Big dogs, yes. Old dogs, definitely not.

Six of the STW Network’s most influential and entertaining people speak to the Young Turks about their past, present and future.

The conversation as to who would write a wrap of the Young Turks, Big Dogs panel discussion on Wednesday evening coincidently took place around my desk an hour before it was due to commence. No hands immediately went up. Not even my own. In fact, I tried my hardest to keep my head down and avoid the conversation as to not get assigned the job.

It’s not that I didn’t have the time or that I don’t enjoy writing. The honest truth is, I couldn’t think of anything more intimidating than composing a creative piece reporting back on the past, present and future careers of – as we were most fervently reminded over the course of the evening – the most creative and celebrated minds in our industry.

As luck would have it however, my name was thrown amidst the conversation, unwilling eye contact was made and ten minutes later I was begrudgingly heading down to the conference clad with pen and paper to take notes for my impending piece.

Five minutes into the panel discussion, I was more stressed than ever – and we were merely being introduced to the Panel: Brett Howlett, Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy Australia; Anouk Darling, CEO, Moon Communications; Gerry Cyron, Head of Brand Planning; Ogilvy Australia, Jonathan Pease, Managing Partner and Executive Ideas Director, Tongue; Brian Giesen, Director, Social@Ogilvy; and Kieran Moore, Chief Executive Officer, Ogilvy Public Relations, Australia.

As I listened, phrases such as “won countless Effies”; “recognised and awarded in Cannes”; and – my favourite – “Kieran Moore, one of Australia’s top ten most influential women in media in 2011”, were flanked by mentions of the most recognisable brands names in the world. Throwing a quick glance over my shoulder I could see that awe had been slapped across the faces of the other thirty or so other Young Turks in the room. To us there was no doubt: here before us sat a panel of media heroes.

The ‘Big Dogs’, who had literally been placed on pedestals before us, kicked off the discussion with a simple question: who inspires you most? The collective answer could possibly have been a world first to have self-made billionaire Warren Buffett, Advertising legend Dan Wieden, renown blogger Leo Babauta and charitable investment banker Richard Blum named in the same sentence. Although it turns out they have a lot in common. Entrepreneurial to the core, each leader was renowned for their innovation, creativity and ability to look beyond the bottom dollar to contribute their influence and talent to better society. By the time film director Quentin Tarantino and film producer Ridley Scott had rounded off the list for their “awesome story telling” ability to “stuff as many ideas into an hour and a half as possible on no budget”; I realised that my head was slightly nodding in agreement. After all, what are PR and advertising professionals if not storytellers?

By the second question: What was your first role in the industry, my head was shaking in disbelief. It came as –perhaps too much – of a surprise that such successful careers stemmed from humble beginnings. At Jonathan Pease’s answer, I literally dropped my pen. “My first job was actually in dispatch,” said Jonathan, a man credited for helping to bring Australia’s Next Top Model to my lounge room and not for distributing packages from a corporate mail room. “It was the kind of job where just turning up some days was a challenge,” he said with a laugh. To a room of Young Turks, this was top quality reassurance that we are on the right track.

By the third question: what were the biggest mistakes you ever made, it was clear that here before us sat not only the most influential people in the industry, but possibly the most entertaining. I found it necessary to remind myself that the following comments came from the same group of people responsible for launching one of Australia’s most recognisable budget airlines, the Share-a-Coke Campaign and for the first use of foursquare and a blog in commercial campaigns.

“Oh man there’s just been so many” was followed up with “I forgot to make sure my phone was on mute before going on a full rant about certain people’s incompetencies during a conference call” and “there was this one time when I accidently CC’d a client into a group email that complained about how difficult they were.”

After wiping away my tears of laughter, I wrote the following as a key learning on my note pad: it is fine, if not expected to make mistakes. “You will learn more from your failures than your successes,” summarised Anouk Darling. “You will mess up a lot but learn through your adversity, keep putting yourself out there and stay hungry.”

Suddenly, the pedestal didn’t seem so high. It is not that by admitting their faults, the panel leaders had suddenly sunk to my level. It was that I had subconsciously sat up straighter in my own chair, as I sponged in what the panel had to say. Including this pearl from Gerry Cyron: “Your career and, actually life in general is just like Angry Birds. You see your target, take aim and you throw everything you have at it. If you miss, you just readjust and try again.” As easy as it is to laugh off the mistakes of others and hope they don’t happen to you; success only comes to those who seek success out and keep evolving their tactics in order to reach it.

