Social@Ogilvy says it has been “reinvigorated” with Mike Watkins now heading up the agency and Oliver Maisey jumping on board as executive creative director.
The agency was launched in 2014 and has evolved from a strictly social media focus to a diversified, influence-lead specialist communications agency where integrated solutions combine the disciplines of advertising with consumer brand engagement drivers, according to a release.
The release says Mike brings with him impressive senior management experience. As well as senior roles at major agencies: M&C Saatchi, Meares Taine and Designworks. He was the founder and managing partner as Post Creative, servicing clients like Air New Zealand, Peroni, Goodman Fielder and Red Bull.
“Influence plays to the market dynamic that buyers trust other buyers, their friends, experts and influential individuals and brands,” Watkins said. “Successful brand behaviour must be aligned, relevant and constant regardless of how it’s delivered – this is at the heart of our approach both creatively and from an implementation perspective. Through this, we make brands influential, add customer value, operating excellence and ultimately, positively influence the bottom-line for our clients.”
He says the changes are logical. “It’s all aligned. It’s all about how you create content at the end of the day. Influence is a key part, PR has a role in sharing that content and driving content with authenticity and then Facebook and Instagram are purely channels. You still need to use storytelling to communicate with your audience … It’s just about building into them and rolling it out.”
Maisey’s past positions include executive creative directorship roles at McCann Sydney, BBDO Dubai, M&C Saatchi and Draft FCB, and he has spent the last couple of years as creative director of Augusto.
“I’ve spent the last few years outside of the mainstream agency world, and I like it there. This set up, despite the name, is very cool. We’re a smart, light-footed independent with high aspirations, with access to the resources and smarts of Ogilvy whenever we want it. It’s the perfect arrangement.”
The Social@Ogilvy group of strategists, creative, analysts and community managers hold a wealth of experience working with some of the world’s biggest brands, with the capabilities to work across a wide spectrum of brands, from small listening projects through to full campaign strategy, the release says.
The evolution of the Social@Ogilvy offering is testament to the shifting priorities of both consumers and brands, Social@Ogilvy New Zealand managing director Greg Partington says. “Social@Ogilvy has always been ahead of the curve in the social media space so the re-engineering of the agency into the influence space is a natural progression in line with what our clients (of all shapes, sizes and categories) are just not expecting but demanding.”
