Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Ogilvy on Advertising in the Digital Age
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1954
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: British
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born June, 1954, in the UK.
EDUCATION:Oxford University, graduated.
ADDRESS
CAREER
School administrator, former advertising executive, and writer. Lintas, London, England, executive, 1976-79; Allen Brady & Marsh, London, England, executive, 1979-83; Ogilvy & Mather, New York, NY, executive, 1983-90, regional director, 1990-95, head of Asia-Pacific operation, 1996-2009, CEO, 2009-15, chairman, 2012-15; New College, Oxford University, England, warden, 2016—. Member of advisory board of Tsinghua University, Beijing; visiting professor at Xiamen University and Wanli Ningbo University. Served as leader of Westminster City Council.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Miles Young is a British former advertising executive best known for having led the esteemed advertising company, Ogilvy & Mather. He served as the organization’s CEO from 2009 to 2015 and also held the position of chairman from 2012 to 2015. Young holds a degree from Oxford University. His first job in the advertising industry was with a London-based company called Lintas. Young left Lintas in 1979 to work for another firm called Allen Brady & Marsh. He joined Ogilvy & Mather in 1983. In 2015, Young announced that he had chosen to step down as CEO and chairman in order to become the warden (or chief academic administrator) of his alma mater, Oxford University. He told Andrew McMains and Jesse Oxfeld, contributors to the online version of Adweek: “This was a difficult decision, but the attraction of moving to a senior academic position in the UK was very great.”
In 2018, Young released Ogilvy on Advertising in the Digital Age. The book is an update to Ogilvy on Advertising, which was written by Ogilvy & Mather cofounder, David Ogilvy, and published in 1983. In Young’s book, he begins by discussing the technological developments that have led us into the digital age. He explains how the internet and social media have changed the ways in which people experience products and interact with brands. Young includes six case studies that illustrate how advertising functions in current times. He concludes the volume by offering predictions on how advertising will evolve in the near future. In an interview with Jennifer Risi, writer on the Huffington Post website, Young explained: “I wanted to direct people back to David’s book … The point of this book is to say that the screenplay and the script may be different, but the process is very much the same. David believed in big, simple ideas, and one of the challenges of the digital age is that people have confused the medium with the message. In elevating digital platforms as we have, we’ve forgotten what really matters—what you say to people and how you say it to them.”
Ogilvy on Advertising in the Digital Age received favorable assessments. Jennifer Adams, reviewer in Booklist, commented: “This guide is a must-have for those in the advertising profession, including marketers, public-relations experts, [and] entrepreneurs.” A Kirkus Reviews critic described the book as “a new bible for a new generation of pitchmen and -women.” The same critic added: “Young’s treatise makes a fine modern marketing 101 textbook—and at far below textbook prices, too.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Advertising Age, July 28, 2008, Rupal Parekh, “Young’s Big Challenge at O&M: Following Legend Lazarus,” article about author, p. 1.
Booklist, December 1, 2017, Jennifer Adams, review of Ogilvy on Advertising in the Digital Age, p. 11.
Campaign, July 25, 2008, John Tyler, “Young takes Ogilvy helm from Lazarus,” article about author, p. 1.
Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 2017, review of Ogilvy on Advertising in the Digital Age.
Marketing, January 27, 1994, Alyson Cook, “Young, Gifted, and Blue,” author interview, p. 39.
ONLINE
Adweek Online, http://www.adweek.com/ (July 28, 2008), Andrew McMains, author interview; (January 26, 2009), Andrew McMains, author interview; (June 17, 2015), Andrew McMains and Jesse Oxfeld, author interview.
Bedford School Website, https://www.bedfordschool.org.uk/ (March 21, 2018), article about author.
Campaign Online, https://www.campaignlive.com/ (October 10, 2016), article by author.
Huffington Post, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/ (November 7, 2017), Jennifer Risi, author interview.
Miles Young: How advertising can regain its swagger
by Miles Young
October 10, 2016
Having stepped down from the industry after 40 years to become warden of his alma mater, New College, Oxford, Ogilvy & Mather's former global chairman and chief executive reminisces about the 'bad men' years, ruminates on today's challenges and proposes how adland can regain its swagger.
A few weeks ago, I spent two days in Canberra with Michael Ball. Michael was living with zest and courage well beyond his doctor’s expectations, but sadly has just succumbed to the cancer that had shadowed him for years. Over dinner, he described an early visit to Ogilvy, Benson & Mather. He arrived in the morning, checked into the Savoy, changed, walked around to the office, had a 20-minute meeting with the man who ran Shell, was taken to the bar for gins, was joined by Francis Ogilvy, who, at two o’clock, suggested lunch, ate lunch all afternoon, with many bottles of wine, adjourned to drink Dom Perignon till 11, moved at Francis’ direction to Claridge’s, ate "pheasant under glass", drank more claret, moved to a nightclub and, as dawn touched the Thames, stumbled back to the Savoy. Bad men!
In the late 1970s, joining Lintas: London, it still felt like that. I remember Les Bateman, the media director and my mentor, guiding me back to the office from Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese after my first liquid lunch and saying: "Miles, please don’t forget the advice I’m about to give you." (Pause, while he gathered breath.) "Don’t ever phone or take a call from a client after lunch."
In those bad old days, salaries were low (I still have my first payslip from Lintas – at $2,800 per year, nothing like as much as my peers who went into the City). Perks were sky-high, as was the assumption of a glamorous lifestyle.
The first time I ordered a lunch from the client dining room, the chef (for it was he who was sitting in my office, notepad in hand) said: "And what will you be wanting for the centrepiece, sir?" I stalled, not knowing what to say. "The ice sculpture…?", he prompted helpfully. And so I learned that we did indeed have an ice sculptor – with a 48-hour lead time – who ravished our clients with his techniques. He also worked in lard and, during our failed pitch to the New Zealand Meat Marketing Board, sculpted a lamb. Our proposals seemed not to have delighted the clients, but that frisking lamb certainly did.
