TRENDSETTERS: Ogilvy CEO Miles Young Sees New Era for Marketing

Miles Young, the Ogilvy & Mather veteran who was named Global CEO just over a year ago, believes that we are moving toward a time of profound implications for marketing. In a speech at a recent IAA Luncheon in London, he stated: “Marketing need not be just a veneer that beautifies the corporation, but can be a source of change in the corporation. It can be the creator of culture not just the presenter of it.”

He is already seeing signs that the angst of the past decade is “giving way to a new era that will belong to those companies that are confident about what they stand for – and that know how to communicate it.”

According to Young, “corporations must be grounded in a sense of what defines them, why they exist and what they stand for.” Today, that’s “the coin of the realm” for any successful business.

Young believes that the last decade promised a golden age through technology; however, that notion also weakened marketing as a discipline in many businesses. A plethora of new communication channels coincided with a lack of confidence in brands and branding. The glut of data often obscured the very reason why such information was considered useful. Traditional ad campaigns had become the equivalent of small interruptions with little impact and little meaning. Plus, the procurement function was taking a “nickel and dime” approach to creative excellence.

As a result, Young explains, “The agency’s role has become transformed.” It has become a content provider in which all the communication disciplines from copywriting, journalism, research, PR and design have all become mashed together.”

Miles Young, who started at Ogilvy in 1982, spent a good part of those years as Chairman of the Asia-Pacific region, which roughly doubled its revenue in the last five years of his leadership. Yet, it is not past accomplishment that motivates Young. “I’m as optimistic as we go into the new decade as David Ogilvy was in the 60s and 70s.”