Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide - Case Study Example

Dear Ms. Beers: As a member of the senior management committee at Ogilvy & Mather, I would like to enlighten you about the direction we need to take,now that we have firmly reestablished ourselves as one of the leading advertising agencies of the world. You have led the ship from the Captain’s cabin and despite the choppy market conditions and the crisis of a temporary lull during the early nineties, you have steadied the ship in a remarkable manner with your innovative ‘Brand Stewardship’ strategy under the shadow of the recent crisis we faced, when we had been labeled as a ‘beleaguered company’. I take this opportunity to enlighten you about some management issues we still need to settle, in order to sustain the recent success we have experienced under your able leadership, and reinforce the ‘brand stewardship’ idea into some of the staff who are still skeptical and need to be educated about the current trends in this competitive market. In my opinion remaining abreast with the latest developments in information technology is going to impact our future business operations in a significant manner. No doubt, your intelligence and enterprising skills are invaluable, but the future is such that one tends to miss the very vital impact the internet is going to exert on international advertising. I see the main problems facing Ogilvy and Mather are: Deficiencies in the grasp of paradigm shift to the internet age by the old school of managers within the company. The need for rapid, corporate-wide communication of management decisions and objectives in order to achieve the desired goals. Embracing input from experiences of diverse cultural entities within the company. Hiring fresh talent to strengthen the Worldwide Client Services. Revenue and cost sharing within the organizational setup of the company. My brief experience in the company leads me to believe that the older generation is still skeptical of the impact internet and information technology is going to exert on future brand promotion, which I am afraid, is a total misconception. The advertising business has undergone a radical change over the last few decades and global leaders within our organization need to re think their marketing strategies in order to maintain the excellent standards our name has so long been associated with. The recent lull in our business, witnessed in the early nineties was an offshoot of the reorientation of the world order, economic uncertainties and market fluctuations. The label of being a ‘beleaguered’ organization during that point of time in history was the most serious situation faced by O&M. The withdrawals by the Microsoft Corporation, Compaq and AT&T in response to our $ 500 million contract with IBM was a setback, but it was quickly relegated to the background when we started receiving fresh contracts from other international giants such as Kentucky Fried Chicken. Focusing on the brands of loyal customers was indeed a wise decision. The situation at this vital juncture was aptly handled by your exceptional vision in rethinking and reshaping our functioning along ‘Brand Stewardship’ lines by appointing exclusive talent at the top position to handle the IBM contract. But such strategies need to be nurtured with innovative ideas and maintained to their full potential. We should always remain open to quick implementation of brilliant suggestions from all quarters of our organization, as some local and regional requirements may be unique. We should direct the crux of our energies into practicable solutions, in face of the imminent stiff competition from other big players in the field as well as from fledgling advertising companies in developing countries. In my opinion, we need to develop a future marketing strategy which should always keep abreast of the latest innovations in information technology and the way media is presented to the general masses, globally. The global focus is more relevant now, as the new world economic order has established itself and we can no longer nurture the pipe dream of us being the best in business due to increasing competition. David Ogilvy’s initial comprehension of advertising as an instrument to create ‘an indelible image’ in the consumers’ mind for a specific product holds true till today and can be assumed to continue to do so in future. The brilliant single liners which promoted brands such as Hathaway, American Express and Maxwell House are still revered due to the intelligent input, style and the uniqueness of their creators. The only difference now is that the present day consumer is more educated, experienced and economics’ savvy and so, every advertising campaign has to be prepared intelligently, so that it meets the standards of a discerning eye. Moreover, the present day consumer is conducting personal research on the internet, before buying a product, so our campaigns should focus primarily on this very particular medium. We should hire the top talent in the information technology industry to develop software and creative ideas for promoting our brand stewardship on the internet, through cleverly designed campaigns. Our organizational setup needs to adopt a culture where the new geeks of the information technology industry form a symbiotic relationship with the existing experienced leaders and the management gurus to steer our organization into the unforeseen oceans of new world economic order. Partnering with the right agencies in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, allowing a high degree of autonomy to local offices, but still sharing the same unique vision of excellence with uniform principles of management, are the basic cultural strategies which will allow the company to prosper. The O&M culture reflects its purpose. From its inception, the Ogilvy and Mather strategic focus has been on consensual sharing, building and implementation of creative and brilliant advertising campaigns for some of the best brands in the world having international presence. There has been no reliance on traditional bureaucratic setups within the organization, but as envisioned by our worthy founder, we have relied on active, horizontal cooperation of staff. This strategy, already alive in our organization, needs to be reinforced, as advised in the new tenets of organizational