Talk:Ogilvy (agency)/Archive 1

Conflict of interest and current and past controversies

 * Potential conflict of interest

3 August 2007 Ogilvy Group UK anon adds known clients. Adds several highly successful advertising campaigns.

6 February 2008 Editor Sandom, who edited J. G. Sandom a lot, edits this page. The Sandom page states: "From January 1997 through October 1999, Sandom served as Director of Interactive at OgilvyOne Worldwide"


 * Controversies deleted and added:
 * Cat decapitation

They caused some controversy when they created an advertisment for a Ford motorcar which showed images of a cat being decapitated by the car's sunroof

July, August 2006 Anon, deletes cat decapitated controvery ad and Category:WPP (now Category:WPP Group)

18:36, 8 November 2007 Cowbite (editor with less than 10 edits) removes cat decapitated controvery ad and all tags, adds sources to other sections.


 * Asia Pulp & Paper, controversy

Added by Hectorguinness 22 May 2008


 * A&E's History Channel contoversy

22 May 2009 Catfish99 adds.


 * Tobacco institute

20:06, 18 December 2007 anon adds Tobacco instute

Odessaukrain (talk) 06:05, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Remove Asia Pulp & Paper controversy?
Should we remove the Asia Pulp & Paper company? There are probably dozens of companies which Asia Pulp & Paper deals with. I will let everyone decide. Odessaukrain (talk) 06:07, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Ogilvy Lobby Shop
I expanded the section on Ogilvy PR.

It may be worthwhile expanding the section on Ogilvy Government Relations, since this represents another venture into lobbying Congress for WPP's corporate clients et. al.

http://ipezone.blogspot.com/2007/11/wpps-dc-lobbying-monopoly.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.104.53.140 (talk) 15:39, 12 September 2010 (UTC)

Logo
Can someone who knows what they are doing add the Ogilvy logo to the infobox.

I have placed the example image there, but the Ogilvy logo is quite distinctive and I think the page would benefit from its inclusion. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.104.53.140 (talk) 20:34, 12 September 2010 (UTC)

The controversy section seems biased. Its as if somone is suggesting that the entire company is full of criminals. A member of my familly works at Ogilvy Commonhealth and he is not an ilegalising terrorist! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jahaan2004 (talk • contribs) 05:35, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

History of the company moved to talk

 * History of company added: 1 May 2007 by J705

This section has been tagged since March 2008 that it needs sources. I am removing it to the talk page:

== History ==

1948 - David Ogilvy, age 39, opens Ogilvy, Benson and Mather in New York with two partners

1951 - Agency wins Hathaway Shirts account. David Ogilvy invents the “Hathaway Man.” Sales increase by 160%; “Guinness Guide to Oysters” is the first ad David wrote as head of O&M;. 1952 - “Come to Britain” campaign for British tourism moves Britain from 5th to 1st U.S. tourism destination.

1953 - OBM ranks 51st among U.S. agencies, with billings of $10.7 million.

1955 - O&M helps launch Dove as “1/4 cleansing cream” – same premise sells brand today.

1956 – Ogilvy borrows “Titus Moody” character for Pepperidge Farm – campaign runs 30+ yrs.

1959 - O&M wins Maxwell House account – relations with Kraft started; Barbie is born.

1960 – Wins Shell oil – doubles agency billing to 50 mil; Rolls-Royce – one of the most famous car ads “At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electronic clock”.

1961 – Launches 1st sears campaign; wins KLM Royal Dutch Airlines- 25yrs later launches Flying Dutchman frequent flyer program for them.

1962 – O&M wins American Express – “Don’t leave home without it” & “Do you know me”

1963 David writes Confessions of an Advertising Man- International best-seller

1964 – David invents “Schweppervescence” – 500% increase over nine years in sales of Schweppes- campaign runs 18 yrs.

1965 - O&M merges with former parent Mather & Crowther(1850) – 1966 goes public.

1969 – Hershey client – builds them into #1 US chocolate maker.