My rotation started in typography, where a typo-grapher called Richard Hotten alternatively cajoled and shamed me into learning about type. Thanks to him, I became quite fanatic about it: to this day, nothing annoys me more than poor use of type.
Soon, I was in front of clients. My father found it difficult to come to terms with the fact that a history degree was being deployed beyond the U-bend of the toilet or in the freezer cabinet of a CTN.
But the glamour crept in. "My" first ads that hit a popular nerve were for Wall’s Cornetto ice-cream and were also the first time I saw the power of a strong creative team. I experienced blind panic when the flight to Venice with the product, packed with a finite lifespan that was running out, was diverted to Paris. The desperate hunt for dry ice in Paris with my client Phil Powell on the Saturday of a rugby international was a tough test. We were somewhat mortified to learn on our eventual arrival at the shoot after an epic journey by plane and train that our precious cargo was useless anyway: they preferred to use model ices.
"Then I got a call from a headhunter, did what I have counselled hundreds of account managers not to do and agreed to talk"
Dutifully, I went to the College of the Distributive Trades in the evening, and emerged with an M.CAM, though I confess to never having used those initials after my name.
Three years later, at Allen Brady & Marsh, I left the lush embrace of Lintas: this was a very different culture – rough and tough, Sparta not Athens. And Peter Marsh played a good imitation of Leonidas. Certainly, the exhilaration of winning pitch after pitch was more truly inebriating than all those pints of Marston’s, and I started to love new business – something that never left.
I love it because it’s a sport: it requires training, fitness, teamwork, peak performance on the day. Peter understood all those things intuitively, though he never grasped how to handle losing. And you need that too, as in sport. But I liked him, admired him and learnt from him.
Then I got a call from a headhunter, did what I have counselled hundreds of account managers not to do and agreed to talk. So I met Mike Walsh at Ogilvy. Something clicked about the brand. Well, it must have done because I stayed for 34 years, till last month, when I joined the ranks of the chairmen emeriti, my living predecessors: Bill Phillips, Graham Phillips, Charlotte Beers and Shelly Lazarus.
Strangely, the first time the ABM new-business muscle was tested was on its own account, Guinness. Now at Ogilvy, I was given the pitch to "lead". Mark Wnek and Chris Monge did the work; "Pure genius" appealed more to the amour propre of a renascent brand than Guinness. We hired Gary Withers to simulate the brand experience in a video wall: probably the first time something like that had ever been done. The impact was immediate: the clients retired; decided; delivered the verdict there and then. Peter Warren swept us off to the White Tower to celebrate.
In the meantime, the world had drifted into deep recession. The ice carvers vanished forever. And the industry itself had survived an existential threat. It is difficult to imagine that, at one time, an apparently normal politician like Shirley Williams seriously considered banning advertising altogether – yet they did try. Ending the trappings of excess was one defence. Vigorous self-regulation was another. And finding a sober, responsible role as a creator of demand in a modern economy was another. But, in the process, something was lost.
A sense of importance, perhaps? We never were quite able to sit at the same table as the other pro-fessions, despite our own perceptions of our worth. And as the commission system that had provided the cushion for the bad old days disappeared, living on a tight margin became the norm. Unfortunately, one of the luxuries that went out the window was the luxury of thinking: the time and leisure to think, to initiate, to prognosticate – and to do so outside of a required reaction to a given brief. As a result, we have been on the back foot for a few decades. Fortunately, the good Lord has given us the digital revolution, and with it – I passionately believe – the means of reviving our business.
At the end of August, in the baking Poitiers heat at the Château de Touffou, David Ogilvy’s place of retirement, and in-between parts of our executive committee meeting there – my last – I wondered what a very simplistic manifesto would be with which to do this. After all, we have nothing to lose but our lunches. "We have a world to win."
Château de Touffou: the mansion, David Ogilvy’s former home, continues to host meetings for Ogilvy executives
First, we must restore the primacy of thinking in our agencies. To me, this is inextricably linked to a total relaunch of account planning. Planning was one of those stratagems by which the agency business did survive: and thanks to its founders, notably Stanley Pollitt and Stephen King, it was built on a sense of the importance of effectiveness, of which the most important legacy is the UK’s IPA Effectiveness Awards. But, let’s be honest, they are really a UK phenomenon; they do not travel well. They have very little or no salience with most global clients. When I brought Tim Broadbent to Asia, he carried, at least for us, the thinking there but "effectiveness culture", as Tim liked to call it, is still only skin-deep and in a few places. Most global agencies have planning, but for few is it central to their mission. And while the Account Planning Group in London survives, the APG in the US shamefully failed to take root, and sensibly shut down in 2003. The result is a serious absence of real planning in the US and an excessive reliance on UK imports to fill the top jobs.
Many planners are really creative development or excellence catalysts – nothing wrong with that, but it is not what I am concerned about or what Pollitt and King meant.
The thing I’m proudest of from the last eight years is experimenting with a consultancy model, which seeks to claim new spaces
Putting planning back into the thinking about business is what is needed. Why is this so important? Because we need to re-establish our relationship with chief executives. A global chief marketing officer recently told me that, in her view, this was probably her biggest requirement. As she put it, she needs "air cover". And, as an industry, we have forgotten how to provide air cover: we are very good at hand-to-hand combat. The discourse has become too self-absorbed, and the big issues – the role of business in society, or the value of branding – do not fall any more in many agencies’ capabilities. But it can be done.
The thing I’m proudest of from the last eight years is experimenting with a consultancy model, which seeks to claim new spaces. It requires a revisiting of some of the premises of the APG, though, rooted as that was in an advertising view of the world, and founded as it was by advertising people: expanding it to "big planning", which understands the world of influence, the nature of customer relationships, not just consumer response, or the behaviour of shoppers – and then marries these to the techniques of enquiry and the discipline of measurement.
Second, we must reinvent "integration", that tired old word that refuses to die but never seems adequate either. Back in the early 1980s, I led a team working on the Campaign for Independent Financial Advice, which was one of the very first attempts to bring these siloed disciplines together strategically, and where we had to make up the rules as we went along. And that is, amazingly, still the need, more than ever so as a result of the digital revolution.
