Australian Research Reveals the ‘One Kilometre Phenomenon’

Consumers set the research agenda in ‘concern and control’ measurement study

A lack of respect for both other people and public property are two of the most common concerns raised by Australians in a new suite of research released today.

Conducted by advertising and communications group Ogilvy, the study was designed to discover what issues were concerning Australians, rate the level of concern and measure how much control we felt over those concerns. The study uncovered a spectrum of concern spanning relationships, juggling work and life, ageing, health and wellbeing, technology, food, finances, security and government.

Titled ‘What’s Keeping Australians Up at Night’, the research revealed that as a nation it’s the concerns closest to our daily lives that we have in common.

“We’ve coined the term one kilometre phenomenon – we read the headlines and know what’s happening on a global and national scale, but it’s those issues that are closest to us – people in the street and our community – that’s keeping more of us awake at night.  It’s interesting these concerns are equally high across the demographics. Even younger generations feel concern about damage to public property and the lack of personal respect,” said John Studdert, managing director of Ogilvy PR.

The one kilometre phenomenon

As a nation, it’s the concerns closest to our daily life that we have in common. The top six most commonly shared causes for concern were:

-          67% How disrespectful people are of public property (littering and vandalism)

-          65% The growing lack of respect and consideration for others

-          61% That companies are charging me to pay my bills

-          60% That children today are exposed to things prematurely as a result of the internet and TV

-          58% The poor customer service from international call centres

-          57% The rising cost of groceries

About the concern /control methodology: Australians set the research agenda

“Measuring both concern and control delivered a new layer of insight that basic polling rarely uncovers,” said Mike Daniels, managing partner Ogilvy & Mather.

“We found that if a respondent was feeling under financial pressure, every other issue in their lives became both more concerning and less under control – even if it wasn’t directly related to money. Personal relationships, community and security worries – even concerns about their wellbeing – all rated more concerning and less controllable for this group. If a respondent reported their financial situation as ‘getting by’ or ‘doing well’ their general levels of concern fell and feelings of control increased,” said Daniels.

“Every issue of concern in our study was fed to us directly by participants in the focus groups across regional and metropolitan Australia. We ran a series of twelve focus groups across the country and asked – without pre-conceived ideas – what they were concerned about. We then asked them to rank their concerns and rate the level of influence they had over each issue. We then took that research to our partners at ORU and asked 1015 Australians in an online poll about how they felt about those same issues,” said Eugene Catanzariti, head of strategic planning, BADJAR Ogilvy.

Relationships: Men and women back on the same planet

It seems Australian men and women feel the same when it comes to relationship concerns and the level of control they feel over them. Almost a quarter of respondents reported ‘that I constantly feel as though I have to please other people’ (22%) which was the highest response for a relationship concern. Across the survey, 18% were highly concerned that ‘I feel I have to try and fit in with people all the time’.

“As a nation, the Ogilvy research shows we generally feel we have a high level of control over relationships. In some cases – like making sure we don’t leave it too late to start a family – the feeling of control actually increases with household income. This is consistent with other research which shows cost is a key issue for Gen Y when deciding to start a family,” said Anne Hollonds, CEO Relationships Australia NSW.

The Work / Life Juggle

More than one-fifth of Australians are highly concerned they will never have a good balance between work and play. About the same proportion don’t know if they will ever find the ‘right job’. People aged 18-24 are particularly concerned with employment issues and more likely to say they have less control over these issues.

Ageing

Despite the boom in Botox, it’s not losing our looks which are causing us the most concern when it comes to ageing.

-          47% of Australians are highly concerned about ‘how getting old will affect my physical ability’.

-          41% are highly concerned about ‘how getting old will affect my mental capacity’.

-          29% are highly concerned about ‘care for my ageing parents’.

-          21% are highly concerned about ‘how getting old will affect my personal appearance’.

Health & Wellbeing

Almost half of all Australians are highly concerned about preservatives and artificial ingredients in food, obesity and not exercising enough. “Women are more concerned than men about most health and wellbeing issues and those with children in the household are more concerned about not exercising enough than those without,” said Graham Edwards, managing director of Ogilvy Healthworld.  Respondents aged 18-24 are more likely to say they have less control over these issues than others.

Government: high concern, low control

Australians are concerned about the way they’re governed and the quality of public services, but feel little control over these issues. The sense of disconnect between Australians and their governments is very high. More than seven million Australians say they are highly concerned about the quality of public health care in Australia, only exceeded by the 8.3 million who are concerned by politicians’ broken promises. The level of control felt over these issues is lower than for almost every other set of issues assessed in the study.