1972 – O&M Direct (OgilvyOne Worldwide) opens and launches the “Quite frankly, the American Express Card is not for everyone” letter - mailed 280 mil times over 12 yrs. 1975 - Ford becomes O&M Europe client.

1976 - Launches Yellow Pages division, now OgilvyOne Directory Advertising.

1978 - O&M Bombay launches Indian Cancer Society campaign – within 2 mo. ICS check-up visits increase by 200%; Kimberly-Clark introduces Huggies: O&M “Happy Babies campaign establishes it as #1 diaper brand in the US.

1979 - opens office in China – O&M produces first direct response commercial in Mandarin for American Express.

1980 – The advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather, founded by advertising legend David Ogilvy, created its subsidiary Ogilvy & Mather Public Relations Inc. (O&MPR).

1982 - Launches Barbie Fan Club in France – 120,000 girls join in first year.

1983 - David writes Ogilvy On Advertising – best seller and industry text; Duracell becomes client; launches NutraSweet with mail-in coupon for aspartame gum balls – almost 3 million consumers get their first taste by mail.

1984 – 1st global agency to provide clients “electronic marketing” services later OgilvyInteractive.

1986 – O&M London wins Lucozade sports drink account.

1989 – Wins the annual Ford Marketing Excellence Award, wins it 6 more times in a row; 1st western ad agency to officially open in Soviet Union; WPPGroup acquires OM-David becomes non-executive WPP Chairman for 3 yrs.

1990 – O&M Direct wins DMA Diamond Echo Award 2 yrs in a row for Ryder’s “Moving Advantage” and “Crying” campaigns; Advertising Age names American Express “Portrait” series “Print Campaign of the Decade”

1991 – O&M Paris wins Cannes Grand Prix for Nestle Perrier “La Lionne” commercial.

1992 – Creates the Pond’s institute campaign in France; wins DHL account; Jaguar became North America O&M client. Sales increased more than 125%.

1993 – Wins first Nokia assignment; launches the American Express ”Charge Against Hunger” campaign. Which helped to provide more than 150 mil lbs. of food to people in need; Advertising Research Foundation establishes David Ogilvy Award to recognize campaigns that “best utilize quality and relevant research in their development”; OgilvyInteractive invents new marketing medium by inserting diskette in Forbes magazine – 8 out of 10 subscribers who responded asked to receive electronic catalog of products and services.

1994 – O&M Frankfurt wins Dresdner Bank account; IBM makes advertising history – consolidates worldwide account at O&M “one Brand, One Voice” unites Big Blue; O&M Paris helps transform EuroDisney into successful Disneyland Paris

1995 – OgilvyOne helps American Express launch global “Membership Rewards” loyalty program; O&M Japan opens in Tokyo; Kodak selects O&M Atlanta for single assignment. O&M Worldwide today manages total global account.

1996 – Wins Unilever’s Helene Curtis line worldwide; OgilvyOne Madrid’s mail campaign introducing Telefonica’s new online-access service, Infovia, brings in 11% response rate and wins prestigious Gold Mailbox Echo; Advertising Age names O&M Rightford (South Africa) International Agency of the Year; wins Sheraton; Standard O&M merges with Denison in Brazil, making O&M one of the largest agencies in the country; O&M London wins Unilever’s Impulse fragrance European account. In 1 yr, award-winning campaign helps sales rise 30%.

1997 – O&M and J.Walter Thompson pool media forces as MindShare in Europe and Asia and the Alliance in the U.S.;Punto O&M’s commercial for newspaper El Pais named Uruguay’s “Ad of the Decade”; launches new brand identity for KFC to reflect the spirit and heritage of founder Colonel Sanders; documentary film Advertising On Ogilvy is accepted into permanent collection of the Museum of Television & Radio in New York; O&M’s Results Advertising wins “Asian Creative Ad of the Year” for Black Cat Whiskey; largest advertising agency in Hong Kong and China.

