Ogilvy

Background

Ogilvy is a PR and advertising firm that was founded in 1948 by David Ogilvy. It now has 131 offices and works in 93 countries.¹Previously known as Ogilvy & Mather, it has had decades-long relationships with oil and chemical companies, including Shell, Chevron, the American Petroleum Institute, and the American Chemistry Council. Ogilvy and its lobbying shop, Ogilvy Government Relations, are subsidiaries of WPP, a UK-based holding company.² It was purchased by WPP in 1989 for $864 million, the most expensive acquisition of an advertising company at that time.³

In 2022, WPP reported that it earned £11.799 billion after pass-through advertising costs were removed.⁴ The WPP Group does not publish revenue for individual subsidiaries.

“Beyond Petroleum” Campaign for BP

In 2000, Ogilvy created the Beyond Petroleum rebrand for British Petroleum.⁵ The Beyond Petroleum campaign cost $200 million and featured print, television, and billboard ads, as well as partnerships with groups like New York’s Urban Park Rangers.⁶

In a case study of Beyond Petroleum posted on its website, Ogilvy wrote about its pitch to British Petroleum, which had just merged with Amoco and acquired ARCO. “Our recommendation was to position BP as a new type of global energy company — one that confronts difficult issues like the conflict between energy and environmental needs and takes action beyond what is expected,” Ogilvy reported in the case study.⁷

Building “Emotional Affinity” Between Consumers and BP

According to John Seifert, the Ogilvy chairman of global brand community, WPP’s research firm BrandZ had conducted a study about how the public chooses which gas product to buy ahead of the Beyond Petroleum campaign.⁸ The study found that consumers had much less brand affinity to motor fuels. Seifert told Ad Week that the Ogilvy team took that insight to position the BP brand with “real equity and emotional affinity beyond the products and services themselves.”⁹

Concerns Over “Beyond Petroleum” Slogan

Environmentalists attacked BP for expressing interest in drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge while the Beyond Petroleum ad campaign rolled out in the fall of 2000.¹⁰ When Ogilvy was working on the second phase of the campaign, concerns over whether the oil company should continue using the “Beyond Petroleum” slogan were so great that it was delayed for about a year, according to a New York Times interview with an ad team staff member.¹¹ One Ogilvy staffer recalled that BP was so concerned about public backlash to exaggerated claims of clean energy investment that it requested that the ad copy team edit ads that addressed BP’s alternate energy development. Eventually, the Ogilvy team and BP agreed to the tagline “it’s a start” to address BP’s environmental efforts.¹²

The second phase of the campaign involved billboards in New York City which read “SOLAR, NATURAL GAS, WIND, HYDROGEN. AND OH YES, OIL,” along with “It’s a Start” and “Beyond Petroleum.”¹³

BP on the Street¹⁴

From 2002 to 2003, Ogilvy ran print and TV ads for the Beyond Petroleum campaign in New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., that targeted policymakers and influential investors.¹⁵ Ogilvy offices around and outside of the United States worked on this part of the Beyond Petroleum campaign, which was known as “BP on the Street,” especially after it expanded to a national campaign in 2004.¹⁶ The “BP on the Street” ads were still running in 2006.¹⁷

The ads grappled with BP’s impact on the climate through interviews with people on the street in various parts of the country.¹⁸ In one ad, Ogilvy staffers asked a woman if she would rather have her car or a cleaner environment, to which she responds it would be difficult to give up her car, but that “compromise” between her car and the environment is hard to make. Ogilvy copywriters then wrote “We voluntarily introduced cleaner fuels, six years before EPA mandates. These low-sulfur fuels reduce ozone pollution and are available in 40 U.S. cities. It’s a start.”¹⁹

Carbon Footprint

In 2004, Ogilvy created the concept of the “carbon footprint” for the Beyond Petroleum campaign, which told consumers that they generated carbon emissions through their everyday activities.²⁰Banner ads on websites directed people to BP’s website, where they could calculate the size of their carbon footprint.²¹ BP reported that in 2004, 278,000 people calculated their carbon footprint using the tool on its website.²²

Ogilvy won PRWeek’s “Campaign of the Year” for Beyond Petroleum in 2001.²³ Ogilvy won a 2007 Gold “Sustained Success” Effie award for the Beyond Petroleum campaign.²⁴

Stance on Climate Change

Ogilvy’s parent company, WPP, describes its climate change commitments on its website as follows:

“We support urgent action to tackle the climate crisis through the Paris Climate Agreement and have been working to cut our carbon footprint since 2006.”²⁵

On August 30, 2022, members of Glimpse, an organization of advertising industry professionals, protested outside of Ogilvy’s offices over the firm’s work on behalf of BP.²⁶ Protesters handed out pamphlets with satirical tips for how Ogilvy’s staff could undermine the company’s work for fossil fuel clients. Ogilvy declined to comment to PR trade magazine Campaign regarding the protest.

