High turnover quickest way to the bottom

Kieran Moore  From:The Australian  April 29, 2013 12:00AM

A RECENT article in The Australian’s Media section spoke of how entry-level salaries in the advertising industry were paying no more than they did a decade ago, failing to keep pace with inflation and driving young talent to other industries.

Fortunately, things are somewhat better in public relations.

While most in the advertising and public relations industries would agree that things are relatively tough out there, the smart agencies decided many years ago that salaries were only one element to having an engaged team.

Paying below par is crazy – firstly, because you don’t attract the best and brightest and, secondly, if you do manage to attract them they disappear pretty quickly. Once the word gets around, you find the people you have spent time and money nurturing and teaching will be lured off by big money offers as fully, or at least partly, formed practitioners.

The old adage “pay peanuts and you get monkeys” still remains true.

The smart move is to benchmark salaries against industry norms and offer a good salary commensurate with the person’s experience.

It’s an exciting time to be in the industry. The digital landscape changes on an almost daily basis. With the rise of mobile, digital and social media public relations practitioners are an integral part of marketing strategies on every level. We expect even our entry level starters to have a skill set which wasn’t invented a few short years ago. It’s simply short-sighted to expect highly skilled and smart operators to come with a low price tag.

High turnover is costly, both in monetary and morale terms, and most smart organisations realise it’s the quickest way to the bottom.

But I am also firmly of the view that the people who work only for the money are usually the ones that you are generally happiest to wave goodbye. Sure, they have to be paid in line with their peers but experience has shown that it is other, less tangible, things that keep the good ones working harder than I sometimes think we have a right to ask.

If you aspire to attract the best and the brightest and expect a lot of your people, then start offering a lot. But, and I think this is crux of the issue, I suspect the best and the brightest also want to know that there’s some sort of a deal going on: we expect them to perform and they expect us to do more than just pay them. Most people want to be challenged and to be allowed to challenge. They want to be trained and mentored from when they start and even as they move up the ranks. They want to work bloody hard but still have plenty of fun.

Recently I was involved in some research on Gen Ys – the group born after 1980 who people decry as being commitment phobic – and found that when asked which factors would put them off a potential employer, the top deal-breaker, with 88.4 per cent, was if a company didn’t offer a competitive salary but in second and third were if the company did not make an effort to be environmentally responsible (77.5 per cent) and if the company did not make an effort to engage with the community (64.5 per cent).

Respondents were also asked if they would consider changing employers if they discovered the company they worked for was being socially or environmentally irresponsible, to which 68.8 per cent answered “yes”.

The research is far from definitive but backs up the findings of other researchers who have consistently found that younger workers are looking for more than just cash.

In my opinion, I believe the best and the brightest also relish the opportunity to work on the biggest brands and the most exciting campaigns. And when they leave – and some of them do, and sometimes for big money offers – they want to know that they are much better off for the experience. And, if we are lucky, they come back with more experience and a broader outlook on life.

The corporates call it an Employee Value Proposition – but really, it is just good business.

Kieran Moore is the Australian chief executive of Ogilvy Public Relations

 

Corporate Affairs Roundtable Lunch

(L-R) Ogilvy Public Relations’ Mathew Jones and David Bell, the Hon Warwick Smith AM, and Ogilvy Public Relations CEO Kieran Moore at the Sydney Business Chamber Corporate Affairs lunch in Sydney on 18 April.

Mr Smith, the Chair of the Australia-China Council, spoke about emerging opportunities in Asia, and what Australian businesses can and should be doing to take advantage of the growth in our region and on our doorstep. The event also marked David Bell’s first week with Ogilvy. David joined Australia’s largest public relations company as Group Managing Director – Corporate after a long career in banking and telecommunications, including heading up the Australian Bankers Association.

Ogilvy Public Relations is a proud and long-time sponsor of the lunch series, which invites speakers from a broad range of fields and backgrounds to address an audience of corporate affairs professionals from Australia’s largest and only truly global city. The topic was one that is very appropriate for Ogilvy, the first international marketing and PR firm to open in China, and the first to open an office in Myanmar.

