as their intern policy, their client relationships and their commitment to sustainability communications.

Another aspect that stood out was the vibrant and positive atmosphere in the offices and the approachability of the top management. I had members of the top management including the CEO come up and introduce themselves and make an effort to find out more about me. My past experience in the corporate world has shown me how rare such instances are and it made my experience here that much more special.

I was also fortunate to be present at the industry launch of Ogilvy PR’s ‘Peripheral Vision’ study looking into the future of the PR industry over the next ten years. A panel of industry leaders and academics discussed the findings of the research and the increased role PR would play in the coming years. The company is a leader in research and innovation in the public relations industry and is set to take it by storm through its advances in services measurement.

Winning the Ogilvy PR Finishing School Competition will always remain one of the highlights of my life and the training and insights I have gained will give me a definite edge in my career. It is going to be a little difficult to follow this act but I’m looking forward to implementing what I have learned so far into a meaningful and successful career in public relations.

Thank you Ogilvy PR Australia!

Ogilvy PR hosts International HR Directors Forum

We recently hosted lunch for 15 delightful guests from the International HR Directors Forum. The visit started with a tour of the building, looking around our café area, the Ogilvy PR companies and up to the Ogilvy bar on Level 5 for those impressive balcony views! We then talked to them about Ogilvy PR, helping them gain a better understanding of what we do, in particular the fantastic work offered by Impact that is most relevant to their day to day challenges. They heard from both Tam Sandeman and myself about our office move from Darling Park out to St Leonards in 2008, and the way our partnership with Impact throughout that process was key to our successful relocation.

We talked about Ogilvy House – who else was in the building, the facilities we have here and the great green credentials of our office space. We also discussed attraction and retention of fantastic talent and how our investments in our people made a positive impact here: our values-lead culture, our training programs, My Path to Growth career development and the many benefits we have in place.

Over lunch we discussed the role of HR and how that interacts with the CFO, hearing both from Emma and guest speaker Patricia Biszewski from Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, both of whom hold a role encompassing finance, operational and HR responsibilities.

Our guests left impressed with our building and our office environment, informed on what Ogilvy PR does for both our people and our clients, and in possession of Tam’s proudest work – the “bathroom campaign” posters from Level 2.

John Studdert appointed to Holmes Report Sabre Awards judging panel

Ogilvy Public Relations Executive Chairman and Regional Director, John Studdert, has been appointed to the judging panel for the 2011 Holmes Report Asia Pacific Sabre Awards. The Sabre Awards are returning to the Asia Pacific region after a three year break and recognise excellence in reputation and branding in the public relations industry. This year will see the Sabre Awards host its first ever Asia Pacific awards dinner in Hong Kong in August and for the first time winners will automatically be entered in to the global competition which will identify the 25 best of the best PR programmes worldwide.

Ogilvy PR is the largest and most awarded public relations consultancy in Australia. We place a great emphasis on entering and winning awards to maintain this title and celebrate the great client work and successes of our teams.

John Studdert, said “I’m honoured and excited to be invited to join the judging panel for this years’ Sabre Awards. It’s incredibly important to recognise and share the work we’re doing with our industry peers to maintain a high standard of work and raise the profile of the role of public relations. I’m looking forward to seeing some great work from across the Asia Pacific region and taking the experience back to Ogilvy PR to challenge my team even further.”

The Sabre Awards are now open for entry Holmes Report Sabre Awards 2011

« Previous Page — Next Page »