Ogilvy One returns in comeback for 'direct marketing'

WPP has dusted off its Ogilvy One branding seven years after it was shelved – to put the main agency under a single P&L and remove all silos – in a move designed to bring it back in line with founder David Ogilvy’s status as “one of the true, original direct marketers”.

The shake-up sees the appointment of a new worldwide leadership team under global CEO Kent Wertime, a 25-year agency lifer who will lead the division alongside his dual role as co-CEO of Ogilvy APAC. He will be in charge of 3,800 employees around the world and report to global CEO Devika Bulchandani.

While most agencies have long ditched the term “direct marketing” to disassociate themselves from its grubby image by pushing data-driven marketing, CRM, customer experience and one-to-one communications, Ogilvy One appears to be lauding its roots.

Bulchandani said: “When David Ogilvy first started talking about direct marketing decades ago, he recognised that some of the most effective marketing isn’t just directed at your target audience, it speaks to them on a personal one-to-one basis.

“Now we take that to a new level with a fresh leadership team and a commitment to designing relationships based on ideas that create enduring value exchanges between consumers and our clients’ brands.”

Meanwhile, Ogilvy Spain chief creative officer Roberto Fara will take on the additional role of Ogilvy One global creative experience lead, with Ravi Pal as chief technology officer and Nate McNabb as global partnerships lead.

In addition, Ogilvy chief client officer Clare Lawson will lead operations in EMEA, Rajesh Midha will head up North America and Mauro Caggiano will spearhead the LATAM division.

Ab Gaur, global chief data and technology officer and CEO of Verticurl, a company Ogilvy acquired in 2006, will lead Ogilvy One in APAC.

The reborn business, which originally launched in 1972, will now work with modern-day tech, including proprietary AI tool WPP Open, which has links with Adobe, Salesforce and other providers, according to a pitch deck shared with Campaign, with Verticurl playing a key role.

Wertime maintains Ogilvy One brand never really faded in clients’ minds, and the decision to bring it back allows it to both clarify and simplify its offering while fine-tuning it.

He said: “People forget, David Ogilvy was one of the true, original direct marketers. He loved talking eye-to-eye with a specific customer. Ogilvy One always stood for a capability [where] Ogilvy was recognised as being very leading-edge.

“You can’t be in business and not be in relationship marketing, and that’s been a really big shift over 20 years, accelerated by half a trillion dollars of marketing technology spend. You’d think with all that piping out there, all that potential, there’d be a lot of amazing stuff. Ironically, it’s the opposite. There’s a lot of similar stuff.”

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