Why is it so apparently difficult? I can only applaud the digital pure-plays for what they have brought to the party, but I suspect that they also have helped perpetuate the notion of playing in silos: be it an analogue silo, a CRM silo, a public relations silo – or, for a while, most sedulous and seductive, a digital silo. Some of those pure-plays are now morphing into main-play: they get it. But many advertising agencies don’t get it, still. Some don’t need to. Bob Greenberg recently told me that he thought one of the reasons was that there was still so much "bad" market share still to be won in the discipline formerly known as advertising.
The result is that much integration remains "shallow": "deep" integration is far, far rarer than it should be. Ironically (depending on your worldview), it is more evident in markets like China than in the old ones. It’s driven by a digital-at-heart mindset, which is in turn so enabled by the more flexible and inventive Chinese technology platforms. Try arguing that at the Association of National Advertisers, and take your parka with you.
I’m very optimistic, though, because I believe that the business will, if it wants to survive, see itself as a content producer in the broadest possible sense of word – "content" meaning "communication so good that you want to share it or spend time with it" in the definition I use. We are no longer purveyors of simple messages we lob out to passive audiences. We live or die on whether consumers want to enter our eco-systems or not. If you’re really building and decorating an ecosystem, it’s quite difficult not to do it in an integrated way. And this new integration represents the final break with the commission system, when we were the agents of the publishers. Now we need to think of ourselves as a different type of publisher.
Meanwhile, I suspect our industry is often just too busy coping day to day to worry enough about making itself more important or exploring the future.
And it has problems aplenty to confront.
Are we creative "mad men" or are we "maths men"?
It is not diverse enough, for sure, especially in its global centre, the US, where a historical conspiracy between "old boys" and "bros" has been very difficult to dismantle and which, with the broader male bias of STEM, has failed to improve in the digital age. We need to be more female, more LGBT and, in tomorrow’s world, more Muslim.
Nor is it truly global. Trust me, I’ve spent more than half my career in Ogilvy in Asia fencing, if not fighting, with HQ; and the last eight years trying to make HQ culturally neutral. And, now, excitingly, our business is becoming much more local – not flat as the crypto-academics advised us, but decidedly bumpy, as the multinational corporation faces the locals, not other peers, as their biggest competitors. This is a pivot our industry also has to make. But there are not so many enablers around, though hopefully there are some signs that the road-warrior style of global leadership may not be the most sensitive or useful for the future.
And, finally, there is the perennial question: are we creative "mad men" (the nice bit that’s left over from the bad men) or are we "maths men" (the ones who measure for a living)? Do we run on dopamine or on algorithms? My own experience from the role I am leaving is that this is one of the falsest zero-sum games ever contrived. We are both, and refuge in either exclusively is the timidity of small minds.
Together, madness and maths are what makes our industry what it is. The joy is seeking the links, the commonalities, the perspectives that add from each to each. It’s not the way we are conventionally trained but it is the definitive success factor and the liberating power for the future.
The sun is retreating slowly over Touffou. The heat abates, and with it my own appetite for reflection, which moves from the languid to the decidedly feeble. I walk past the rambling roses to dinner, and with a rising thirst and (with no apparent sense of cliché) recall:
"They are not long the days of wine and roses
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while,
Then closes within a dream."
It’s been a very, very happy dream.
Thank you.
QUOTED: "This was a difficult decision, but the attraction of moving to a senior academic position in the UK was very great."
Ogilvy CEO Miles Young to Step Down, Become Oxford Administrator
Global chief returns to his alma mater
By Andrew McMains,
Jesse Oxfeld
|
June 17, 2015
Miles Young, the global CEO of Ogilvy & Mather, will leave the agency after more than three decades to take a top administrative position at Oxford University.
Ogilvy issued a statement on its website today announcing that Young will retire next year and take up his new duties in September 2016.
The agency is launching a search for his successor, considering both internal and external candidates, a source told Adweek.
Young will become the warden, or chief academic administrator, of New College at Oxford, according to an announcement on the college's website. Young earned a first-class degree in modern history from New College, one of the university's oldest and largest constituent colleges.
"It was an offer he couldn't refuse," the source told Adweek.
Young was named Ogilvy's global CEO at the start of 2009, after 13 years running the agency's Asia-Pacific operation. He added the role of chairman in 2012. He first joined the agency in 1983.
"This was a difficult decision, but the attraction of moving to a senior academic position in the UK was very great," the British-born Young said, in the statement. "Ogilvy & Mather and WPP have been part of my life for 32 years, and the intention is not to part company, but to be available to advise and consult, which I look forward to doing. My succession will be announced in due course. In the meantime it is business as usual."
Miles Young
Born UK
Residence Oxford
Nationality British
Occupation Warden of New College, Oxford
Peter Miles Young (born June 1954) is the Warden of New College, Oxford.[1] Until September 2016 he was worldwide Chairman and CEO of the international advertising, marketing and public relations agency Ogilvy & Mather. He retains a non-executive role with the firm.[2] Young's career in advertising has spanned Lintas, Allen Brady & Marsh and Ogilvy & Mather, which he joined in 1982.
Biography
Young was educated at Bedford School and at New College, Oxford, where he gained a first class degree in Modern History. In 1990 he was appointed as Managing Director of Ogilvy & Mather Direct in London. Between 1990 and 1995 he was Regional Director of Ogilvy & Mather Direct Europe. Between 1994 and 1995 he had additional responsibility for running the IBM account in Europe.
In 1995 Young was appointed Chairman of Asia Pacific at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide. He was CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide from 2008, and CEO of the Ogilvy Group from 2009. He was Chairman of the Board and Director of Ogilvy & Mather SAS from 2012.
