O&M Integrates Social Media Expertise

WPP-owned ad agency Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) has launched a practice called Social@Ogilvy, through which the agency's global network of social media strategists will deliver solutions for areas including social media commerce, online listening and impact analysis.

The new cross-discipline practice offers access to O&M's execs - including more than 550 social media experts and a further 400 digital specialists - from across the Ogilvy group of companies.

This team will also offer O&M's measurement model, Conversation Impact, which helps marketers evaluate the impact of social media across different types of advertising and communications, and measures the impact of WOM (word-of-mouth) on influencers and consumers.

Headquartered in New York, the team is led by Global MD John Bell, COO Tom DeLuca, and a board of advisors including Christopher Graves, CEO of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide; Gunther Schumacher, COO of OgilvyOne; Brandon Berger, Chief Digital Officer of Ogilvy & Mather and Steve Harding, CEO of OgilvyAction.

Bell (pictured) comments: 'Now, no matter which door clients walk through at Ogilvy, they will connect with the Social@Ogilvy team to deliver agile and measurable solutions. The real power of social media for business in 2012 and beyond lies in fully integrated solutions, not stand-alone social programs.'

Web sites: www.ogilvy.com and https://social.ogilvy.com.