1998 – named “Number One Interactive Ad Agency” – 1998, by Adweek; wins 2 premier Cyber Lions awards at Cannes Advertising Festival for Campaign Magazine On-line and the IBM Olympic Luge Game. Launches tele business, including hiring Matt Durawa

1999 – July 22 David dies.

2000 – Wins BP, Motorola and SAP; named “North America Agency of the Year” by AdWeek.

2001 – OgilvyInteractive named “Best Integrated Agency” by AdWeek; named “North America Agency of the Year” by AdWeek.

2002 – OgilvyPR becomes #1 in China; wins Grand EFFIE for IBM Infrastructure Campaign; OgilvyPR wins Network of the Year.

2003 – Wins Cisco and DuPont; 4 Ogilvy Offices: Ogilvy Italy, Ogilvy Mexico, Ogilvy Asia Pacific, and Dialogue Marketing win “Agency of the Year”.

2004 - Ogilvy celebrates 10 years as IBM's Agency of Record; OgilvyOne worldwide hosts the first Verge: the Global Digital Summit in NYC; Brian Fetherstonhaugh becomes Chief Executive Officer of OgilvyOne Worldwide. 2005 – OgilvyInteractive North America named AdWeek’s 2004 “Interactive Agency of the Year”; BtoB Magazine names OgilvyOne North America Direct Agency of the Year; The Dove Firming Campaign wins the Grand Prix in the Euro Effies; Jock Elliott, Ogilvy’s Chairman Emeritus, dies in his sleep in Westchester County, NY.

2006 – Neo@Ogilvy Launches Globally; Ogilvy Group UK 100 yrs; Dove’s “The Campaign for Real Beauty” wins the 2006 Grand Effie Award.

2007 – Ogilvy Introduces OgilvyAction; Ogilvy North America Appoints Chief Digital Officer; Rory Sutherland Named Jury President for Cannes Direct Lions

2008 - The 25th anniversary of OgilvyInteractive and 60th anniversary of Ogilvy & Mather 2009 - Miles Young becomes CEO with effect from 1st January 2009 replacing Shelly Lazarus

Odessaukrain (talk) 06:18, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

"His Entry Into the Company of Giants"
In "History" is it really wikipedic to describe David Ogilvy with this effusive - "His entry into the company of giants started with several iconic campaigns:"? We're talking about an ad buyer, not Charlemagne. BlueSalix (talk) 22:03, 9 January 2013 (UTC)

Notable Campaigns
The "Notable Campaigns" section seems to be a few recent controversies, not "notable campaigns." Shouldn't it include things like Dove or American Express, which are some of the best-known ad campaigns ever? Carlo (talk) 02:22, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

Article improvement and History draft
Hello to anyone who has this page watchlisted or comes across this message. I have been working on behalf of Ogilvy & Mather (as part of my job with Beutler Ink) to research and prepare a more thorough version of this article. As I have a financial COI here, I will not be making any direct edits to the entry myself.

The current version is incomplete, lacks information about the agency's history and services, and places too much emphasis on specific news items. I'd like to work with editors to make improvements in each of the article's sections, but to start, I am sharing just a draft for the History section.

This new draft can be viewed in my userspace here:


 * User:Heatherer/Ogilvy & Mather History

This draft includes everything that's in the article now, but is considerably longer, taking into account the entirety of the firm's 150+ year history, including its predecessor, Mather & Crowther, which does not have its own article. I broke up the material into several sections of about equal length for ease of reading and to help readers find specific information they might be looking for. I aimed to write neutrally and to source the draft thoroughly using reliable, independent sources.

Along with this draft, I'd also like to suggest moving the paragraph that begins "In 2005, Shona Seifert and Thomas Early" to the Notable campaigns section. I initially tried incorporating it into the History section I'm proposing, but it stuck out. I think that since this controversy was about a particular piece of work and it includes a reasonable level of detail about the campaign, it's a good fit for the Notable campaigns section.