“While this industry used to be about knowledge, now it is about the willingness to evolve and the drive to become an expert,” said Anouk. Put your hand up for everything, come up with another creative idea every time one gets shot down and love your work beyond the dollar sign.

The biggest surprise of all came with one of the most standard questions asked in a work environment: Where do you see yourself in five years? “Geez, I have no idea,” was the resounding response from the panel. The catalyst for such uncertainty can be attributed to technology which is causing everything to shift and change at such a rapid rate that the panel experts such as Brian Giesen believe that speed is the key to remain competitive in media moving forward. Media agencies will also need to be smart and come forward with big ideas, not big numbers of staff to win new business in the future.

“Technology is set to blow our minds and for that reason, I see the industry moving to a hub and spoke approach,” said Kieran Moore. “It is a commercial imperative for media groups to work together and integrate their offering or they will get left behind.”

This blog piece is testament to the insight and inspiration provided by the six media experts on the Young Turks ‘Big Dog’ panel. From now on, I will not stress about making mistakes, I will strive to keep evolving and most importantly, I will put my hand up first.

Key quotes:

“Do not confuse the ‘alpha’ with the ‘leader’. Leadership is not a popularity contest.”

“Be confident, but not so much that you become a [censored word].”

“It’s imperative to have a tight plan in life, but to live it as loosely as possible.”

“The great distinction between creative people and non-creative people is that the former will always come back with another idea.”

“You never know what your clients are thinking so don’t take shortcuts.”

“Listen to that little voice inside your head and never be compromised.”

“When negotiating, silence can be powerful.”

“The biggest pitfall is taking yourself too seriously.”

“Look to learn more from your failures than from your successes.”

“Love your work beyond the dollar sign.”

Recommended reading list:

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Sogyal Rinpoche (1992)

The Art of War, Sun Tzu

Life’s a Pitch, Stephen Bayley and Roger Mavity

Blue Ocean Strategy, Professor W. Chan Kim and Professor Renee Mauborgne

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcolm Gladwell.
Imagine, Jonah Lehrer

Suggested reading:

Good old fairy-tale stories (namely, The Jungle Book)

Anything written by Charles Bukowski

Anything the Harvard Business Review suggests

NOTE: If you’ve ticked all these boxes, Anouk Darling’s personal reading list is available. Alternatively, turn on the television

Ogilvid Film Festival

Drawing on Ogilvy Public Relations’ mantra of What If?, last night we launched our inaugral Ogilvid Short Film Festival.

What If? is an attitude we adopt at Ogilvy PR that challenges the status quo and drives our culture forward. Through askingWhat If? we improve the quality of our thinking and creativity, and strive to constantly push boundaries and discover new ways to communicate. We believe that if we keep asking What If?, at some point we will be rewarded with the response Why Not?

The objective of Ogilvid is to realise the importance of content in our every day lives as communicators. The brief was to create a short film around a compelling and engaging idea. Teams focused on bringing theirWhat If? idea to life through great storytelling rather than big budgets and hi-tech equipment.

After months of hard work, our 13 teams showcased their final works to an expert panel of judges at the Ogilvid Gala last night, and without further ado, please congratulate the winners…

Read more

The Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence team is now hiring!

Ogilvy Sydney Event With Radian6 Co-Founder Chris Ramsey

Christopher Graves named new CEO of Ogilvy PR Worldwide

NEW YORK, NY, June 11, 2009 – Christopher Graves, President and Regional CEO of Ogilvy Public Relations Asia Pacific, has been appointed global CEO of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, a global, multi-disciplinary communications leader, succeeding Marcia Silverman who has led the company for seven years.  Marcia will become Chair of Ogilvy PR. Both appointments become effective January 1, 2010.

Since joining Ogilvy PR in 2005, Christopher Graves, 50, has roughly doubled the agency’s size in Asia Pacific, growing the network into the industry leader in the world’s fastest-growing region by any measure, from size, to client roster, to specialist offerings, to awards and accolades.  Under his leadership, Ogilvy PR has seen phenomenal development in scale and creativity across all marketing disciplines.  He has crafted clear goals and made investments to grow the network into the future and built a strong leadership team in Asia Pacific across 15 countries, dominating in major markets such as China and Australia.  Graves collaborates closely with staff and agency leaders around the world and flourishes in the 360-degree marketing communications environment with partner Ogilvy & Mather.

Graves has cultivated relationships with leading such organizations as The World Economic Forum, authored papers and spoken on emerging trends in social media, recession marketing, shifting demographics, and the changing dynamics of influence.  He has also created intellectual properties for Ogilvy PR such as immersive workshops on: crisis management; business model disruption; and effective storytelling for business outcomes.

In making the announcement, Ogilvy & Mather CEO Miles Young, said, “Marcia has done an outstanding job of securing Ogilvy PR’s reputation as a premier, integrated communications agency built on strong client service.  She has earned extraordinary affection inside and outside the business.  Marcia has gathered together a strong and harmonious global management team, and driven new innovations in the critical social media space.  She will be an exceedingly hard act to follow and are delighted that she will become Chair of Ogilvy PR to further develop client relationships and shape the agency’s global strategy.”

Regarding Graves, Young added, “In Chris, we have a successor who will take the work forward with flair and elan.  He is driven by clients and content, and is an embodiment of the pervasive creativity and outward focus which will push Ogilvy PR forward in its resolve to become the best public relations network.  He is truly a citizen of the world; he knows all the issues, and relishes being at the leading most edge, articulating and influencing them.  We are incredibly fortunate to have both Marcia and Chris at the helm of Ogilvy PR.”

Commenting on her successor, Silverman stated, “Chris has an exceptional track record of building business and providing superior client service.  I’m certain he will bring the same focus on quality and success to our global organization.”

The Ogilvy PR and Ogilvy & Mather senior leadership will work to secure a successor to the Asia Pacific regional CEO position of Ogilvy PR between now and the end of 2009.

Graves joined Ogilvy PR in 2005 after 23 years in business news, most recently with Dow Jones and Wall Street Journal.  Chris was one of the founders of Wall Street Journal Television, managing editor of Asia Business News, vice president of news and programming for CNBC Asia, vice president of news and programming for CNBC Europe, managing director of business development (EMEA & Asia) for Dow Jones Consumer Electronic Publishing (WSJ.com) and managing director of Far Eastern Economic Review. Chris’s accolades include an EMMY nomination, the 2007 PR Professional of the Year by PRWeek Asia, as well as a number of awards from Asia PR Awards, The New York Film and Television Festivals and the Asian Television Awards for programming made under his supervision.

Graves graduated from Wesleyan University with a degree in English, and from Phillips Exeter Academy.  He and his wife of 23 years, JoAnn Ward, have two daughters and have resided in Hong Kong since 2002.

Ogilvy on marketing in a recession

When you attend an Ogilvy marketing in a recession seminar, you don’t expect George Bernard Shaw to come to mind, or even Edgar R Fielder, whoever he might be.

But Shaw once said that if all the economists in the world were laid end to end they wouldn’t reach a conclusion. And Fielder claimed that if you ask five economists you will get five different answers – six if one went to Harvard.

Two of the seven panellists at a lively and informative Ogilvy On Today breakfast Q&A session at the MCA on Tuesday were Phil Ruthven, the founder and chairman of top research firm IBISWorld, and Stephen Joske, the director of China Forecasting Services at the Economist Intelligence Unit in Beijing.

Leading journalist Tony Jones, from ABC television’s Q&A and Lateline programs, hosted the marketing in a recession discussion and began by asking the two economic gurus about whether the current recession was the worst since the great depression and whether the Treasury budget estimate of 4.5% growth in two years was, as Jones described it, ‘’Goldilocks’’ economics.
That’s when you started to think about those quotes.

A gentle recession

Ruthven described the severity of the current problems as being ‘’grossly exaggerated’’, saying it was the ‘’most gentle recession’’ he had ever lived through. And he completely backed the Treasury estimates – ‘’we’re going to come out of this very, very fast’’.

The deep recession

Being an economist, Joske had another view: this was not an ordinary recession with deep damage to the financial system, the so-called green shoots of recovery were, in fact, a false recovery and while China might start moving again at the end of this year the US would not start getting back on track until next year. And his estimate of growth in the Australian economy in two years time was 2.5%, well below Treasury’s 4.5%. It all pointed to a slow Australian recovery next year.

Ruthven said the Australian economy was tied more to the Asia-Pacific than to Europe or the US. Joske said that while China was definitely a positive, it wasn’t enough to restore things to normal.