Young is a co-founder of the Ogilvy-Tsinghua Programme for Public Branding, a joint venture with Tsinghua University, Beijing, and is a member of the Advisory Board of Tsinghua University. He is a visiting Professor of Xiamen University and of the Wanli Ningbo University. He succeeded Sir Curtis Price as the Warden of New College, Oxford in September 2016
QUOTED: "I wanted to direct people back to David’s book ... The point of this book is to say that the screenplay and the script may be different, but the process is very much the same. David believed in big, simple ideas, and one of the challenges of the digital age is that people have confused the medium with the message. In elevating digital platforms as we have, we’ve forgotten what really matters—what you say to people and how you say it to them."
Q&A with Miles Young: Ogilvy on Advertising in the Digital Age, a Testament to the Agency’s Teaching Hospital
11/07/2017 12:08 pm ET
Credit: John Cairns
David Ogilvy’s Ogilvy on Advertising has been the bible for aspiring advertising and marketing professionals. Today, Miles Young, Ogilvy’s non-executive chairman, previews his book, Ogilvy on Advertising in the Digital Age. I spoke with Miles Young about the book – specifically about the strategies and insights for navigating within the current environment and how the book is a testament to Ogilvy’s Next Chapter strategy, which is focused on how to make brands matter in today’s modern marketing era.
Question: Globalization and digital transformation have changed how brands communicate today. What are you seeing right now in the marketplace?
Young: The Internet is changing things quite dramatically. There are no longer any hiding places for brands – they have to be open, well-behaved, inclusive of all elements in society, and most importantly, they have to matter to people. Brands today can’t just claim and promise something, and then do nothing. From our research, we’ve observed that the more brands actually do something, the more likely they are to be respected in this digital age. And one of the things that they can do to earn that respect is create interesting news or content for consumers.
Question: David Ogilvy’s Ogilvy on Advertising has been the bible for aspiring advertising and marketing professionals all over the world. Why did you write this book now and do you think it was the right time?
Young: I wanted to direct people back to David’s book because it still is the advertising bible. In the 1970s, David saw “an attempt to disentangle the eternal verities from the passing facts”. That is even more necessary now, and the digital revolution has changed so many things in a variety of ways. The point of this book is to say that the screenplay and the script may be different, but the process is very much the same. David believed in big, simple ideas, and one of the challenges of the digital age is that people have confused the medium with the message. In elevating digital platforms as we have, we’ve forgotten what really matters – what you say to people and how you say it to them.
Question: If you had to think about one or two key takeaways that advertising and marketing professionals today should take from the new book, what would those be?
Young: There is this idea of “either…or” where people are saying either digital or traditional, and that translates into the belief that everything else that’s happened before it is dead. So, the first takeaway is to not believe in the idea or the argument that everything is dead. Digital has been absolutely transformative, but it works best in combination with things that have been around for a long time. Digital is a re-framer, an advisor for traditional ways of doing things and therefore, it’s not a complete replacement.
The second takeaway is to understand just how exponentially digital changed the nature of our business into being a business that’s more about content. Old-fashioned advertising, which is a sledgehammer at its worst, invaded your space and commanded you to buy something. This tactic has disappeared completely in this digital world. Today, the goal is to give the consumers a choice as to whether he or she wants to enter into and engage with the content a brand has designed. Digital has put the ownership on the customer, and that’s a really powerful and significant change because there’s a reversal on the tradition role of advertiser and consumer.
Question: Tell us about the process of putting this book together.
Young: It was all written at Ogilvy, and the book reflects the work of hundreds of colleagues, which makes this their book really. What I wanted it to be was a practical book. There are lots of books about digital, written from very theoretical perspectives, but it wouldn’t help someone who’s interested in getting into the business and learning about advertising in a commonsensical way, which is what I want this book to do.
Question: Our industry is going through a tremendous amount of change, and if you could predict the things we’d have to manage or the next big thing, what would you like for our readers to take away? What’s next for our industry?
Young: We’ve been through a period of complications, and I believe we’re moving into a period of grace and simplicity, or I hope that we will. At the end of the day, it’s easy to complicate the world and hard to be simple, making the huge transformation of media and in all of the platforms more difficult to communicate and navigate with. However, it doesn’t need to be. What we’re arguing in the book is that it’s time to return to the simple truths, and if you start with those, then everything else falls into place. If you don’t and focus on everything else, it’s difficult to discern the simple truths and undergrowth, which prevents growth and overall advancement.
We were pleased to hear that Old Bedfordian Miles Young (63-72), had recently been installed as Warden of New College, Oxford.
Miles has had an extremely successful career in PR and was the Chairman and CEO of international PR and marketing agency Ogilvy & Mather. In October 2016 he stepped down from this position and was installed as the Warden at New College, Oxford.
QUOTED: "This guide is a must-have for those in the advertising profession, including marketers, public-relations experts, [and] entrepreneurs."
Ogilvy on Advertising in the Digital Age. By Miles Young
Jennifer Adams
Booklist. 114.7 (Dec. 1, 2017): p11.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
Ogilvy on Advertising in the Digital Age.
By Miles Young.
Jan. 2018. 288p. illus. Bloomsbury, $30 (9781635571462). 659.1.
This follow-up to David Ogilvy's classic Ogilvy on Advertising (1983) is presented by current nonexecutive chairman Young. Instead of diving into today's digital scene, Young chronicles the digital revolution, from internet development to today's multichannel digital brand strategy. As broadly ponderous as the topic, Young dives deep into many areas, from the digital ecosystem and millennials to culture and courage. There are obvious focuses, such as social media and mobility, and some that give pause, like creativity and politics. The book is peppered with six case studies he considers the Hall of Fame in digital advertising, including the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Many other campaigns are examined through color photos and illustrations with insightful commentary. In addition, he touches on all media types, such as radio, blogs, phone campaigns, and more. To wrap up, Young, in true Ogilvy fashion, offers his 13 predictions for the future of advertising in the digital age. This guide is a must-have for those in the advertising profession, including marketers, public-relations experts, entrepreneurs, and anyone who wants to be competitive in today's business world.--Jennifer Adams
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Adams, Jennifer. "Ogilvy on Advertising in the Digital Age. By Miles Young." Booklist, 1 Dec. 2017, p. 11. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A519036116/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=b3e43741. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A519036116
QUOTED: "A new bible for a new generation of pitchmen and -women. Young's treatise makes a fine modern marketing 101 textbook—and at far below textbook prices, too."