development, which state that all individuals within an organization should strive for achieving a goal with collective and cooperative input of energies. I feel this should be our main strategy – to focus on the goal collectively as a single entity, not as detached experts in various fields. On the political front, the organizational setup at Ogilvy and Mather has always encouraged active participation from various experts in the field, without the fear of retribution or dependence on a traditional hierarchical system. Location of office, seniority and departmental exclusivities can lead to misunderstanding on some occasions. It is, therefore, always a possibility that everyone may not see ‘eye to eye’ on some matters, which can usher in bottlenecks and interruptions in the development and execution of an advertising campaign. Cohesiveness, therefore needs to be inculcated among the workers from different backgrounds, either by guidance of an exclusive manager specializing in this aspect, or by having regular cultural get-togethers’ and sharing of common goals and objectives. Dissent, wherever encountered, should be handled carefully and the matter settled amicably. If no alternative is feasible, a strict action can be undertaken against the erring employee. Unrest among the lower staff needs to be curbed and appropriate educational and training measures need to be employed wherever needed so that the organizational objectives are well understood by all and sundry at O&M. Management ideas are just not making the rounds company-wide. As an example, you discussed the idea of conducting ‘brand audits’ for existing customers who in turn were supposed to be assisted by their local O & M offices to handle their request. However, the local offices initially experienced hiccups and had minimal concept of the idea of a “brand audit”. Communication was deficient; there was lack of interest in the old school of management which resulted in improper review and distribution of emails and paperwork. On some occasions, the client who was eager on building their brand could not be handled properly by the front office staff. All employees’ world-wide need to be educated and well informed in the strategy and methods employed in building ‘brand stewardship’ as envisioned and agreed upon by the top executives at O&M. With over 270 locations, that will not be an easy task, but it is easier than having to explain to a large clientele the lack of knowledge of some employees about the new concepts promoted by the company. It is therefore essential to disseminate the crux of the new innovations within the company through effective communication and refresher programs and meetings. It is a good idea to test out the brand audit plan on a few select customers before opening the idea to the sales processes worldwide. There is no sense in releasing a new product to the clientele without first determining their actual requirements. Once the staff at a location is fully trained in the concept of ‘brand audit’, it should carefully examine a prospective client’s actual requirement and ideally should discuss it comprehensively in a company-wide teleconference before the actual implementation. It was your perseverance and instillation of fresh ideas into the minds of unrelenting past managers, that allowed the idea of ‘Brand Stewardship’ to become an entity. Persistence to promote and build upon the existing advertising campaigns with multinational brands which were still loyal to the company yielded positive results. Ensuring client security, better work culture and financial discipline were the basic identified tenets which allowed the organization to gradually crawl back to its old glory. The ‘Worldwide Client Service’ idea allowed a better networking of handling multinational advertising campaigns, which attracted new clients. I feel that the existing workers within our organization are slow to grasp the idea of WCS and fresh blood needs to be recruited and manned in a special wing, which establishes a platform for communication with new clients. These recruits should ideally be young management trainees with the best skills in the latest information technology, along with excellent communication capabilities. Only then can we ensure that we are understanding the unique requirements of a client in culturally and geographically distant markets. I feel that revenue and cost sharing are two vital problem areas. Essentially, one office might have the expertise in a particular area or industry, and another office may need that expertise to make a sale. The office with the experience despite providing the actual resource is not being compensated appropriately under the present setup which puts it under a financial burden. The office that made the actual sale receives the total revenue from the business which I feel, is unfair to the office providing the expertise. This can easily create bitterness between the two and is detrimental to effective sharing of expertise. In addition, an office that is not meeting budgetary goals is typically closed after several years, which could conceivably lead to losing valuable resources, which may have the potential of being productive at a later date. We need to have a meeting to discuss the finances for each prospective large client. Offices that will be supplying the expertise need to be included, so proper finances by location can be mobilized towards calculating the total costs for bidding accounts, and the appropriate offices compensated adequately, according to input. The Ogilvy and Mather organization has regained its temporarily lost glory under your able leadership, with active participation of top management as well as other staff. The financial results after the year 1986 rose exponentially and have maintained a healthy, steady figure after the takeover by the WPP Group. But an organization of such magnanimity can never rest on its laurels and has to be always on its toes. The organizational setup at O&M is exceptional and the work culture follows a uniform pattern worldwide. The company must be ever vigilant of the new facets in the currently developing information technology which brings forth new forms of public media into operation, each passing year and modify/strengthen its advertising strategy accordingly. With Warm Regards. Yours’ Sincerely, H. Aljibreen Read More