The expert panel

It all made for fascinating listening for the 100 guests who had gathered to hear the views of a panel comprising Ruthven and Joske, Joe Talcott, the group marketing director of News Limited and the chairman of the Australian Association of National Advertisers, Rose Herceg, STW Group’s strategic director, Mike Daniels, the managing partner and head of strategy at Singleton Ogilvy & Mather, Brian Giesen, Director Digital Strategy at Ogilvy PR, and OgilvyEarth’s senior advisor, Ian Higgins.

The purpose of the morning was to hear, and perhaps challenge, the disparate views on marketing in the current economic downturn of some of the best thinkers in the country, with those views being teased out by Jones.

Sustainability, innovation and digital

Apart from the economy, topics included sustainability, fresh thinking and innovation, trends and the new world of digital.

Higgins said that the general population had finally ‘’got it’’ that we are not living sustainably and were holding that commitment to environmental sustainability through the downturn. Citing Reuters, Higgins said four out of five Americans say they are still buying green products, despite the recession, while a similar percent of 10,000 Australians surveyed last year believe our individual consumption choices can contribute to the greater good of the environment.

‘’We have community leadership on this’’, Higgins said. While warning of the dangers of greenwash – companies claiming false environmental credentials for their products – Higgins said that smart companies were changing their environmental footprint but not talking about it – ‘’you get it right before you speak’’.

Questions were asked about the role of digital and social media in the current business landscape. Giesen said the US marketing experience was that a number of companies had managed to make money out of social media, pointing to computer company Dell which had gained $1 million in extra revenue in the past year by advising of its special clearance offers via Twitter. He added, however, that the main benefit for companies engaging in social media was to develop strong relationships with customers, to understand their customers better and to engage with key influencers.

Giesen also said Ogilvy had initiated a code of ethics – a 66 point plan, no less – for engaging bloggers which he believed essential for responsible marketing.

Daniels said the internet had further increased the necessity for brands to be honest and have integrity because the web opened the companies to public scrutiny in a manner never before experienced.

‘’You must be very honest, very transparent,’’ he said.

The call for honesty was echoed by Talcott, who described the new consumer a ‘’smart, cynical and, most importantly, connected – and to me that changes everything.’’ He pointed out the damage that could be done to a brand by a disgruntled customer using social media.

Daniels said ‘’a lot of digital isn’t very strategic in a business sense. You see ‘wow that’s cool’ but there’s a bit of forgetting that it’s got to make some kind of return.’’

Herceg related how she had been watching a program where a number of highly successful people had stated that recessions ‘’are a great time for imagination and ingenuity and innovation.’’

There was, she said, a place for pragmatism and security but ‘’there is much more to be gain from imagination.’’

Pointing out that most innovation was undertaken by smaller organisations, Herceg said: ‘’If a branded product added innovation it would be almost unbeatable’’ and instanced the Apple iPod as an innovative product from a big brand that now dominated the market.

Her theme was taken up by Daniels who said innovation was a ‘’mindset’’ and instanced companies like KFC and Hyundai which were succeeding despite the downturn through innovation.
Talcott said he believe the consumer was ‘’afraid, and they’re watching every cent they have’’.

When asked about the next big trend, Herceg said she liked to look for pockets of opportunity where nobody else was at the moment – counter-trends – and related how a client, a manufacturer of dairy products, had come to her for ideas. The market was full of low fat products so she advised making something ‘’about 99% butter fat’’: ‘’They couldn’t make enough of it’’.

Herceg said it was essential that business separated innovation and assessment – ‘’you can create all you want, but if it’s a dumb idea it’s a dumb idea’’ – and said that people had to be allowed to fail.

‘’We’re not very good at celebrating failure in Australia. Not good at saying OK, you failed, give it another go.’’

The panel’s advice

When asked by Jones to finish with one piece of advice for business in the current climate the panel responded thus:

• Be brave and take chances (Talcott)
• Innovate by going green (Higgins)
• A company’s two most valuable assets are IP and the organisational culture.  Look after both of those (Ruthven)
• The only place that’s growing is the inland provinces of China. Invest there (Joske)
• Be prepared to change everything. Look at everything you are doing throughout the business and ask does it have to be like this, could it be another way (Daniels)
• Listen to what people are saying about your brand and your products. Establish relationships with your customers (Giesen)
• Get five of your best and brightest employees, take them off their day jobs, lock them in a room and see what they come up with (Herceg)

With that Jones closed the seminar everyone went back to their day jobs, no doubt hoping to be marketing in Ruthven’s recession and not Joske’s.