Young, Miles: OGILVY ON ADVERTISING IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Kirkus Reviews. (Nov. 1, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Young, Miles OGILVY ON ADVERTISING IN THE DIGITAL AGE Bloomsbury (Adult Nonfiction) $30.00 1, 9 ISBN: 978-1-63557-146-2
"The vast majority of content produced on the internet remains unread, unwatched, unseen, and unheard." So writes adman Young in this richly illustrated, well-argued manual on how to get the word out.
The 1980s-era bible of the ad industry, Ogilvy on Advertising, writes current Ogilvy & Mather chairman Young, was "a most elegant rant against what [founder David Ogilvy] believed to be a legion of misconceptions about our business," as well as a primer, if sometimes dogmatic, of how that business works. Young's book picks up for the new age, with its attention to media that behave in the same way crack does: "instant hits are everything--and it is addictive." The author sometimes turns to the gimmicky, as with a "content matrix" with aspirational terms such as "magnetic" and "immersive" to describe a subject--content, that is--that the original Ogilvy would have mistrusted. Of great interest to global trend-watchers, though, is the abundance of material Young pulls from the Asian and European markets, such as a brand-building campaign for Nescaf?, which may now be the best-known coffee firm in the world. Yet, he adds, global markets are less important in some aspects than saturating local ones, since research indicates that consumers prefer local brands to international ones by a wide margin, though they may continue to buy both. Of interest to anyone seeking to understand how advertisers seek to capture hearts and minds are Young's concluding predictions for the near-term future: politicians will always lie in political advertising; "the Indian ad market will be the most attractive in the world"; and virtual reality will introduce interesting multimedia possibilities but will not rule the planet. Creative-writing majors wondering how to retire their student loans may take heart, too, in the author's assurances that "top-notch writing skills will carry a huge premium as they decrease in supply."
A new bible for a new generation of pitchmen and -women. Young's treatise makes a fine modern marketing 101 textbook--and at far below textbook prices, too.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Young, Miles: OGILVY ON ADVERTISING IN THE DIGITAL AGE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Nov. 2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A512028492/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=99f5d19b. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A512028492
Ogilvy Gains a New 'Operator' as CEO
Andrew McMains
ADWEEK Online. (July 28, 2008):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2008 Adweek, LLC
http://www.adweek.com/
Full Text:
NEW YORK -- Miles Young, the incoming worldwide CEO of The Ogilvy Group, carved out a reputation as a strong operator as chairman of the agency's Asia-Pacific region, which has nearly doubled its revenue in the past five years. Sources describe the 53-year-old Briton as dedicated and smart and, as one source put it, "He expects the same degree of dedication from people who work for him."His success abroad earned the respect of WPP Group CEO Martin Sorrell and made him a logical choice to succeed longtime CEO Shelly Lazarus, a 37-year veteran of the $2 billion network who has held the top job since 1986.Still, Lazarus, a client-focused leader who's credited with developing one of the most integrated offerings in the business, will be an "extremely difficult act to follow," as Sorrell put it last week when announcing the global CEO succession plan, which takes effect Jan. 1.Indeed, the 60-year-old leader has engendered loyalty among colleagues and clients alike. And she is known and envied within the WPP family for being able to "manage" her boss better than his other CEOs. Lazarus will remain chairman of The Ogilvy Group to focus on client relationships and specifically help Young deepen his connections with the likes of Unilever, American Express, IBM, Kraft Foods, Nestl? and Kodak, according to sources.In an internal e-mail on the succession move, Lazarus heaped praise upon Young, noting his accomplishments and saying that he is "more willing to give the credit to his partners. That is Miles; he is a fierce and loyal advocate for his people. In this respect, and others, Miles is truly a global citizen."One source described the Oxford history major as a "command and control" leader who is "strong and aggressive" and "knows how to make money." Another source said he's a "fantastic operator" who has "built a diverse, powerful offering" in Asia. Yet another added: "He's very opinionated, but he's very fair. He just likes to be listened to."Young, who'll be based in New York, is entering the U.S. market for the first time, which naturally presents the dual challenges of scale and cultural differences. In fact, sources describe him as an idiosyncratic "British colonial" type -- qualities that he may want to tone down, particularly when trying to connect with more button-down American clients, said sources.Like Lazarus, Young has a multidiscipliary background. Earlier in his career at Ogilvy, which dates back to 1983, Young worked in direct marketing as European regional director of what was then known as Ogilvy & Mather Direct in London. His exposure to the advertising side came mostly during his past 13 years as Asia-Pacific chairman, working primarily out of Hong Kong.Young, Lazarus and Sorrell all declined interview requests last week.Young's operational skills are considerable and made him a star in the eyes of Sorrell, according to sources, and this in the middle of a region that the boss believes is critical to future growth. Beyond overseeing some 6,800 staffers in 124 offices in 29 cities, Young was instrumental in forging new alliances and making acquisitions that rounded out Ogilvy's offering. WPP noted in its announcement that the shop's Asia-Pacific revenue now totals around $500 million."Ogilvy and WPP have built such an extraordinary position in Asia-Pacific -- dominating India and leading all multinationals in China," said Greg Paull, a principal at the R3 consultancy in Beijing. "It's a sign we've reached the Asian century when leaders from here are going global. Miles has left a great legacy in Asia of the strongest agency network with highly diversified services."Ogilvy is seen by many as less formidable than it once was, particularly in new business, making one of Young's challenges to reverse the recent pattern in the U.S. that has seen the shop reach the final rounds of blockbuster reviews only to fall short, as it did with Wal-Mart and Sprint Nextel, for example, in 2007.The network prides itself on its ability to deliver a full array of integrated marketing services -- a core principle that was reinforced by Lazarus and upon which Young is expected to build. His multidisciplinary background will help.Inside Ogilvy is a "sense of relief that a candidate has been chosen," after months of speculation about succession planning, said a source. Going forward, some sources expect Ogilvy to be less insulated from WPP's penchant for pitching business as a group once Young takes office on Jan 1. Lazarus has managed to shield her troops from WPP pitches, but under Young that may change. "He would be a willing participant if asked," said one source. --with Noreen O'Leary
Andrew McMains
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
McMains, Andrew. "Ogilvy Gains a New 'Operator' as CEO." ADWEEK Online, 28 July 2008. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A182132304/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=21bea404. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A182132304
Young takes Ogilvy helm from Lazarus
Campaign. (July 25, 2008): p01.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2008 Haymarket Media Group
http://www.haymarket.com/home.aspx
Full Text:
Miles Young, the British-born boss of Ogilvy & Mather's Asia-Pacific operations, is to become the global chief executive of the Ogilvy Group.