I'm happy to address any questions or feedback editors may have on the draft. Please make edits or ask me to make changes to make it ready to take live. Thanks! Heatherer (talk) 16:53, 6 November 2015 (UTC)
 * That looks fine to me, but the book citations should have page numbers. Also, the entire "Notable campaigns" section should be merged into "History". It's currently just a controversy section, as Carlo observed above. KateWishing (talk) 17:17, 6 November 2015 (UTC)


 * I think it's misleading to say Ogilvy & Mather "created leading non-branded advertising campaigns such as 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away'." They may have used the phrase in a campaign, but they don't seem to have coined it. KateWishing (talk) 18:02, 6 November 2015 (UTC)


 * Thanks ! Sorry for the delay in responding. I've been working on making the changes you mentioned and will post again when they're done. Heatherer (talk) 17:48, 13 November 2015 (UTC)


 * I've updated my draft with page numbers and removed the part about 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away'. I have sources that suggest the agency did coin that phrase, but if there are differing accounts, I think it makes sense to leave it out and avoid possibly spreading misinformation.


 * Additionally, I'm working on a major update for the Notable campaigns section to fix the WP:RECENTISM, so if you don't mind, could we hold off on the merging of Notable campaigns and History until I've posted my suggestion for that and you've taken a look? Thanks! Heatherer (talk) 14:30, 24 November 2015 (UTC)
 * That looks good. It would be fine to keep "Notable campaigns" if that section was expanded. I still think the information about the convictions belongs in the "History" section, though, since the fraud was notable rather than the content of the campaign.
 * By the way, I accidentally submitted this edit before I finished the edit summary. I was trying to say that the "Roman 2009" anchor links only work when using the  and   parameters (which I fixed in my edit). KateWishing (talk) 19:13, 24 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Hi . I've updated the 2000s to present section in my draft to include the convictions information. I also added one other recent news item about an employee death. Thanks for your help with the Roman 2009 ref. Do you think this draft might be ready to move to the live article? If so, I'd love your help with that, since I'd like to avoid making direct edits myself. Thanks! Heatherer (talk) 15:48, 11 December 2015 (UTC)
 * That looks good; I copied it over. KateWishing (talk) 06:18, 12 December 2015 (UTC)

Notable campaigns
As I mentioned to above, I've been working on a replacement for the Notable campaigns section of the article since the current version only includes three campaigns. That draft is now complete and ready for editors to review. I've renamed the resulting section draft Major work and put it in my userspace here:


 * User:Heatherer/Ogilvy_%26_Mather_Major_work

I included the campaigns and client work that most frequently was mentioned as notable in sources. Some of them appear briefly in the History section, but I included more detail here. I also included a few controversial campaigns, two of which are in the article currently.

A quick note on sourcing: I've included references already in the live article above the draft to avoid cite errors later on. These can be left out if the draft is moved to the live article.

If editors could please take a look and let me know what they think, I'd appreciate it. I'm open to any feedback regarding language, sourcing, or information included. In the case that everything looks OK, I'd ask that another editor move this section to the live article. To reiterate, I've prepared this draft on Ogilvy & Mather's behalf and, because of this COI, will not be making edits myself. Thanks! Heatherer (talk) 16:43, 23 December 2015 (UTC)
 * I reviewed the text and only found one real issue. This source says "awareness of the theme among upper-income men jumped by 140 percent", but your revision said "awareness of the company rose 140 percent". I changed it to a different statistic from the same source. And now I've merged your proposal into the article. KateWishing (talk) 00:23, 22 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Thinking about it, your interpretation of "theme" might be correct. It just seems like a strange way to refer to the company, though I'm not familiar with advertising lingo. KateWishing (talk) 05:48, 22 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Thank you for reviewing. All of your edits make sense and the updated article looks great! I like the Merrill Lynch sentence better the way you wrote it, so I'm fine with leaving the "theme" stat out. Have a great weekend! Heatherer (talk) 19:05, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

