Ogilvy Now Seeks Engagement Instead of Interruption
By Tom Chandler on Jul 13, 2008 in Engagement Marketing, Marketing
The Communities Dominate Brands blog has long been a favorite. As pioneers in the engagement marketing movement, they “get it” in a way that few others have - though their ideas weren’t always embraced.
That’s changing.
Alan Moore’s latest post chronicles the rising chorus of names who see the writing on the wall. Interruption’s not dead, but engagement is rising fast.
None other than Ogilvy (the agency) now thinks engagement is becoming an imperative instead of just another buzzword:
Ogilvy it seems have become Messianic to the SMLXL philosophy
To influence the engaged consumers of the digital democracy, push marketing needs to be replaced by engagement marketing
Said Patou Nuytemans - who I do know. So nice one Patou - thanks for spreading the word.
An aside I would like to make is that, the emphasis on pure digital
is a little cul-de-sac of straight line logic (Not Patou’s fault - I
can assure you) because we live not separate from offline and online -
we live in a world of blended reality.
That last paragraph is important. My career began just as typewriters were being replaced by computers, and my background remains heavily rooted in “traditional” B2B media (advertising, direct response).
Yet I’m still fully capable of ignoring existing media channels in favor of interactive digital media - an error in perspective shared by many of my marketing colleagues.
If Alan Moore and Tomi Ahonen look to be reveling in the growing acceptance of engagement marketing as a viable partner to traditional marketing techniques, then they’re entitled.
From their blog:
All Companies must learn to move from interruption to
inviting participation. For all marketing initiatives, this no longer
means communicating by interruption, but by engagementIs what was written in CDB, waaaaaaay back in 2005 and in fact it was something I spoke a great deal about in 2002.
What we got back from the media, clients, - well you name them, was
something along the lines of a nervous twitch or a blank stare - or
some clever dickie leaning over the table and telling me his compliment
was a “double-edged” sword because I was a pioneer and they tended to
get shot.
As Moore notes, he’s still alive and kicking.
Stay engaged, Tom Chandler.
hey tom, indeed ogilvy are committed to engaging brands and their audiences. in fact when you look at what david’s philosophy was when he started the agency it has always been about this. story telling, content, informative advertising were all talked about liberally. his ads were all long form copy - the guiness oyster guide is a great example of branded content to this day. problem was that advertising got lazy, broken into silos and run by money men. it is good to see that digital is often the ice breaker that is changing this. nice blog. g
giles rhys jones | Jul 14, 2008 | Reply
Giles: Thanks for the comment. And I liked your post about Ogilvy.
I always appreciated Ogilvy’s approach to advertising, and think if he were still practicing today, he’d embrace engagement marketing with both hands.
He always took a long-term view of marketing, and wonder how much fun he’d be having with media like streaming video, podcasts, etc.
Tom Chandler | Jul 14, 2008 | Reply