Perhaps counter-intuitively, Australians feel they have relatively more control over environmental issues like climate change and drought than other government issues despite having similarly high levels of concern about them.

Concern over the drought is the same among Liberal and Labor voters, however Labor voters are notably more concerned about climate change than Liberal voters, demonstrating the political partisanship of this debate extends well into the community.

Ogilvy Public Relations flexes community spirit

On Friday, 7th August, five team members across Ogilvy PR joined forces and gardening tools to show our involvement and commitment to the local community by spending a day with Mosman Council weeding and planting new trees to encourage the regeneration of local shrubs and wildlife.

For a bunch of inexperienced and clueless ‘gardeners’ there was a lot of gardening advice flying around. We tackled the day with much enthusiasm, energy and laughter so despite the blood, sweat and tears (only of laughter) we were able to proudly look at all the trees we planted. All of which we are sure will grow tall and proud – keeping in line with the Ogilvy excellence trademark!

Our aching muscles, sun burnt faces and blistered hands were rewarded with a great lunch and as well as a great day had by all, we now had some newly acquired gardening skills  to add to our resumes!

Making a positive difference felt fantastic – the day in the sun was merely a bonus. Another successful SO INSPIRED day!

Untangling the web of Government 2.0

Pia Waugh summed it up pretty succinctly at the start: on the question of Government 2.0 it isn’t a matter of if, but how:  just how will the government engage with its constituents online to improve policy development and service delivery and to begin to share its data and statistics.

Waugh, information and communication technology policy advisor to Senator Kate Lundy, was talking at a breakfast conference ‘’How can you benefit from web 2.0 and Government 2.0?’’ run at Ogilvy House in St Leonards by Frocomm. Both Lundy and Waugh have long had an interest in new technology, with Lundy assuming the task of educating some members of the Federal Government in both the necessity and benefits of change.

Government 2.0 is roughly defined as using web 2.0 technology to not only deliver government services but to make government processes more transparent and collaborative, as well as allowing government data to be utilised freely by the public and business to foster innovation. A case in point was during the Victorian bushfires early this year when companies such as Google used government data sourced through open access programs to provide information of huge benefit to those affected by the fires.

As Waugh pointed out, government has to react because a huge shift in attitude and expectation from the public means that all levels of government must change the way they do business. Online communication, she said, was driving massive change in government.

She instanced what she called the three pillars of government 2.0:

* Collaboration and transparency – to ensure engagement (it must be a genuine partnership) between citizens and the government in policy and decision-making, through gathering ‘’the wisdom of the crowd’’. Transparent and collaborative government is designed to grow trust and participation in policy development and decisions.
* Facilitating innovation – ensuring that suitable government data and systems be made available for public and private innovation, adding value to the data.
* Citizen-centric services – using technology to place a higher priority on the quality of the interaction between citizen and government as services are delivered.

Lundy has already run two public sphere events, with another scheduled for August. The two previous events, on the topics of high speed bandwidth and Government 2.0, followed a similar pattern. Before the event the public is invited to post comments, ideas,  links to papers and case studies on the public sphere blog. The postings are summarised and presented to the event. Blogs and Twitters are also set up to further encourage discussion and ideas while other interaction comes through the website or even the traditional letter.
The event is streamed live online, with live blogging and Twitter feedback, and some interested members of the public can give a ten minute talk. All contributions are then gathered in a briefing paper which is posted online to give a further chance for comment and modification before a final briefing paper is prepared.
Waugh cautioned that such events were not intended to replace the tradional system of asking for submissions but would augment that system by using online tools to better engage the community in public policy.
Another speaker was Martin Stewart-Weeks, Director, Public Sector, Internet Business Solutions Group, CISCO Systems, and a member of the Federal Government’s Government 2.0 taskforce.

Stewart-Weeks said the critical capabilities for Government 2.0 were the ability to share information and knowledge quickly, safely and easily; the ability to learn fast and to turn the results into new ideas for policy and service design, and the ability to orchestrate more complex communities of people and organisations inside and outside government.

He quoted the five rules of the art and practice of Government 2.0 as expounded by John S Monroe:
• Take control by giving up control;
• Keep the finger off the policy panic button;
• Brace for, and embrace, the unexpected;
• Relinquish your pride in your own expertise;
• Everything you know about productivity is wrong.

