SACRAMENTO, CA: Ogilvy PR Worldwide's California education group
has won two competitive pitches for new accounts, totaling $1.2
million.
Besting The Phelps Group and incumbent Porter Novelli in the final
round, Ogilvy will conduct the READ California literacy campaign for the
California Office of the Secretary for Education. The one-year renewable
contract is worth $945,000.
Alicia Ritter, MD and head of Ogilvy's California education group,
promised a non-traditional campaign for grades K-12 using sports and
entertainment celebrities. Ritter also said she plans to hire the
Groundlings Theater Troupe, a breeding ground for Saturday Night Live,
to write and perform a skit to educate high schoolers on the importance
of reading.
All 10 California staffers of the education group will work on the READ
campaign.
Ogilvy will also begin work for the Los Angeles Community College
District, a $250,000 account. Promising a multi-ethnic outreach,
Ogilvy pitched with African-American specialist Young Communications
Group, Latino specialist Valencia, Perez & Echeveste, and Asian
specialist Nakatomi & Associates. The group beat Fleishman-Hillard for
the account.
"We're going to use more non-traditional grassroots media outlets, which
is actually more representative of the district's constituent base,"
said Ritter. "The goal is to raise the visibility of the district and
the campuses throughout the greater LA area."
Six Ogilvy staffers will work on the community college account.
Fleishman received a separate contract to promote the college district's
spending of a recently passed education bond.