He takes over from Shelly Lazarus, who has led the world's third-largest agency group for the past 11 years. She will remain as the chairman after the changeover at the beginning of next year.
Young's new role puts him in command of an 11,000-strong workforce spread across 120 countries.
His promotion follows what is widely regarded as his outstanding leadership of O&M in the Far East.
During his 13 years in charge, he is credited with reinvigorating a regional network, run largely by Britons and Americans, with indigenous talent and with building O&M's presence in what were previously deemed impenetrable markets, such as China and Japan.
His success in Asia has been seen as all the more remarkable given his hasty dispatch to Hong Kong in 1995 when his then boss gave him 24 hours to accept the job.
Industry sources say that one of Young's biggest challenges will be to bring fresh momentum to the network's flagship New York office, which has been experiencing a fallow new-business period.
Young, 53, is thought to have been selected for the job because of the breadth of his experience. During his 25 years at O&M, he has worked in Europe and has an extensive understanding of the direct and digital disciplines.
'Miles can be irascible and is totally intolerant of stupidity,' an Ogilvy insider said. 'He is the absolute personification of David Ogilvy's determination to hire 'gentlemen with brains',' he added.
Young's successor as the chairman of O&M Asia-Pacific will be Tim Isaac, currently the head of the network's South-East Asia region.
By John Tylee
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Young takes Ogilvy helm from Lazarus." Campaign, 25 July 2008, p. 01. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A181790460/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=22e80f3c. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A181790460
Q&A: Ogilvy's Miles Young
Andrew McMains
ADWEEK Online. (Jan. 26, 2009):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2009 Adweek, LLC
http://www.adweek.com/
Full Text:
NEW YORK -- Miles Young, the new worldwide CEO of The Ogilvy Group, spoke to Adweek senior reporter Andrew McMains about his appointment last week of insider John Seifert as North American chairman -- replacing regional co-CEOs Bill Gray and Carla Hendra -- why he's not a fan of co-leadership setups and his expectations for the new regional leader.Adweek: What do you see in John that makes you think he'll be a good chairman for North America?Young: The first thing is you can almost tell that you made the right decision by the reaction you get. My e-mail box is in the midst of a kind of meltdown because the heat of enthusiasm is huge. People like him, respect him, believe in him. He's got exceptional [emotional quotient] skills. He has qualities that I look for in leaders: they have vision on the one hand but are humble on the other. He also understands what needs to be done to drive the business forward here. That's the first point. The second point is he has got some breadth. He has worked abroad. He has not just been confined to this market. He has got some global perspective. And I think as the world moves closer [together], that's a very positive take. Plus, his client experience. He's the archetypal big client guy and we need that as well. He was hungry for the job, which also helps.How would you describe his leadership style?He's very consultative. He's consensual in terms of making decisions, but he's also got a very clear sense of the way things need to go. So, I think his views on what's needed for a modern communications business in North America are pretty persuasive. Also, for me, the most important thing is that he's about content -- what the business produces. Not necessarily how it does it, but what it actually produces: ideas, excitements, engagements. After a period in the industry that has been fairly hellish generally, a business like ours needs some strong focus on that. We need to remind ourselves what we're in business for. So you're not a fan of joint leadership structures?Yes.Why?At the end of the day, however well meaning they are, they create some confusion as to whom do you go to for what.Is that why the duo of Bill Gray and Carla Hendra didn't thrive?I wouldn't say they didn't thrive, but I don't think it's a good model. Actually, I think they thrive better than the outside world gives them credit for. But in a curious way, giving credit to a duo is not a very easy thing (laughs). I mean how many times do you write headlines about a duo?It's also easier to ascertain performance with a single leader.You bet.You also appointed a new chief talent officer and a new chief technology officer. What are the thoughts behind that?I want to have people that I feel I can work with. Not that I couldn't work with the others. But in the case of the chief talent officer, [George Rose] had decided that he didn't want to stay around anyway. I looked there for someone again who has got great listening and communication skills. Marie-Claire Barker has got that. She's absolutely a people's person. You have to be that. Again, a very popular choice and, in fact, a very easy choice to make. . . . I was very impressed with the work that she has done on our Gen Y people. She has totally rebuilt the graduate recruitment program in Ogilvy. . . . She's very sensitive, and she also understands what the Ogilvy brand is about.What about Yuri Aguiar, your new technology chief?Yuri is somebody who worked with me in Asia. He's not moving into exactly the same role but a very similar one. He has done a wonderful job making our technology systems global. Right now, he's in India, for example, because [we have moved] a lot of our back office [people] to Bombay.What are John's priorities coming into this job?The thing about Ogilvy is that the assets -- hard and soft in North America -- are actually very good, in my view. What John needs to do is to activate those assets. It's as simple as that. It's not even a question of rebuilding something that's not working. . . . Its pitching record is very good. Its ability to keep the business it won after the pitch is not very good, but that was [due to] bad luck in two cases. If those cases hadn't worked out that way, the story would be very different.You're talking about Wachovia?Wachovia. Then there was another one, another big one at the beginning of the year. So we have to be a bit watchful before we jump to judgments. There's an awful lot that's good here and [we're] unprecedented in our talent, in my view, particularly in the sweet spots of the business. Particularly in those parts of the business that I believe are important, which are the added-value consulting parts. So it all exists. But what we need is someone to put it together rather more and to take it to market, package it and sell it on a North American basis. That's my brief to him, really.Did you look outside for this role and why did you choose to stay inside?I couldn't see anyone better, actually. It's as simple as that. So it wasn't too difficult a choice. I looked at the obvious suspects in North America and my feeling was that John was actually [significantly] above them in terms of his expertise. Remember, this is a pretty humongous job. It's running a large matrix and you couldn't simply pluck someone from, for instance, a classic advertising agency to do this role. Nor could you simply pluck somebody from a pure-play new communications agency. You have to have people who really understand the integrated paradigm and how it works. So in both capability and attitude, I thought John was really above anyone else. Then the final thing I mentioned to you is that he wanted to do the job. That for me is a very large part of what makes a successful candidate.Are you surprised that he hasn't been in this kind of role sooner?He has had country management roles before. In Asia, he ran Singapore. He has been at Ogilvy 30 years, has got a host of experience and yet, until now, in this market, hasn't had a top management role. Isn't that curious?You have to understand that he and I get along well together. So that's also an aspect of the mix, isn't it? And [with me] coming [to New York], I think it suits both of us that we would team up very well. That's probably the answer to your question.Is Carla's primary function to focus on New York?We want her to focus on New York but also some of the other businesses that exist in North America that she's closely connected with. She'll keep a role with them. Which clients do you envision Bill staying close to?Morgan Stanley, Time Warner Cable, United Healthcare, Kodak and a few others.Your announcement mentioned Bill handling network initiatives as well.These are some projects I have, which I can't talk to you about at the moment.Are they of the acquisition variety?Yes, loosely. But for me, they're very significant.
