You have to keep on top of technological trends to keep your business floating smoothly, especially if you're in the communication realm. Ogilvy has done just that. Not only has it incorporated a PR newsroom into the Woodstock-based agency, its method of internal staff communication has also shifted, with the newsroom staffers doing away with tedious, time-sapping memos and emails to get across the latest, most urgent info.
Instead, they're using chat services as a way of spreading any breaking news about their clients instantly to the rest of the team, beating the morning news rush as they've often had a full night to plan ahead and prepare cutting-edge concepts, both within the deadlines of the media they serve and before the punchline of any related memes has gone cold.
And they proved just how well their Newsroom works in May, when they walked off with the Times newspaper's 'Press Challenge' win, in which it offered one free page for the best news-related tactical ad of each weekday for a month, along with a free Loeries entry for the execution. Not only did they come out tops in the daily challenge eight times for eight different brands, they also won the award for best overall ad for their British royal birth 'Did You Know' Chappies wrapper-styled communication, to a total bonus media value for its clients of R750,000.
Dan Nash, the new Creative Director of Ogilvy PR - OPR, if you will - tells us more about how the OPR Newsroom led to the team winning the challenge and what this means for the agency moving forward...
1. Firstly, congrats on the Times Press Challenge win - what does this mean for Ogilvy? 
Nash: Thank you. The win is positive validation that this approach works when it comes to executing relevant creative in a fast turnaround environment. We saw the Times Challenge as the perfect challenge to further test our Newsroom, especially as there were digital banners as well as the full-page print ad to consider. We found the combination worked particularly well for our winning ads during the challenge.
2. OK, let's focus on the 'Newsroom' concept then as it's clearly a winning idea - tell us what exactly it entails. Nash: The Newsroom is made up of an interesting bunch. We have a traditional journalist with more work experience than I have had birthdays, as well as a strategist, an analyst, a copywriter, a designer, and me. We are constantly refining our process, so it has changed a fair amount over time. Right now we meet early, discuss the day's topics, pick our best, and then execute quickly with as little back and forth as possible.
3. There's no denying Ogilvy's PR is strong, hence your relatively new role as OPR CD. Tell us more about OPR and how this fits in with the rest of Ogilvy. Nash: My mandate has been one of furthering OPR's benefit to the integration model, as well as our approach to dynamic content. My background also enables me to lead conversations around fast content production and 'influencer' strategies and implementation.
4. Tell us more about the 'quick turnaround and slower-burn crafted creative' benefit to clients of the Newsroom. Nash: As with all clients at Ogilvy & Mather, we are able to offer deep speciality in each discipline when required, but also have a very robust integrated offering. The Newsroom allows us to answer on the quick turnaround opportunities, ultimately enhancing the Ogilvy offering.
5. Sounds good. Does the journalistic capability of the newsroom then bring you a little out of the ad space or further enhance your overall offering? Nash: It definitely enhances our offering. We understand the importance of speed without compromising on quality. The Times Challenge provided a great opportunity to further push our thinking. We had to get winning creative out in a very short time, condensing traditional timelines - conception, design, client sign-off - into two to three hours.
6. Impressive. Looking further afield, how can agencies take advantage of memes in the social media space to best connect to connected consumers? Nash: If we're talking specifically memes here, we need to let go a little, from both agency and client side. For example, a funny tactical response to Charlize and Sean breaking up can't communicate aspirational messaging, product benefits, and an upcoming event. A meme exists to entertain, so let it do that. We need to recognise some of our content as 'wholly biodegradable' if brands are going to be more 'human' in this highly conversational space.
7. Let's end on that note of communication and conversation with customers. PR, advertising and journalism have always been separate entities with essential symbiotic relationships - does the OPR newsroom effectively turn this on its head by amalgamating it all into one shiny package? Nash: Well, I wouldn't say it's one shiny package. Although the lines are blurring between these three disciplines, it's important for us to remain strong in each independently, but also be able to integrate the best of all three when working on quick turnaround branded content. What the Newsroom allows us to do is consider information for what it is, and how it could be relevant to any brand within the Ogilvy & Mather building.
Sounds like it's exactly the jolt in the arm needed to stay fresh and keep ahead of the pack. For more on Ogilvy, click here to visit their press office.
