School Reports 2012: OgilvyOne

By Staff, campaignlive.co.uk, Monday, 02 April 2012 12:00AM

When an agency wins Campaign's Direct Agency of the Year award for a second year running, it's clearly doing something very right. OgilvyOne, which raised its game further still in 2011, is aggressively flying the flag for a UK direct marketing industry that, on the whole, has been stuttering of late.

Recent Freggo work

Score: 9

OgilvyOne's real ace in the pack is the consistently high standard of its creative work. Beautifully crafted, effective campaigns were created last year for a number of high-profile clients, including British Airways, British Gas and IBM. The agency also proved it was just as adept working on boutique brands, highlighted by an innovative digital campaign for the ice-cream brand Freggo.

Little wonder, then, that OgilvyOne picked up a massive 11 gongs at the DMA Awards, as well as being the only UK direct marketing agency to win at Cannes.

Creative accolades were complemented by an impressive new-business performance. The agency picked up more than £30 million in new-business billings. Highlights included beating VCCP and Lida to the Drinkaware integrated advertising account. Meanwhile, OgilvyOne also expanded existing relationships with British Airways, Unilever and British Gas, which handed the agency its business-to-business direct marketing activity.

The only account to head out of the door during the year was the ActionAid business, which OgilvyOne resigned in April due to "creative differences".

Heading into 2012, you expect the order of the day for OgilvyOne to be "more of the same". And if the management team - all of whom have worked together for a number of years - maintains the enthusiasm that has got the agency to where it currently stands, then you wouldn't bet against it.

Score last year: 9

How OgilvyOne rates itself: 9

"Not ones to rest on our laurels, we set our own bar even higher during 2011. Exciting wins such as Drinkaware and British Gas Business saw our new-business billings exceed £37 million. We've had to find 10 per cent more desks for talented new hires and shelf space for more awards than any other UK digital direct agency, including Campaign's Direct Agency of the Year - a title we're thrilled to have won two years in a row."

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This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk