Ogilvy & Mather

OGILVY & MATHER

PART 1:

One of the most definitive problems with Charlotte Beers’ brand stewardship was her communicative process with upper-level management. While it may be true that Beers’ was able to develop a clear vision of Brand Stewardship and explain what that meant to her collaborative team “thirsty for change,” the idea was only a concept at the end of their meeting summit.

It is essential to the success of any plan that a strategy must first be developed, and to that point, Charlotte Beers was initially on track. She brought together a team to devise a vision and plan for what Ogilvy & Mather was to become, but she never fully developed what that strategy meant and how it was to be implemented. This lack of strategy set the entire communicative plan up for failure as there never was a clear call to action to communicate.

To further complicate the planning process, Beers delegated the “Chewton Glen Declaration” to others without clear, precise instructions and monitoring. Instead, another group was formed to execute the vision of Charlotte Beers, who was not only the visionary, but the only one who clearly understand what brand stewardship meant. As one employee stated “The idea of brand stewardship was still embryonic. Charlotte clearly understood it in her own mind but was just learning how to communicate it.”

Delegation is necessary, particularly in an organization as large as Ogilvy & Mather, but there is still a need for oversight. Beers never defined exactly what she wanted the “Chewton Glen Declaration” to achieve and whether or not that should include an action plan. The team was left to their own devices and formulated a plan off the scant details given to them, focusing on the development of Worldwide Client Service, not brand stewardship application.

Beyond Beers need to communicate directions to her development team, she never described to them the importance of why. It is extremely difficult to determine how to do something...