Ogilvy Public Relations Australia works with its partner agencies across the region on behalf of international and Australian organisations looking to undertake cross-border activity that requires communications, public affairs and public relations support. For more information about our work in Australia and Asia please contact David Bell on 02 8281 3200.

Mattel’s triple word score for Ogilvy Public Relations

April 4, 2013: Mattel, one of the world’s largest toy companies, has appointed Ogilvy Public Relations to work on an integrated marketing communications campaign for one of its most iconic brands Scrabble, across ambient, social and traditional media.

The Ogilvy PR team from Melbourne won the Mattel account in a competitive four-way pitch and will start work immediately.

Ogilvy PR Melbourne’s Managing Director, Alexandra Kelly, said: “We are thrilled to have won such an exciting project that gives us such incredible scope to help reshape this brand. Our campaign is all about disrupting tired brand perceptions and helping Australians fall in love again with one of the most iconic and enduring brands in the last 60 plus years.”

Damian Black, Mattel Senior Brand Manager, said:  “We were really excited about Ogilvy’s fresh thinking during the pitch process – we were looking for an idea and an agency that could shake up perceptions and create new relevance for us – not simply produce traditional product based PR solutions. We’re looking forward to seeing the campaign unfold.”

The Mattel account adds to an impressive list of clients for Ogilvy PR Melbourne including BP, the Victorian Department of Health, febfast and Melbourne Airport amongst others.

Ogilvy PR Australia is a joint venture between WPP and STW Group, Australia’s leading marketing content and communications group.

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For more information contact:

Sandra Renowden

STW Group

Ph: +61 403 823 218

About Ogilvy Public Relations

­­­­­­­­­­­Ogilvy Public Relations (Ogilvy PR) is a global, multi-disciplinary communications leader operating in more than 85 offices across six continents. In 2012, Ogilvy was named Cannes Lions Network of the Year and Most Effective Agency Network by the Effie Global Effectiveness Index, named Public Affairs Consultancy of the Year by the Holmes Report, won Consumer Consultancy of the Year in Asia Pacific (Holmes Report), and won the WPP global, top award (WPPed Cream, Crème de la Crème) for the fifth time in six years. Ogilvy PR integrates deeply with all Ogilvy & Mather disciplines (advertising, direct marketing, activation, promotional, digital and entertainment) through the proprietary Ogilvy Fusion™ approach to delivering comprehensive, business solutions through content creation, community building, and communications with measurable results. For more information, visit our Web site at www.ogilvypr.com.au or follow us on Twitter at @ogilvypraus.

PRIA announces Kieran Moore as Chair of Awards Committee

Kieran Moore, CEO of Ogilvy Public Relations, has been announced as Chair of the Golden Target Awards Committee.  The Public Relations Institute of Australia today confirmed that Kieran’s role will be to champion and reinvigorate the prestigious industry awards which have showcased campaign excellence since 1981.

In a meeting today with Catriona Barry, CEO Public Relations Institute of Australia, Kieran signalled that her first priority would be to align the Golden Target Awards with international best practice. “Australia produces some world class PR and by aligning categories and entry formats with our Global Alliance partners we look forward to getting more international recognition.”

With over 26 years’ experience, Kieran’s expertise covers media relations, reputation management, public relations strategy development and implementation, crisis management and corporate positioning for business to business and consumer focused companies.

In welcoming Kieran, Catriona added her thanks to the outgoing committee:  “Over many years Robert Masters, Marisa Gerussi and Nigel de Bussy have upheld the integrity and impartiality of the awards.  I’m confident the new committee will carry on that work with equal dedication.”

Kieran will be supported on the committee by Tracy Jones, Creative Territory (NT) and Adam Thomson, Leverage PR (SA), both Board members.  Tracy has won four Golden Target Awards and 11 State Awards for Excellence, and was PRIA President from 2007-2009. Adam has more than 15 years’ experience in government and media liaison, stakeholder engagement, public relations and corporate communications.

The Golden Target terms and conditions debar committee members from entering the awards.

A Winning Formula: The Official Launch of Windows 8

Challenge:  Building on the wave of interest and anticipation from Windows 8 Consumer Preview, the PR team was tasked to deliver a high impact, broad-reaching publicity campaign to amplify the local Windows 8 story.

