No word yet from Ogilvy NZ in the fallout from the Ogilvy & Mather worldwide name change to just Ogilvy – but a tiny crack has appeared on both sides of the Tasman.
Ogilvy PR Australia has announced it has split from Ogilvy, and is “now a separate business”, rebranded as OPR WPP AUNZ – which seems to embrace the NZ agency’s PR arm as well (still no comment from the NZ end).
Ogilvy PR Australia (and by implication, NZ) is not part of the global assimilation. The business has been re-established as a separate entity within WPP AUNZ and will henceforth be known as OPR.
Campaign Asia reports that ceo Richard Brett will continue to lead the rebranded organisation, “with all other team, structure clients, values and vision remaining unchanged”, the company said.
“Ogilvy PR Australia (and by implication, NZ) is not part of the global assimilation. The business will be known as OPR.”
OPR will also remain the preferred public relations partner to Ogilvy in Australia (and again, by implication, in NZ) and will continue to work with the Ogilvy PR APAC network on a range of clients.
A statement from the company (not distributed in NZ) made exclusively to Campaign Asia said that the agency is proud of its heritage and “fantastic and very special culture”, but “can’t rest on pride alone”.
“To keep our leadership position, we know we must evolve to branch out on our own beyond our Ogilvy family,” Richard Brett said.
“And with the global Ogilvy network moving to a more streamlined structure across all capabilities, we have decided that time is now.”
Brett said: “While the new name reflects the power of the letter O in our heritage, the new strapline ‘believability is our business’ reflects the importance of truth and factual storytelling in the era of fake news and ‘alternative facts’.
About WPP AUNZ
WPP AUNZ was formed by the merger of WPP’s Australia and New Zealand businesses with STW Communications Group in 2016, with WPP taking a 61.5% stake in the business.
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