NEW YORK: Ogilvy & Mather launched Social@Ogilvy, a global cross-discipline social media practice, on Monday. Managing director John Bell is leading the unit from New York.
Ogilvy PR's 360 Digital Influence practice, which has handled social media marketing and communications plans for marketing, PR, and communications clients for the past seven years, will be folded into Social@Ogilvy.
The group includes 550 social media specialists from across Ogilvy's businesses. It serves 35 markets, including the firm's three “super hubs,” New York, London, and Hong Kong.
CCO Tom Deluca, Asia-Pacific regional director Thomas Crampton, and EAME regional director Kaitlyn Wilkins will also serve in leadership roles for the unit.
Social@Ogilvy's offerings will include social media marketing and communications, social shopping for retail activation, social CRM, social customer care, social business solutions, and listening and analytics.
Clients initially working with the group include IBM, Nestle, and Ford.
“The great thing for Ogilvy PR and our PR clients directly is that now PR has so much more they can bring to the table for clients – solutions that go beyond the narrow historical definitions of PR or even social media related to PR,” said Bell.
Social@Ogilvy's staff will come from various Ogilvy business units. Each staffer will be trained across disciplines to have knowledge of each practice offering.
Social@Ogilvy is a practice area rather than a standalone agency, however Bell said it will pitch business on its own at times.
“We believe that the near future for social is that it must be embedded in everything we do,” Bell said. “We purposely did not want to create a silo, but we wanted to accelerate and expand the application of social media across many parts of our clients' business”