New CEO
Hi all! It was announced today that John Seifert is now the CEO of Ogilvy & Mather, taking over for Miles Young. Can someone update the "key people" parameter in the infobox and also update the History section? My suggestion would be to change the last paragraph to the following:

As I've mentioned before, I'm refraining from making updates myself due to my financial conflict of interest: I am working on behalf of Ogilvy as part of my work at Beutler Ink. I'd appreciate if another editor could make these changes! In addition, I still have an open request above related to the agency's major work. Thanks! Heatherer (talk) 22:35, 20 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Also done. KateWishing (talk) 00:23, 22 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Excellent. Thank you! Heatherer (talk) 19:06, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

Services and Company culture
Hi again. I've drafted two new sections for this article and have a few updates for the infobox I'd like to propose.

Both of the sections can be found on my userspace here. The first section, Services, is meant to replace the entry's current Services section which is both outdated and incomplete (it mainly just discusses Ogilvy Public Relations). My draft details each of the agency's offerings and its various units and practices.

The second section, Company culture, is entirely new and discusses the agency culture that David Ogilvy formed and also some of the agency's pro bono work. I think based on the number of sources that cover these things, it makes sense to add this section to the article.

Finally, here are my suggestions for the infobox:
 * Add "Worldwide Chairman, Miles Young" to key people
 * Update John Seifert's title to "Worldwide Chief Executive Officer"
 * Add 25,000 as the number of employees
 * Include services: "advertising; public relations and public affairs; branding and identity; shopper and retail marketing; healthcare communications; direct, digital, promotion and relationship marketing; consulting, research and analytics; branded content and entertainment; specialist communications"

I welcome comments and any other feedback editors have about the drafts or my suggestions. My aim was to prepare material that's neutral and consistent with Wikipedia's guidelines and policies, and I'm open to making changes to get it there. To be clear, I won't be making any direct edits to the article due to my financial conflict of interest. If any of my proposals appear to be an improvement over what is already in the article, I will be looking for help placing it in the live article. As a side note, I have some photos that can be added to the article and will be posting them soon. Thanks! Heatherer (talk) 00:47, 23 February 2016 (UTC)
 * I made some changes, mainly removing parts that seemed vague or promotional. I also removed the word "pro-bono" because I didn't see that mentioned in the sources. The "Subsidiaries and divisions" section of our article has a few bits missing from your proposal (Ogilvy CommonHealth details and The Federalist Group). If you incorporate that, I'll merge. KateWishing (talk) 17:17, 1 April 2016 (UTC)


 * As always, your changes look great, ! I'm so appreciative of your editing—thank you. I would like to further discuss the two items you've asked me to add. My draft mentions Ogilvy CommonHealth currently—what additional details would you like to see included? The information in the live article relates to the Asia-Pacific operations, but I spoke with a representative at Ogilvy and they confirmed that Ogilvy CommonHealth is a global division. I also learned that The Federalist Group now goes by Ogilvy Government Relations, and it is actually an WPP company that is independent from Ogilvy & Mather. In light of that, I would suggest leaving it out, but I'm interested to hear what you think. Thanks! Heatherer (talk) 00:33, 14 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I added The Federalist Group to the History section, and incorporated most of your proposals. KateWishing (talk) 01:42, 14 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Works for me! Thanks so much. Heatherer (talk) 20:26, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

A few additional requests
I'm starting a new thread to discuss a couple of smaller improvements that can be made to this article. This is in addition to my request above asking editors to review the Services and Company culture drafts and suggestions for the infobox.

First, I've revised the introduction to better reflect the current content of the article. Editors may review it below:

Second, I've uploaded the following images to Wikimedia Commons and they may be added to this article as editors see fit:


 * David Ogilvy with Commander Whitehead and the Hathaway Man
 * Ogilvy NY Office
 * Ogilvy Cape Town Office
 * David Ogilvy 1943
 * David Ogilvy & Shelly Lazarus at Ogilvy's home, Touffou, France mid-90s
 * Ogilvy & Mather CEOs

Finally, I realized that I left out mention of Tham Khai Meng in my draft for the History section. Can other editors review the material I've prepped below and let me know what they think about revising the fifth paragraph of the 2000s section to include the following?