In September 2022, activists with Brandalism, a European group protesting fossil fuel advertising, put up advertisements around Europe that criticized Ogilvy for the climate impact of its work for British Airways.²⁷One ad read “High carbon ads by Ogilvy” and “British Airways: No Clean Way to Fly.”

Key People

David Fowler

Fowler was Ogilvy’s creative director from 2000 to 2020, and was the global creative director for BP’s “Beyond Petroleum” campaign.²⁸ According to his website, he also led the “Essential” campaign for the American Chemistry Council.²⁹

Martin Torres

Torres was a copywriter for “BP on the Street.” After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, he wrote about his disillusionment with his work for the Beyond Petroleum campaign.³⁰

John Kenney

While working at Ogilvy, Kenney helped create the “BP on the Street” campaign. In 2006, he wrote an op-ed in The New York Times criticizing BP for failing to embrace the clean energy future he had written about in ads.³¹

Gosia Plewako

Plewako worked at Ogilvy for more than 15 years before leaving in 2019. While at Ogilvy, she worked on the Beyond Petroleum campaign, and asked to be removed from the BP account after Deepwater Horizon.³²

Kevin Slagle

From 2012 until 2017, Slagle served as the senior vice president of Ogilvy’s corporate communications practice.³³ In 2017, he became the vice president of strategic communications at the Western States Petroleum Association.³⁴

Clients

Leadership

Actions

2022

Ogilvy Government Relations lobbied against the Big Oil Windfall Tax Act on behalf of API.³⁵

2021

Ogilvy Government Relations lobbied the House and Senate against methane fees on behalf of API.³⁶

2019

In 2019, WPP subsidiaries Ogilvy, Purple Strategies, and Mindshare Media created BP’s largest global campaign since the Deepwater Horizon crisis, Possibilities Everywhere. The multimedia campaign included TV, billboard, social media, and newspaper ads, which were featured in The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal.³⁷

The ads focused on BP’s investment in renewable energy, even as 96 percent of its annual spending went towards fossil fuels.³⁸ One ad created by Ogilvy and Mindshare states, “By producing cleaner-burning natural gases, solar and wind power and faster charging for electric vehicles, BP says that there are possibilities everywhere for continued advancement.”³⁹

Another ad, which ran on Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter, focuses on BP’s partnership with Fulcrum BioEnergy, which claims to turn garbage into jet fuel.⁴⁰ The campaign targeted politicians and other influential audiences with large billboards in the Dulles airport and ads in POLITICO EU, in which BP urged readers to learn more about “travelling more sustainably.”⁴¹

In December 2019, the environmental law firm Client Earth filed a legal complaint against BP in the UK requesting the Possibilities Everywhere campaign be taken down.⁴² ClientEarth filed the complaint with the UK contact point for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), alleging that Possibilities Everywhere violated OECD guidelines for communication between multinational enterprises and the public because it mislead consumers “given its focus on clean energy investments, when in reality more than 96% of BP’s annual spend is still on oil and gas.”⁴³ Client Earth hired PR firm Huddle Creative to recreate Possibilities Everywhere ads with large disclaimers saying that fossil fuels cause climate change.⁴⁴ In February 2020, BP stopped the Possibilities Everywhere campaign as part of its effort to stop “corporate reputation advertising.”⁴⁵

2014

Ogilvy Government Relations lobbied for the Keystone XL pipeline on behalf of API.⁴⁶

2013

Ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Warsaw, the UN contracted Ogilvy to work on the Momentum of Change campaign promoting international action on climate change. Sustainability experts were brought in from OgilvyEarth to help with the campaign’s messaging, according to PR trade magazine The Holmes Report.⁴⁷

2011

After BP pulled its advertisements in the wake of its Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2010, Ogilvy managed BP’s return to global advertising with its 2012 London Olympics sponsorship.⁴⁸ In 2011, Ogilvy began rolling out the TV, print, digital, and billboard ads for the campaign, which featured the slogan “Fuelling the Future.”⁴⁹ When Ogilvy announced the campaign, it said that BP would offset the emissions of the official Olympics vehicle fleet and that BP was “seeking to offset the emissions of all spectators travelling to the Games.”⁵⁰ (BP advertised that travelers to the 2012 Olympics could register their “carbon footprint” into BP’s Target Neutral carbon offset program, using the catchphrase from Ogilvy’s Beyond Petroleum campaign.)⁵¹

Ads featured Olympic athletes running through fields of crops with the text “Providing advanced biofuels for London 2012.” One print ad featuring Paralympic athlete Stef Reid read “We’re supporting athletes like Stef Reid and also working to provide some of the official vehicles with advanced, lower carbon fuels made from energy grasses.”⁵²