Stewart-Weeks cited a number of web sites, including the Harvard University project Herdict which uses the power of the herd (the mass of people) to show where web sites are unavailable throughout the world, the Urban Ecomap of San Francisco which gives a reading of household energy use at individual zip codes throughout the city area, and Digital Public Square from Washington which aims to put ‘’you, the citizen, in the driver’s seat to discover how District agencies work, participate in the democratic process and connect with your government. ‘’

All this, he said was establishing a new ethic of public value by harnessing the power of distributed networking and discovering the potential of collective intelligence.

‘’The public now have a voice and they are going to use it,’’ he said.

Brian Giesen,  Ogilvy’s Social Media director and a digital influence expert, pointed out the extraordinary growth in social media, instancing that 60 videos per second were placed on YouTube.

During Barrack Obama’s presidental campaign he had a significant presence on 16 separate social networking sites, including having more that 3 million friends on Facebook alone. Obama, Giesen said, offered a ‘’ladder of engagement’’ to those who wanted to help his campaign.

The statistics are incredible. More than 13 million people subscribed to the campaign’s email list; 70,000 people profiled on MyBarrackObama.com raised $30 million in campaign funds, while more than 100,000 people doorknocked Philadelphia on the weekend prior to the election.

A number of US government agencies were now using Government 2.0 to better respond with interested citizens, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which is utilising Twitter, microblogs, social networking, Flickr, podcasts, online videos and more to keep people (and the government) informed and engaged during the current swine flu epidemic.

All-in-all the overriding aim of Government 2.0 is to get more people, more involved in the democratic process. Which, as the conference no doubt agreed, can’t be a bad thing.

Having tweeties for breakfast

The key, according to Ogilvy’s digital influence expert Brian Giesen, is this: If you want to use Twitter, the newest of the new media, for public relations or business then it is imperative that you follow the rules.

And just what are those rules? Well, it’s all pretty simple. After setting up a Twitter account (the essence here is to be completely transparent in identifying yourself or your brand) there are basically three steps to engaging with and through Twitter: 1) Follow, 2) Create and 3) Engage.

Giesen, speaking to a 100-strong crowd at a Frocomm breakfast conference held on Wednesday at Ogilvy House, said the first stage, follow, meant that a business searched Twitter to discover what people were saying about their brand or their market.

After a time, the business could then enter the create phase, Twittering interesting messages relevant to the conversation and gathering followers.

Only after going through those steps, Giesen stressed, should a company starting engaging with other tweeters, responding to people who mention the brand, offering advice and assistance where necessary so that people who may have been critical may be turned into brand evangelists through the positive contact.

Twitter’s growth in Australia this year has been extraordinary. Traffic has surged more than sixfold, the fastest growth in the world, while there are almost 4 million registered users, rating us fifth behind the US, Japan, the UK and Canada.

Giesen said businesses could use Twitter to meet real business objectives in a number of ways: customer relations; product promotion and sales; crisis and reputation management; event coverage; issues advocacy; and, internal communications. All, however, utilise the three steps: follow, create and engage. And, he stressed, all must use the code of ethics for social media which includes being transparent, respecting other Twitterers by knowing when to participate and when to listen, thinking before messaging (will it be seen as helpful or intrusive), making sure your message is relevant, and providing value to your followers.

Another of the speakers, Strath Gordon, the Director of Public Affairs at NSW Police, related how he had to deal with a company which was Twittering under the name NSW Police. After trying unsuccessfully to contact the through Twitter Gordon was forced to go to the media. A prominent newspaper story and subsequent radio interviews soon had the company coming forward (It was a marketing company trying to build the NSW Police Twitter profile so they could go to the police and show what a powerful tool it was).

The police have now taken over the name, together with 2000 followers, and are using it to Twitter information. At times the responses from the public regarding matters such as speeding fines were ‘’in language not usually used’’ in communication with the police. Gordon said the police see Twitter, and other social media, as valuable tools to help report crime, issue general warnings and to inform people of the real level of crime.

Gordon also said that there was no doubt terrorists and criminals were using social media to communicate with each other, using codes words, and revealed the ‘’secret’’ parts of the force were developing ways to  counter that.

Giesen provided a list of do’s and dont’s for Twitter users.

Do:

• See what other businesses are doing on Twitter;
• Use Twitter search engines for keyword searches around brands, products and topics of interest;
• Follow Twitterers with similar interests to establish a brand presence;
• Use twitter to start a conversation;
• Be dedicated to Twitter, with more than one employee on Twitter to ensure an ongoing presence;
• Ask questions and get feedback from followers;
• Engage consumers in co-creation and get constructive insights for future products etc;
• Follow the blogger code of ethics;
• Spread the word about your participation by including your Twitter handle in your email signature.