Andrew McMains
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
McMains, Andrew. "Q&A: Ogilvy's Miles Young." ADWEEK Online, 26 Jan. 2009. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A192929349/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=476cc223. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A192929349
Young, gifted and blue
Alyson Cook
Marketing. (Jan. 27, 1994): p39.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1994 Haymarket Media Group
http://www.haymarket.com/home.aspx
Abstract:
Ogilvy and Mather Direct Response Chmn Miles Young faces the challenges involved in the direct marketing industry. Although Young is actively sharing his leadership skills in the political arena, he claims to have no intentions of exchanging his management position for a political career. Young, who graduated from New College, Oxford with a degree in modern history, travels frequently to other countries to oversee O&M's through-the-line operations in Europe.
Full Text:
Miles Young is happy to take charge of most situations, but turbulent times recently have tested his leadership skills to the full.
As chairman of Ogilvy & Mather Direct, O&M Dataconsult and O&M Teleconsult, with a staff of 125, he controls one of the most respected brands in the direct marketing business. However, as leader of Westminster City Council since August 1993, he is facing flak from Fleet Street about the "designated sales" housing policy savaged in the Magill Report.
Despite this, an earlier board meeting and a business trip to Hong Kong the next day, Young manages to appear calm and collected in our hour-long chat in O&M Direct's Soho Square offices. A tall, slim bachelor with an infectious guffaw of a laugh which he gives vent to often, Young has a reputation for "a somewhat eccentric style born out of considerable intelligence. He could be one of David Ogilvy's famous 'gentlemen with brains'," says one colleague.
His academic record certainly supports this impression. Educated at public school in Bedford -- he later returned as a school governor in 1989 -- he went on to study modern history at New College, Oxford where he gained a first. Both institutions have their political ties: Paddy Ashdown was at Bedford and Tony Benn was educated at New College. Young opted for the Conservatives, but he has no ambitions to follow Ashdown and Benn into the Commons.
"It's just a hobby, although one that's given me a pretty rough ride recently," he says. "Local government is a rough and tumble world and if ever I thought it would interfere with my work at O&M, I would have no hesitation in giving it up. I have no broader political ambitions."
Despite being the unwelcome focus of the media world at the moment, Young, 39, insists that his council leader role is not without its satisfactions. "It's vital for those of us in the ad business to have other complementary activities to give us a sense of perspective. And after a turbulent council meeting I go home thinking that the worst client meeting could never be as bad as this." Home is a flat in Victoria, but he has a much loved bolt-hole in a village in Burgundy, which is "in painful need of restoration". It comes complete with moth-eaten wild boar's head, owls in the attic and a thriving rat population, but it's also close to many fine restaurants and vineyards to which Young is fond of taking his frequent visitors.
In between trips across the Channel, he takes French lessons and speaks German. His favourite architecture is Spanish colonial, a passion which has taken him to "remote and inaccessible places in Central and South America. I can't lie on a beach even for one day, it would drive me mad." Travelling has always been a hobby, he says.
As a regional director of O&M Direct Europe, one of his projects is to develop work in Poland, an area he journeyed to during the Cold War. "He has a love of Orthodox religions, and he used to be off to places like Ukraine before it became fashionable and westernised," says Mike Walsh, O&M Advertising's chairman and Young's predecessor as chairman at O&M Direct. "Miles never does anything by halves, he has one of the best intellects in the business and he's passionate about what he believes."
Young's belief in advertising dates back to 1976, during "a summer of punting parties and enjoying myself. I missed the standard Milk Round and was resisting the college predilection for accountancy. I had a Monty Python view of accountants at the time." It was left to the appointments board secretary to suggest marketing and advertising. "Lintas was the only one left with vacancies and I was offered a job."
Young's first big brand account was Cornetto. "We had a terrific product and an immensely strong and clear idea. You could really feel the power of advertising -- and we had a super time shooting in Venice, too," jokes Young.
With the "very solid training" and the basics learned on accounts such as the Wall's ice-cream business, Young got itchy feet after two-and-a-half years -- "although I always advise my staff to stay put after such a short time nowadays" -- and sought a more challenging environment. Enter Allen Brady & Marsh. "It was on a roll in those days, like a huge cavalry charge with new business every week. All my pals from that time have gone on to be very successful in the business." The agency was "dominated by Peter Marsh, a man I greatly admire -- an ebullient, larger-than-life character with an amazing ability to motivate people," says Young.