A 2012 survey of UK adults found that 38 percent of people aware that BP was sponsoring the Olympics believed the oil company was working towards a cleaner planet.⁵³ Ogilvy paired BP’s London Olympics sponsorship with its sponsorship of cultural events in London, including the 2012 Cultural Olympiad and the 2012 London Festival.⁵⁴

2010

In the immediate aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, Ogilvy managed BP’s social media response and the Deepwater Response website.⁵⁵ In the three months after Deepwater Horizon, BP spent $93 million on advertising, compared to $30 million over the same period in 2009.⁵⁶

In 2011, Ogilvy worked with Purple Strategies, another WPP subsidiary, to create digital ads touting BP’s success in cleaning up the oil spill while Ogilvy’s PR arm created a social media campaign to message that BP was responding responsibly to the spill.⁵⁷

2009

The United Nations Conference on Climate Change contracted with Ogilvy before the UN’s Copenhagen Summit to create public support for a climate change agreement. Ogilvy created the Hopenhagen campaign, which was implemented with help from PR firms Ketchum and Hill & Knowlton.⁵⁸

Ogilvy Government Relations Dominates Climate Lobbying

A 2009 analysis by the Center for Public Integrity found that Ogilvy’s lobbying shop was second only to Alpine Group in the amount of powerful business interests it represented in the fight over cap and trade legislation.⁵⁹ Ogilvy Government Relations was lobbying on behalf of the American Petroleum Institute, the American Chemistry Council, Chevron, Reliant Energy, Monsanto, and the National Milk Producers Federation regarding the American Clean Energy and Security Act.⁶⁰

2008

Ogilvy created Ogilvy Earth, a branch of its public relations and advertising practice which it described as a “holistic sustainability communications practice.”⁶¹ When Ogilvy Earth first launched, its website described its mission as “to shrink business’ footprint on the planet while growing its profitability.”⁶² On its website in 2011, it included “From Greenwash to Great,” a marketing guide created by Freya Williams, who co-founded Ogilvy Earth.⁶³ At Ogilvy Earth, Williams led the strategy for the U.N.’s “Hopenhagen” campaign ahead of COP15, according to her LinkedIn.⁶⁴

2005

Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide acquired the Federalist Group, a lobbying firm known for its Republican contacts. Later, the firm was renamed Ogilvy Government Relations.⁶⁵

2004

Ogilvy created the concept of the “carbon footprint” for the Beyond Petroleum campaign, which told consumers that they generated carbon emissions through their everyday activities.⁶⁶

2003

In April 2003, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) hired Ogilvy to create a public relations and advertising campaign that would increase public and political support for the chemical and plastic industries.⁶⁷

According to an ACC internal business strategy document obtained by Adweek, the trade association believed a public relations campaign could increase industry profits, reduce jury awards in litigation against the industry, and reduce federal regulations.⁶⁸

Under John Seifort’s leadership, Ogilvy presented the ACC with Essential, a multimedia campaign targeting policymakers, industry employees, and the American public, that portrayed chemicals as essential to various aspects of American life. One print ad sought to assuage public concerns about the pollution created by the chemicals industry, reading “essential 2 clean air: American Chemistry is doing our part to help protect the environment by reducing emissions.”⁶⁹

When Ogilvy won the American Chemistry Council account, PR trade publications valued the combined PR and advertising account at $50 million.⁷⁰ In 2004, The Washington Post reported that the essential2 advertising campaign cost $15 million that year and was projected to cost $20 million in 2005.⁷¹

2000

In 2000, Ogilvy created the Beyond Petroleum rebrand for British Petroleum.⁷² The Beyond Petroleum campaign initially cost $200 million and featured print, television, and billboard ads.

1999

Ogilvy was Shell North America’s PR agency from 1960 through 1999,⁷³ creating campaigns such as 1998’s “Count on Shell” and the decades long “Shell Answer Man.”⁷⁴ When Ogilvy resigned the Shell account in 1999, its 60-person Houston office closed because most of the team was dedicated to the Shell account.

A few days after resigning the Shell account, Ogilvy announced it would handle the worldwide advertising for BP.⁷⁵ The contract was estimated to be worth $200 million by Marketing Week, a British PR trade magazine.⁷⁶

1997

Ogilvy managed Shell’s $30 million “Moving at the Speed of Life” campaign.⁷⁷

1993

Ogilvy’s contract with Shell was estimated to be worth $5-10 million in a New York Times article.⁷⁸

WPP – Parent Company

Contact & Address

New York office:
200 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10010
USA

+1 212 237 4000

Ogilvy Government Relations
1111 19th St NW Suite 1100
Washington, D.C. 20036
USA

+1 202-729-4200