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← Back to IdeasRe-founding an Agency For a New Age
When Ogilvy’s Worldwide Chairman and CEO John Seifert laid out his plan for Ogilvy’s “Next Chapter”, he made it clear that this was more than just a garden-variety transformation—it was a re-founding. With the agency’s deep history of creativity, expertise, and brand-building, there was a solid place from which to start.
John Seifert spoke with PR Week about the agency's re-founding.
“[David Ogilvy] was not building an advertising agency – he was building a firm with a deep culture about building brands,” Seifert said recently in a Q&A with PR Week Editor-In-Chief, Steve Barrett. “It just so happens that, in 1948, the best way to do this was through advertising. He always focused on building culture; the only thing that differentiates firms where the assets are people is people. And he had a deep sense of the value of creating value, or sales.”
It’s a changing marketing environment. Consumers have an incredible amount of choice—sometimes a paralyzing amount. Companies are finding themselves becoming content creators and publishers. The strength of the brand has never been more important, and that presents an opportunity for brand experts across the entire media, technology, and marketing landscape.
“We’re not in the advertising business, or the PR business, or the media business, we’re in the brands business,” Seifert said. “Client relationships are at the core of what will differentiate us in terms of enduring business value.”
Seifert also touched on the importance of public relations, the biggest challenge in re-founding Ogilvy, and the future of agency services, plus more. Check out the full conversation at PR Week.