Don’t:

• Push ads or brand messaging;
• Talk about your everyday tasks. Make your Tweets entertaining and/or valuable;
• Tweet anything about clients, co-workers friends etc that you would not want them to read.

Christopher Graves to Succeed Marcia Silverman as CEO of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide

NEW YORK, NY, June 11, 2009 – Christopher Graves, President and Regional CEO of Ogilvy Public Relations Asia Pacific, has been appointed global CEO of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, a global, multi-disciplinary communications leader, succeeding Marcia Silverman who has led the company for seven years.  Marcia will become Chair of Ogilvy PR. Both appointments become effective January 1, 2010.

Since joining Ogilvy PR in 2005, Christopher Graves, 50, has roughly doubled the agency’s size in Asia Pacific, growing the network into the industry leader in the world’s fastest-growing region by any measure, from size, to client roster, to specialist offerings, to awards and accolades.  Under his leadership, Ogilvy PR has seen phenomenal development in scale and creativity across all marketing disciplines.  He has crafted clear goals and made investments to grow the network into the future and built a strong leadership team in Asia Pacific across 15 countries, dominating in major markets such as China and Australia.  Graves collaborates closely with staff and agency leaders around the world and flourishes in the 360-degree marketing communications environment with partner Ogilvy & Mather.

Graves has cultivated relationships with leading such organizations as The World Economic Forum, authored papers and spoken on emerging trends in social media, recession marketing, shifting demographics, and the changing dynamics of influence.  He has also created intellectual properties for Ogilvy PR such as immersive workshops on: crisis management; business model disruption; and effective storytelling for business outcomes.

In making the announcement, Ogilvy & Mather CEO Miles Young, said, “Marcia has done an outstanding job of securing Ogilvy PR’s reputation as a premier, integrated communications agency built on strong client service.  She has earned extraordinary affection inside and outside the business.  Marcia has gathered together a strong and harmonious global management team, and driven new innovations in the critical social media space.  She will be an exceedingly hard act to follow and are delighted that she will become Chair of Ogilvy PR to further develop client relationships and shape the agency’s global strategy.”

Regarding Graves, Young added, “In Chris, we have a successor who will take the work forward with flair and elan.  He is driven by clients and content, and is an embodiment of the pervasive creativity and outward focus which will push Ogilvy PR forward in its resolve to become the best public relations network.  He is truly a citizen of the world; he knows all the issues, and relishes being at the leading most edge, articulating and influencing them.  We are incredibly fortunate to have both Marcia and Chris at the helm of Ogilvy PR.”

Commenting on her successor, Silverman stated, “Chris has an exceptional track record of building business and providing superior client service.  I’m certain he will bring the same focus on quality and success to our global organization.”

The Ogilvy PR and Ogilvy & Mather senior leadership will work to secure a successor to the Asia Pacific regional CEO position of Ogilvy PR between now and the end of 2009.

Graves joined Ogilvy PR in 2005 after 23 years in business news, most recently with Dow Jones and Wall Street Journal.  Chris was one of the founders of Wall Street Journal Television, managing editor of Asia Business News, vice president of news and programming for CNBC Asia, vice president of news and programming for CNBC Europe, managing director of business development (EMEA & Asia) for Dow Jones Consumer Electronic Publishing (WSJ.com) and managing director of Far Eastern Economic Review. Chris’s accolades include an EMMY nomination, the 2007 PR Professional of the Year by PRWeek Asia, as well as a number of awards from Asia PR Awards, The New York Film and Television Festivals and the Asian Television Awards for programming made under his supervision.

Graves graduated from Wesleyan University with a degree in English, and from Phillips Exeter Academy.  He and his wife of 23 years, JoAnn Ward, have two daughters and have resided in Hong Kong since 2002.

###
About Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide (Ogilvy PR) is a global, multi-disciplinary communications leader operating in more than 70 markets. Named Large Agency of the Year by The Holmes Report, Ogilvy PR blends proven PR methodologies with cutting edge digital innovations to craft strategic programs that give clients winning and measurable results. In its 28th year, Ogilvy PR provides strategic public relations counsel to a variety of clients across its social marketing, public affairs, healthcare, consumer marketing, 360˚ digital influence, corporate, technology and entertainment practices. Through its subsidiary, Feinstein Kean Healthcare, the agency also offers additional experience in the cancer field, as well as specialized expertise in molecular medicine, advanced biomedical research, leading life science and healthcare technologies and treatments. Ogilvy PR also offers government affairs services through its subsidiary Ogilvy Government Relations. Ogilvy PR is part of the WPP plc, one of the world’s largest communications services organizations (NASDAQ: WPPGY, www.wpp.com). For more information, visit our Web site at www.ogilvypr.com.

Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide
Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (www.ogilvy.com), a subsidiary of WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY), is one of the largest marketing communications networks in the world, with 450 offices in 120 countries, specializing in advertising, relationship and interactive marketing, public relations, sales promotion and related services.

Pick your pundit: Advice from Ogilvy Marketing in a Recession seminar

When you attend an Ogilvy marketing in a recession seminar, you don’t expect George Bernard Shaw to come to mind, or even Edgar R Fielder, whoever he might be.

But Shaw once said that if all the economists in the world were laid end to end they wouldn’t reach a conclusion. And Fielder claimed that if you ask five economists you will get five different answers – six if one went to Harvard.
Two of the seven panellists at a lively and informative Ogilvy On Today breakfast Q&A session at the MCA on Tuesday were Phil Ruthven, the founder and chairman of top research firm IBISWorld, and Stephen Joske, the director of China Forecasting Services at the Economist Intelligence Unit in Beijing.

Leading journalist Tony Jones, from ABC television’s Q&A and Lateline programs, hosted the marketing in a recession discussion and began by asking the two economic gurus about whether the current recession was the worst since the great depression and whether the Treasury budget estimate of 4.5% growth in two years was, as Jones described it, ‘’Goldilocks’’ economics.That’s when you started to think about those quotes.

Ruthven described the severity of the current problems as being ‘’grossly exaggerated’’, saying it was the ‘’most gentle recession’’ he had ever lived through. And he completely backed the Treasury estimates – ‘’we’re going to come out of this very, very fast’’.

Being an economist, Joske had another view: this was not an ordinary recession with deep damage to the financial system, the so-called green shoots of recovery were, in fact, a false recovery and while China might start moving again at the end of this year the US would not start getting back on track until next year. And his estimate of growth in the Australian economy in two years time was 2.5%, well below Treasury’s 4.5%. It all pointed to a slow Australian recovery next year.

Ruthven said the Australian economy was tied more to the Asia-Pacific than to Europe or the US. Joske said that while China was definitely a positive, it wasn’t enough to restore things to normal.

It all made for fascinating listening for the 100 guests who had gathered to hear the views of a panel comprising Ruthven and Joske, Joe Talcott, the group marketing director of News Limited and the chairman of the Australian Association of National Advertisers, Rose Herceg, STW Group’s strategic director, Mike Daniels, the managing partner and head of strategy at Singleton Ogilvy & Mather, Brian Giesen, Director Digital Strategy at Ogilvy PR, and OgilvyEarth’s senior advisor, Ian Higgins.

The purpose of the morning was to hear, and perhaps challenge, the disparate views on marketing in the current economic downturn of some of the best thinkers in the country, with those views being teased out by Jones.
Apart from the economy, topics included sustainability, fresh thinking and innovation, trends and the new world of digital.

Higgins said that the general population had finally ‘’got it’’ that we are not living sustainably and were holding that commitment to environmental sustainability through the downturn. Citing Reuters, Higgins said four out of five Americans say they are still buying green products, despite the recession, while a similar percent of 10,000 Australians surveyed last year believe our individual consumption choices can contribute to the greater good of the environment.

‘’We have community leadership on this’’, Higgins said. While warning of the dangers of greenwash – companies claiming false environmental credentials for their products – Higgins said that smart companies were changing their environmental footprint but not talking about it – ‘’you get it right before you speak’’.

Questions were asked about the role of digital and social media in the current business landscape. Giesen said the US marketing experience was that a number of companies had managed to make money out of social media, pointing to computer company Dell which had gained $1 million in extra revenue in the past year by advising of its special clearance offers via Twitter. He added, however, that the main benefit for companies engaging in social media was to develop strong relationships with customers, to understand their customers better and to engage with key influencers.

Giesen also said Ogilvy had initiated a code of ethics – a 66 point plan, no less – for engaging bloggers which he believed essential for responsible marketing.

Daniels said the internet had further increased the necessity for brands to be honest and have integrity because the web opened the companies to public scrutiny in a manner never before experienced.

‘’You must be very honest, very transparent,’’ he said.

