• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, February 13, 2012

In response to social’s spreading influence, Ogilvy & Mather has realigned its related assets into a single practice. Social@Ogilvy aims to connect over 550 dedicated social media experts around the world -- and strengthen ties with another 4,000 digital experts.

What was once a specialty offering within Ogilvy Public Relations now spans all agency disciplines, including marketing, communications, CRM, sales and shopping insights.

In addition to social media marketing and communications, the practice now covers social shopping, social CRM, social care, social business solutions, listening and analytics and the agency’s standard measurement model “conversation impact.”  

“That [equals] access to social experts deep in every marketing and communications discipline,” said John Bell, Global Managing Director of Social@Ogilvy. 

Bell said the agency spent the past seven years defining and applying "best practice" use of social media to business. It wasn’t easy, he said, but it was necessary. “The real power of social media for business in 2012 and beyond lies in fully integrated solutions, not stand-alone social programs,” Bell notes.  

Headquartered in New York and led by Bell, the team also includes Tom DeLuca, COO, and a board of advisors, including Christopher Graves, CEO of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide; Gunther Schumacher, COO of OgilvyOne; Brandon Berger, Chief Digital Officer of Ogilvy & Mather and Steve Harding, CEO of OgilvyAction.  

Global clients like IBM, Nestlé, Unilever, UPS and Ford are currently scaling their use of social media and effectively “socializing their enterprise.” Bell, however, wouldn’t provide details regarding their specific strategies.

Speaking to social’s preeminence, Facebook is now perceived to be the “strongest” digital media brand among advertisers and agency executives, according to new findings from Advertiser Perceptions Inc.

“Social networks have cemented their place in advertising,” eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson said in a recent report. “More marketers than ever believe their brands should be engaging with consumers on social networks -- and advertising is an increasingly successful tool for doing so.”

Worldwide, eMarketer expects social network ad revenues to approach $10 billion in 2013.