Ogilvy & Mather

History

The agency was founded in 1948 by David Ogilvy and established itself as one of the leading agencies worldwide by the 1960's. Ogilvy strongly believed that a firm's job is to make advertising that sells, and advertising that sells best is advertising that builds brands.

Over the past 50 years, Ogilvy has helped to build some of the most recognisable brands in the world: American Express, Sears, Ford, Shell, Barbie, Pond's, Dove, and Maxwell House among them, and more recently, IBM and Kodak.

Integrated in Ogilvy’s corporate culture is the concept of 360 Degree Brand Stewardship, which in definition means “a willingness to use the broadest array of tools and techniques to understand, develop and enhance the relationship between a consumer and a brand.� Ogilvy maintains this policy on both a local and global level.

The agency

Located in over 120 countries, Ogilvy is a subsidiary of the WPP Group, a global marketing communications corporation.

The major offerings under The Ogilvy Group umbrella are :

- Ogilvy & Mather

- OgilvyOne Worldwide (of which OgilvyInteractive and Neo@Ogilvy are fully integrated units)

- Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide

- OgilvyHealthworld

- OgilvyActivation

Each component contributes to the overall success of both the company and its clients.

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.

The premise for the advert was rejected by Ford prior to Ogilvy 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.

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