(Above: Ogilvy CEO John Seifert)

 

Ogilvy last week rolled out its agency-wide rebranding and reorganization, streamlining its offerings into a single, sleek entity known simply as “Ogilvy.” The transformation was more than purely aesthetic; along with the change in name and a revised logo, the agency also changed the way it approaches business, including some adjustments for the healthcare sector.

Ogilvy’s firms previously operated in silos, including creative agency Ogilvy & Mather, customer engagement specialist shop OgilvyOne, and Ogilvy Public Relations, all of which have been dismantled over the past 18 months. It is planning to focus on six main capabilities: brand strategy, advertising, customer engagement and commerce, digital transformation, partnerships, and PR and influence.

For healthcare, Ogilvy has removed the Feinstein Kean Healthcare brand name and rolled the unit under the Ogilvy umbrella. Staffers at Feinstein Kean’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C., offices will continue to work within the practice and partner with their clients, according to Kate Cronin, leader of Ogilvy’s U.S.-based health and wellness arm. However, Ogilvy Commonhealth operates within the firm’s holding company, WPP, but it is not part of Ogilvy and not included in the overhaul.

Ogilvy CEO John Seifert also said the network is planning to increase the number of women in partner roles to 50% over the next 24 months, up from its current 36%.

One primary benefit of the overhaul is increased flexibility, Cronin added. Various healthcare and medical sectors, such as pharma, payers, providers, and biotech, each come with their own marketing challenges. The streamlining allows Ogilvy to approach tasks using a suite of “crafts,” including creative, strategy, delivery, client service, data, finance, technology, talent, business development, marketing and communications, administrative, and production.

“We’re able to be much more nimble and streamlined in terms of how we’re helping to solve our clients’ problems,” Cronin said. “It’s less dealing with silos, and more innovative in how we’re approaching our client’s problems.”

Cronin declined to go into specifics, but said Ogilvy works with a broad range of clients from consumer health brands —including over-the-counter pain and cold medications— to hospitals, payers, and companies developing emerging therapies.

“We have some folks who are very, very deep in the science, and then we have folks who are really focused on the consumer and OTC medications,” she said. “We don’t have barriers within our organization for creating these kind of unique, bespoke teams for client problems.”