Ogilvy’s rebranding: is the ad industry confused?

Ogilvy announced its rebranding with much noise. However, some people are not terribly convinced.

It is not just the faded red of the new logo that is bothering people in the advertising arena, it is the change in direction. It would seem that Ogilvy is moving from its age-old maxim of “We sell – or else” to “We change – or else”.

There was a time when agency and company CEOs met to talk strategy. Today, thousands of agency salespeople pitch nitty-gritty work at marketing departments’ lowest levels. CEOs (and even CMOs) have more important people to meet. That is even more worrying.

Some agencies, today, worry more about internal issues: How do we organise? How do we integrate? Of the nine messages in Ogilvy’s rebranding brochure, eight are internal. Where will the creative output to sell (which is what matters to most company leaders) come from? “It’s time for agency leaders to step up and rebuild agency C-suite relevance again. Every CEO wants to sell. Every C-suite leader wants to hear from people who know how to sell.”

Source : https://www.marketingweek.com/2018/06/18/thomas-barta-ogilvy-ad-industry-confusion/