The same could be said about Young, according to Walsh. "He can be very demanding, but he builds up a very loyal team around him." Former colleagues testify to this team spirit, but some hint that those on the outside are given short shrift -- "it's very black and white with Miles". Young himself admits to being a "moody, typical Gemini".
It was the O&M team that Young brought together in 1985 which worked on the celebrated Guinness Genius advertising -- "the most complicated and sophisticated pitch I have ever worked on".
Five years later he made the rare jump from advertising to direct marketing. "He has brought a tremendous stature to O&M Direct and a note of high professional integrity to the DM industry," says Colin Lloyd, chief executive of the Direct Marketing Association.
Like most converts, Young is enthusiastic about his new discipline. "There is a strong creative component in direct marketing here. I consider us one of the few through-the-line agencies in the true sense of the word. For certain types of client we can provide a one-stop service -- our work for Compaq, for example, where we do all the TV ads as well as the technically complex direct mail activity. It's finite, accountable and much more precise. The people who work in it are also more down-to-earth and streetwise. I enjoy my work."
And if all else fails there is always snail farming, concludes Young with tongue in cheek. "My neighbours in France say my land is just right and the Burgundian species is increasingly rare."
But, somehow, doing things at a snail's pace is not really his style.
BIOGRAPHY
1973 Studies at New College, Oxford
1976 Joins Lintas
1979 Joins Allen Brady & Marsh
1983 Joins Ogilvy & Mather Advertising
1990 Managing director, Ogilvy & Mather Direct
1993 Promoted to chairman
1993 Elected as leader of Westminster City Council
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Cook, Alyson. "Young, gifted and blue." Marketing, 27 Jan. 1994, p. 39. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A15151860/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=50d350d3. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A15151860
Young's big challenge at O&M: following legend Lazarus
Rupal Parekh
Advertising Age. 79.29 (July 28, 2008): p1.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2008 Crain Communications, Inc.
http://www.crain.com/about/index.html
Full Text:
Byline: RUPAL PAREKH
When shelly lazarus circulated a memo to staff last week revealing her successor-subject line "The Next Chapter''-more than a few heads were scratched over the news that Ogilvy & Mather's future will be written by a Brit who has lived in Asia for years and is little known in North America.
The appointment of Miles Young to replace the legendary Ms. Lazarus was more evidence that the future growth of the ad world is all about emerging markets such as Asia-a huge priority for Martin Sorrell, chief executive of Ogilvy parent WPP Group. And it was also notable for the people who didn't get the post-namely, Carla Hendra and Bill Gray, who run Ogilvy's North American operations, and OgilvyOne CEO Brian Fetherstonhaugh, long thought to be the odds-on choice for the job.
"Everyone thought that Brian was being groomed for it,'' said an executive familiar with the matter. "In the end, Miles is a better person for the job,'' given that he has been overseeing the best-performing region. "He's been on their worldwide board, so he's had exposure to the needs and problems of the network everywhere, not just Asia.''
To be sure, Mr. Young, who serves as chairman of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide Asia Pacific, has for some time been rumored a potential ruler of the red carpets at the WPP Group network. In just five years, Mr. Young doubled the Asia-Pacific business to $500 million in revenue.
But succeeding Ms. Lazarus as CEO effective Jan. 1, 2009, will mean relocating from his longtime home of Hong Kong to the agency's Big Apple headquarters by year-end-a move many didn't think he'd agree to.
One of Mr. Young's top priorities will have to be to fix the North American region, where Ogilvy is often regarded as something of a sleeping giant. The agency boasts blue-chip clients such as American Express and IBM, as well as strong customer-relationship-management and digital operations, but it's been in a new-business slump for a few years and started 2008 with a round of layoffs. Ms. Lazarus often has been criticized for not doing enough to kick-start the region. (Ogilvy and WPP declined to make any executives available.)
Mr. Young, 53, started out not in advertising but in U.K. politics. After entering the ad world via stints at a number of London shops, including Lintas and Allen Brady & Marsh, Mr. Young joined Ogilvy in 1983. Much like Ms. Lazarus, he earned his chops on the direct side of the business, having run Ogilvy & Mather Direct, London, and later taking on regional responsibilities for direct operations across Europe.
The turning point in his career was establishing the European hub for IBM when Ogilvy won the global account in 1994; it was thereafter that agency management asked him to run Ogilvy in Asia.
Mr. Young is known for his Chinese-art collection and properties that include a home on Hong Kong's prestigious Peak district. He's involved with Tsinghua University, this year taking students on a weeklong train journey from Beijing to Russia to discuss environmental issues.
His departure from the region is prompting a shakeup of Ogilvy's Asian operations. Tim Issac, who has been with the agency since 1995 and heads the agency's Association of Southeast Asian Nations region, as well as OgilvyAction, will succeed Mr. Young as chairman. Paul Heath, who leads the agency's ad network, will become CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific.
Ms. Lazarus, 60, who has been CEO of Ogilvy since 1996, won't be an easy act to follow. After all, how many other ad-network honchos can boast a dedicated Facebook group like hers, "Shelly Lazarus is my Idol''? Ms. Lazarus has long been regarded one of the most powerful women in business, let alone on Madison Avenue. A mother of three and wife of a New York pediatrician, she has served as an American Association of Advertising Agencies chairman and on the corporate boards of GE and Merck. In fact, many industry executives regard Ms. Lazarus as peerless in the agency game, with perhaps only Andrew Robertson, CEO of Omnicom Group's BBDO, seen as having anything approaching her stature beyond the agency world.
For now, she will retain her chairman title, and dropping the CEO title isn't likely to render her a mere figurehead. She is expected to maintain relationships with clients she's known to be close to, such as American Express and IBM.
contributing: normandy madden
rparekh@adage.com
CAPTION(S):
Young
RUPAL PAREKH
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Parekh, Rupal. "Young's big challenge at O&M: following legend Lazarus." Advertising Age, 28 July 2008, p. 1. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A182098471/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=3805e48c. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A182098471