Ogilvy (agency)

Ogilvy & Mather Logo

Ogilvy & Mather Logo

Ogilvy & Mather is an advertising agency headquartered in New York City. As a part of the WPP Group's network of marketing communications firms, Ogilvy & Mather works in tandem with other related network units, including OgilvyOne Worldwide (of which OgilvyInteractive and Neo@Ogilvy are fully integrated units), Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, OgilvyHealthworld and OgilvyAction. Founded in 1948 by the oft-quoted David Ogilvy, as Hewitt, Ogilvy, Benson & Mather it soon became Ogilvy & Mather and established itself as a leading agencies worldwide by the 1960s through a policy of building brands through advertising. With that mentality, Ogilvy & Mather has helped build recognizable brands like American Express, Sears, Ford, Shell, Barbie, Pond's, Dove, Maxwell House, IBM and Kodak.

Integrated in the firm's corporate culture is Ogilvy's concept of "360 Degree Brand Stewardship", which he defined as "a willingness to use the broadest array of tools and techniques to understand, develop and enhance the relationship between a consumer and a brand."

They caused some controversy when they created an advertisement for a Ford motorcar which showed images of a cat being decapitated by the car's sunroof [1]. The premise for the advert was rejected by Ford prior to Ogilvy & Mather officially beginning work on its production, yet still managed to make its way onto the internet as one of the most successful examples of viral marketing advertising to date[2].

History

1948 - David Ogilvy, age 39, opens Ogilvy and Mather in New York
1951 “Guiness Guide to Oysters” is the first ad David wrote as head of O&M; “Come to Britain” campaign for British tourism moves Britain from 5th to 1st U.S. tourism destination
1953 - David invents “Hathaway Man” – campaign runs 25 yrs.
1955 - O&M helps launch Dove as “1/4 cleaning cream” – same premise sells brand today.
1956 – Ogilvy invents “Titus Moody” character for Pepperide Farm – campaign funs 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 “Schweppervescejce” – 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 – establishes PR operation – today Ogilvy Public Relations is a top 10 agency with more than 60 offices located around the world.
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 OvilvyInteractive.
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 – wins 2 premier Cyber Lions at Cannes Advertising Festival for Campaign Magazine On-line and the IBM Olympic Luge Game.
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”.
2005 – OgilvyInteractive North America named AdWeek’s 2004 “Interactive Agency of the Year”; BtoB Magazine names OgilvyOne North America Direct Agency of the Year.
2006 – Diamond Ogilvy Group officially launches in Korea; Ogilvy Group UK 100 yrs; NeoOgilvy launches; Dove’s “The Campaign for Real Beauty” wins the 2006 Grand Effie Award.

External links

• Ogilvy & Mather
• Ogilvy and Mather UK

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