Windows 8 heralded a huge brand shift for Microsoft, of which the PR campaign needed to emulate. The approach needed focus on people not product, stories over messages and product engagement over sales in order to help audiences emotionally connect with the experience that Windows 8 offers.

Strategy:  With an audience spread across the entire gamete of media – from technology to consumer lifestyle and everything in between, the PR team developed an educational approach that would deliver targeted information, purely relevant to each segment before culminating in the official launch event.

In September, a series of 10 one-on-one briefings were held with the most influential people across technology media in order to ensure a well-grounded level of knowledge and understanding of the Windows 8 story in the lead up to launch.

Following this, in October five consumer lifestyle mini-events were hosted at the Ivy Penthouse. The events saw the presence of 26 key media from Australia’s highest circulating consumer glossy magazines, providing these media with a first look and touch of the new operating system.

The third phase of activity offered our influencers the opportunity to ‘touch and try’ Windows 8 through the seeing 10 RTM Samsung Slate 7 devices.

Results:  All of this activity culminated in the official Windows 8 Australia launch on the 26th October 2012.

Launch day kicked off early with three pieces of solid coverage across breakfast TV which highlighted the availability of Windows 8 and Surface in Australia. The PR team worked with key morning reporters to educate them on the new product features so they could speak as ‘experts’ on Windows 8.

The tone of the coverage was very positive, with many broadcast articles positioning the Windows 8 launch as Microsoft striking back against other tablet competitors – to quote Sunrise host Andrew O’Keefe commenting “The Empire strikes back,”. News of the availability and Harvey Norman’s Midnight Madness stunt echoed across the daily news cycle and wells as the availability of devices and the different SKUs available locally.

The Australian media event commenced at 9:30 AM and saw the attendance of over 110 media from an extensive array of consumer lifestyle, broadcast, news, consumer tech and more. Media guests included the likes of Channel 7, Channel 9, SBS World News, ABC Radio National, ABC News 24, 6PR, Better Homes and Gardens, Rolling Stone, Men’s Health, The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Telegraph…etc.

Key results include:

• 1457 pieces of local coverage in the first 14 days post launch
• 246 hours of broadcast coverage
• 110+ media attended the launch event

 

Golden Target Winners!

Ogilvy Public Relations is proud to announce two wins at the PRIA National Golden Target awards last night.

Congratulations to the Pulse Communications team, who won in the Health Organisations category along with the NSW Food Authority, for the 8700 campaign. The consumer education campaign supported new kilojoule food labelling legislation applicable to fast food and snack food chain outlets across the State. Via the 8700kJ campaign, consumers can calculate their ideal kilojoule intake, search food outlets to see how many kilojoules are in the food they are eating, and learn about how exercise can help burn kilojoules through www.8700.com.au.

Launch coverage to date has included a near-full page in the Daily Telegraph, a lead story on Channel Ten news and segment on Channel Nine’s TODAY Show with Dr Joanna McMillan. Conversations around the 8700kJ campaign are now taking place on influencer social networks, with the chatter expected to continue.

The second win went to Ogilvy PR Melbourne, receiving a Highly Commended in the same category, for the Just Start Walking campaign for National Chiropractic care Week 2011. National Chiropractic Care Week is the flagship marketing initiative of the Chiropractors’ Association of Australia. In 2011, Ogilvy PR Melbourne was challenged to breathe new life into NCCW. The consultancy needed to enthuse and empower chiropractors to conduct local promotional activities to engage consumers and generate grassroots media coverage; create a hard hitting national news angle to maximise media exposure, ensuring that chiropractic care messages were conveyed; and, raise awareness of the CAA’s new Just Start Walking app, website and Facebook page.

Goals and objectives set revolved around increasing member participation and significantly increasing the national media coverage achieved for the Week. All set objectives were exceeded.

A big congratulations to all involved!

Holmes Report Global PR Summit 2012

On October 29 to 31, the Holmes Report hosted the Global PR Summit 2012, in Miami. The summit was aimed at senior public relations practitioners to celebrate the best work from across the globe and address the critical issues facing the profession.

Ogilvy Public Relations’ global CEO, Chris Graves, led a panel of neuroscientists, discussing human decision making and the benefit to public relations.

