"Ogilvy & Mather: One Agency Indivisible" is one of David Ogilvy's famous tid-bits that you pick-up early at O&M. I always loved the feeling, wherever I might appear in the world, of the long-hallways culture he established. Trumpeter Swans. People with brains.
Now it seems the brand name is changing.
I really couldn't believe my eyes reading this article in The Economic Times where Miles Young describes the split of the Ogilvy & Mather brand into two parts. No doubt, Miles has encountered a number of client "conflicts" that he hopes to resolve under his umbrella rather than those of other WPP companies.
Miles is an interesting and enterprising man - always on the bleeding edge of business development. He has continuously launched interesting sub-brands, acquired local agencies, and sniffed out new revenue streams to expand the company's share-of-wallet among clients.
But this time it's different - it's the core brand.
Granted, the O&M culture and brand has long centered upon David Ogilvy. In fact, I couldn't tell you a whit about Mr. Mather.
And if it's true, why did Shelly Lazarus not announce it? Why is it not on the WPP website? My instinct tells me this was a bad-boy move by Miles, a misguided PR ploy to generate attention.
We'll see what happens.
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