The call for honesty was echoed by Talcott, who described the new consumer a ‘’smart, cynical and, most importantly, connected – and to me that changes everything.’’ He pointed out the damage that could be done to a brand by a disgruntled customer using social media.

Daniels said ‘’a lot of digital isn’t very strategic in a business sense. You see ‘wow that’s cool’ but there’s a bit of forgetting that it’s got to make some kind of return.’’

Herceg related how she had been watching a program where a number of highly successful people had stated that recessions ‘’are a great time for imagination and ingenuity and innovation.’’

There was, she said, a place for pragmatism and security but ‘’there is much more to be gain from imagination.’’
Pointing out that most innovation was undertaken by smaller organisations, Herceg said: ‘’If a branded product added innovation it would be almost unbeatable’’ and instanced the Apple iPod as an innovative product from a big brand that now dominated the market.

Her theme was taken up by Daniels who said innovation was a ‘’mindset’’ and instanced companies like KFC and Hyundai which were succeeding despite the downturn through innovation.

Talcott said he believe the consumer was ‘’afraid, and they’re watching every cent they have’’.

When asked about the next big trend, Herceg said she liked to look for pockets of opportunity where nobody else was at the moment – counter-trends – and related how a client, a manufacturer of dairy products, had come to her for ideas. The market was full of low fat products so she advised making something ‘’about 99% butter fat’’: ‘’They couldn’t make enough of it’’.

Herceg said it was essential that business separated innovation and assessment – ‘’you can create all you want, but if it’s a dumb idea it’s a dumb idea’’ – and said that people had to be allowed to fail.

‘’We’re not very good at celebrating failure in Australia. Not good at saying OK, you failed, give it another go.’’
When asked by Jones to finish with one piece of advice for business in the current climate the panel responded thus:

* Be brave and take chances (Talcott);

* Innovate by going green (Higgins);

* A company’s two most valuable assets are IP and the organisational culture.  Look after both of those (Ruthven);

* The only place that’s growing is the inland provinces of China. Invest there (Joske);

* Be prepared to change everything. Look at everything you are doing throughout the business and ask does it have to be like this, could it be another way (Daniels);

* Listen to what people are saying about your brand and your products. Establish relationships with your customers (Giesen);

* Get five of your best and brightest employees, take them off their day jobs, lock them in a room and see what they come up with (Herceg).

With that Jones closed the seminar everyone went back to their day jobs, no doubt hoping to be marketing in Ruthven’s recession and not Joske’s.

http://mumbrella.com.au/talcott-lying-on-the-nail-finally-hurt-enough-to-make-us-all-act-5666

http://www.adnews.com.au/News.cfm?NewsId=6310

Ogilvy PR 2008 Large Agency of the Year

This morning, I was officially notified that Ogilvy PR has been awarded the 2008 Large Agency of the Year accolade by Paul Holmes.

Winning this award is a testament to your hard work and dedication to this agency.  As a worldwide network, we have accomplished a great deal over the past year winning high profile accounts, welcoming some very talented hires and continuing to provide paramount client service in difficult economic times.  It is the work you do every day that makes a difference in clients wanting to work with us.

In Asia, coming off a year in which we were named Network of the Year, this honor reinforces the outstanding work being done in the region.  Christopher Graves and his management team in Asia have done a great job in building the network and making it the strongest in the region.  In EAME, we continue to produce great work – and recent wins like MTS and Infortrend not only bolster the London office, but also the entire network.  In the US, the public affairs, consumer marketing, social marketing and corporate practices have shown solid strength in the first quarter and are on track for success in the remainder of the year.

Paul Holmes has known firsthand what great work has been done throughout the Americas, EAME and Asia Pacific but it is extremely gratifying to have our work recognized for the wider industry to see.

Congratulations to everyone at Ogilvy PR.  Please take the time to celebrate in your greatness – you most definitely deserve it.

Best,
Marcia Silverman

Marcia Silverman named PRWeek’s 2009 PR Professional of the Year

Marcia Silverman has been named PRWeek’s 2009 PR Professional of the Year, receiving a standing ovation from the industry’s top professionals.
Silverman has been with the agency for 27 years and was named CEO of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide in 2002.  “When I joined Ogilvy, I did not think about whether this career path would be short on opportunities for women, I simply rolled up my sleeves and became immersed in a profession that still excites and challenges me.”
One judge said “Marcia broke new ground in the industry, and demonstrated leadership that led to impressive results.”
To read the full article: http://www.prweekus.com/PR-Professional-of-the-Year-2009/article/123798/

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