 

China’s Leadership in Transition

Ogilvy Public Relations Asia Pacific has developed a paper on China’s Leadership in Transition to provide some insight and perspective on the changes taking place in China.

Download China’s Leadership in Transition paper here.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss further.

Ogilvy PR Melbourne appoints following new business wins

Melbourne, October 18, 2012: Ogilvy Public Relations has appointed Karina Lamb as Account Director, Consumer Brands following a raft of new business wins.

Previously at Sydney firm, DEC Public Relations, Karina has more than seven years’ experience in the industry working across a range of consumer and B2B accounts. Most recently, Karina has led projects for the likes of PEDIGREE, Electronic Arts (EA), Kellogg’s, Woolworths, BIG W and Taubmans.

Ogilvy PR Melbourne’s Head of Consumer Brands Alexandra Kelly, said: “We’re very pleased to welcome Karina to the team, to further strengthen the great talent and offering that we are building in the Melbourne office.”

Ogilvy PR Melbourne has added febfast, Optometrists Association Australia, and the National Institute of Clinical Studies to its client list. Last week, the agency was selected for Cricket Australia’s strategic communications, and consumer marketing work for the Big Bash League.

For more information contact:

Claire Whyntie

Ph: 02 8281 3251

Ogilvy PR Launches ACE, a Global Industry Analyst Community Engagement Service

Sydney, October 17, 2012: Ogilvy Public Relations (Ogilvy PR) today announced the launch of ACE (Analyst Community Engagement), a new global service designed to give technology companies an informed, strategic and measurable approach to industry analyst relations.

Ogilvy PR’s ACE service will be driven by a global team based in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, London, Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore and Sydney.

“Analyst Relations is the most global of all the marketing disciplines,” said Graham White, Managing Director, Howorth Communications, Ogilvy PR Australia’s technology and business to business company. “We believe that the analyst world consists of ‘deal makers’ and ‘perception makers’, and that the true value of AR is in knowing how to distinguish between the two, and tapping the right ones to influence sales cycles and purchase decisions as well as shift market attitudes through increased exposure.”

Partnering with KCG, an analyst relations strategy firm serving the technology sector, Ogilvy PR has designed a new approach to analyst relations, creating ACE as a comprehensive solution for in-house AR departments that need to engage analysts locally, regionally and globally.

“We have been partnering with Ogilvy PR on analyst relations projects for over six years,” explained Stephen England, president and partner at KCG. “We share the same vision for AR, have trained and certified many of their practitioners, and seamlessly offer our mutual clients KCG’s highly complementary targeting, training and research metrics services.”

England added, “It’s great to now formalise this partnership under ACE.  ACE builds on Ogilvy PR’s analyst relations expertise, having worked with leading technology companies in the software, semiconductor, telecom and web services sectors.”

The partnership is unique and valuable to clients because it offers:

• An approach based on the needs of the client and an understanding of the business of analyst relations firms, and how AR fits into the overall business and communications strategy.
• A comprehensive solution for in-house AR departments spanning strategy and planning, retained analyst services, analyst briefings, ongoing analyst relations, training, presentation development, event management, media references and measurement.
• A global coverage perspective with Ogilvy PR expert AR practitioners, with a collective 50+ years of experience in AR as well as trained and certified in analyst relations by KCG.
• Recommendations and insights that are informed by KCG assets including a 400+ firm and 2,300+ analyst profile database, unlimited access to 50+ analyst firm’s research including all key verticals, and KCG’s amassed knowledge from conducting over 500 analyst benchmark projects in 8 years.
• A flexible agency support model to supplement any internal analyst programs, on retainer or project-based, anywhere in the world.

“ACE moves AR from a necessary evil for many companies to a strategic asset that builds business,” added White. “Clients are eager to have clearer AR strategies and measurement systems that clearly deliver business value.”

Other companies currently using Ogilvy PR’s ACE service include: Aspect, Canon Singapore Private Limited, HDS, Storage and Networking Industry Association among others.

Ogilvy Public Relations is a joint venture between WPP and STW Group, Australia’s leading marketing content and communication services group.

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For more information contact:  Rebecca Tilly, STW PR, ph: +61 410 501 043

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