Today we met with Marshall Manson of Ogilvy and Mather. He’s a Virginia boy who cut his teeth in political campaigns and working at Edelman. He now oversees social media and communication across the Ogilvy and Mather family of 38 companies, particularly in the European Union, the Middle East and Africa. That’s covering 44 offices and 350 people.
They represent companies like Coca-Cola, British Airways and Puma. Where would you even start with any given task when you’re dealing in that sort of geographic and corporate scope?
“We try to root the thinking in the same way we think of politics. You’re going to win or lose.”
OK. How does one win?
Manson, you learn pretty quickly, is that refreshing sort of person who gets right to it.
“PR people suck at getting results. Really bad,” he said.
So we’re talking about ad value and opportunities to see. Ultimately, then, there’s some return on investment in there, but he didn’t get into that.
Point being: “We need proper metrics.”
“The public relations industry is moving much more into the direction of being data driven,” Manson said.
We’ve heard that over and over lately. Focus like a laser through the metrics. And Manson showed us a few glimpses of the data they’re using.
Here are a few Coke ads OM has placed in the Middle East during Ramadan. Because of the requirements of the season, this is viewed as a huge marketing opportunity for companies. Many organizations spend 20 percent of their marketing budget during that period because they know people will be home. Think of it as an extended Super Bowl.
Anyway, the ads:
Coca-Cola #OpenUp from charlotte tansill on Vimeo.
We’re talking about this concept of “touched the hearts of” people as a media metric.
But Coca-Cola, Manson says, only uses one metric: the brand love score. That Ramadan spot above saw Coke’s brand love score increase by 42 percent. That, Manson said, is the largest increase in 30 years of surveying. It aired only 10 times on television. He said the bulk of the penetration was found almost exclusively online, via social media.
Here’s a British Airways campaign. Actually, this is an incredible description of an impressive ad campaign. Watch this all the way through:
Manson said this ad started with one of the OM creative people playing outside with his son. A plane went overhead, the kid looked up and pointed to the sky. A few computers, some programs and transponders later, that campaign ran in Leicester Square and other key spots. The campaign won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. More importantly, British Airways saw key route sales increase by 70 percent. They figure that kid on the screen pointing at the plane going overhead led to $16.5 million. (That’s American. I did the math for you.)
I wonder what the creative designer’s kid got for Christmas that year.
He also discussed the ads that they produced for IBM to run during the Masters. Instead of running the same spot over and over and over, they told dozens of stories:
It took 29 clients, nine crews, more than 100 interviews and 20 editors. The takeaway quote: “We meet an explosion of possibility with an explosion of content.”
Manson said one of the innovations that needs to occur in public relations is “breaking down speciality barriers within PR. A good idea is a good idea. It can come from anywhere.”
And he likes his ideas simple.
“If you can’t get it on a napkin, phrase or sentence then its probably not an idea yet.”
Personally, he said, discovery is what motivates his work. Manson feels that you’re often making up your job as you go along in public relations, particularly in the creative side. He uses words like ‘reinvention’ and ‘world changers.’ And he says you have to love that.
You have to have curiosity, as well. Ask why, he says.
“If you’re intellectually curious this is a bottomless pit of discovery,” Manson said.
Ultimately, it remains a persuasion business. The client thinks they’re right. The boss thinks she’s right. Stakeholders feel they are right. And so, he tells students, you should get used to arguing for something that you dislike. He says he likes to ask his interns to specifically describe something they are passionate about. And then he makes them argue the opposite point of view.
I love that exercise.
And finally, his tips for crisis communication:
Have friends before you need them.
Always be listening.
Don’t be an idiot.
Avoid the self-inflicted errors.
This is on a giant wall on the ground floor of the OM building:
We saw some other great stuff today. We changed trains at Baker Street. Yes, they play up Sherlock in the station a fair amount:
Somewhere in the Underground we saw this ad, which I thought was curious. I wonder what the American Dream means outside of the country? This would be an interesting thing for someone to spend way too much time on:
My first quess is that it would have something to do with the grass-is-always-greener phenomena of human nature.
And, finally, our neighbors were ready to welcome us back home this evening:
Great day, indeed.