As mentioned in previous requests above, I am working as a paid consultant, so I will not be making any edits myself. I'm open to feedback or suggestions other editors have about any of the above items. Thanks! Heatherer (talk) 20:59, 30 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Partly done, but I only added the first sentence of the Tham Khai Meng proposal (it's WP:SYNTH to credit the awards to Tham's efforts when the sources don't mention that). KateWishing (talk) 01:42, 14 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks so much for making the changes and that feedback about the Tham Khai Meng section! This source does specifically credit Khai's efforts, at least at Cannes: "Among the main targets of speculation is worldwide CCO Tham Khai Meng, who worked closely for eight years with Young in Asia and has been a driving force behind Ogilvy's recognition as Cannes Lions' Network of the Year for the last four years." I think when trying to combine two paragraphs that were previously separate, I inadvertently conflated his efforts with other recent awards.


 * I've revised the wording a bit to better reflect exactly what the sources say. Let me know if you think this is an improvement.


 * Thanks! Heatherer (talk) 20:24, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

Unresolved and remaining edits
Hello! I am finishing up my involvement with this project, so here are final edits I'd like to propose and a few outstanding items. I'd appreciate it if any editors watching this page would look through these requests and make changes that seem appropriate.


 * 1) New items have been added to the Controversies section related to a 2009 award and a 2010 radio ad. The citation following the A&E award material links to a non-existent page. The source about the ARCO radio ad does not mention Ogilvy. I tried searching for coverage myself and didn't find any major news stories. I'd argue that these are not controversial events if they didn’t make it into mainstream news. There are plenty of items (both positive and negative) published about the agency every day and most of them are not worthy of inclusion in this Wikipedia article. I think these two events fall into that camp. Thoughts?
 * 2) Ogilvy has been named "World’s Most Effective Agency Network" for 2016. The agency's prior rankings are already included in the article, so the sentence (which appears in this section) just needs to be updated. Suggested new language is as follows (including one source that supports all three years and can replace the other two citations already there): It was also named Effies "World’s Most Effective Agency Network" in 2012, 2013 and 2016.
 * 3) The headquarters listed in the infobox should just be the global HQ (in New York). The agency has hundreds of regional offices, so it seems odd to just include the UK and Singapore (which isn't even the Asia HQ).
 * 4) I'd still like feedback on my proposed language about Tham Khai Meng. Here it is again. This is meant to be included in the fifth paragraph of the 2000s section.

This was a fun article to work on and I appreciate all the help I have received thus far. Thanks very much. Heatherer (talk) 20:55, 16 May 2016 (UTC)
 * ✅ The dead link cite given is archived at, and doesn't reference Ogilvy at all (it's just a picture), so I removed it as an unsourced statement. Second change was uncontroversial. I agree with your comment about the infobox, only the main HQ should be included unless there is a very compelling reason to include additional locations. Since the previous editors only complaint about your wording was the lack of source and it also looks good to me, I have implemented that too. — crh 23   &thinsp;(Talk) 16:41, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Thanks so much! The ARCO item is still in the article. Did you intend to remove it as well? Thanks! Heatherer (talk) 18:12, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Whoops, didn't see that bit. That one was slightly less clear cut, but I couldn't find any mainstream media talking about it (where I could find lots for the Malala Yousafzai case), so on balance I have removed it anyway. — crh 23   &thinsp;(Talk) 18:30, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
 * I wasn't sure if you had seen it or not. Thanks for taking a look! I agree with your reasoning—I looked for additional sources myself to see if the reference could be updated at least, but no luck. I appreciate you making the change! Heatherer (talk) 16:05, 24 May 2016 (UTC)