In the West, many of our favorite male celebs sport stubble. But in Taiwan, 73 percent of men think grooming is about cleanliness, so they shave away any shadow of facial hair.

OgilvyAction Taiwan needed to impress the importance of Philips Male Grooming kits, grooming technology that can do far more than strip the face of fuzz. So, they came up with a three-part system. When men entered specific salons in Taiwan to get their hair cut, they were given capes featuring an arm holding a Philips trimmer emblazoned on the front. Then, when it came time for a glass of water or tea, they were given Ogilvy’s specially developed “Low-tech Augmented Reality Mugs.” When each man lifted the mug to his lips, he saw himself reflected in the salon mirror sporting facial hair. Some mugs had mustaches, some goatees.

The third aspect of the promotion was a 50 percent-off gift certificate for Philips grooming products. “No apps, no downloads, no wireless 3-G networks involved.”

By going low-tech, hands-on, and piquing curiosity in an enabling environment (salon employees could encourage men to try something new), Ogilvy planted a strong seed of interest in these men’s minds. Thanks to Vincent at OgilvyAction Taiwan for dropping this on our Facebook wall. We’re looking forward to seeing what low-tech AR can accomplish next. Tattoo previews? Freckle promotions? Lipstick testing?

See image and credits after the jump.

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After spending six years at AMV BBDO in London, Adam Tucker is heading across the pond to join Ogilvy’s NY hub as president, a position that calls for him to partner with chief creative officer Calle Sjoenell. Tucker has spent the last four years as managing partner at AMV, where he oversaw client work for the likes of Johnson & Johnson, GE, Pepsico, Dulux, Arla Dairy and Birds Eye.

In a statment, Ogilvy North America chairman/CEO John Seifert says, ““In his leadership at AMV BBDO, Adam has earned the title of the most creatively awarded account man by championing partnerships across disciplines to help his clients win significant awards and deliver extraordinary results. Adam will fill an important leadership role in New York, as the leader and champion of our Advertising business. Adam has a superb track record of delivering strong strategic thinking and sparkling creative solutions across a wide range of clients.We’reexcited about the leadership and innovation he will bring to our business and clients.”

Prior to his gig at AMV BBDO, Tucker spent time at Fallon and helped build up the agency’s London office after spending six years at its Minnesota hub.

It looks like the folks at Ogilvy Amsterdam had some spare time on their hands, enough so to create this little ditty called “You Rule,” which sounds like some cheesy motivational mantra but is actually a little tool that lets you put your foot down on certain annoying Twitter habits.

So far, the minds at O&M Amsterdam have come up with six different types of behavior that, we agree, can be cringe-worthy including tweeting quotes, tweeting in the third-person, posting a million check-ins a day and revealing TMI on Twitter. While we’re not sure if people are really clamoring to have a You Rule URL in their Twitter bio, you nonetheless can drag the listed behaviors into a You Rule box and save it by signing in to the microblogging service. This service from Ogilvy Amsterdam would be probably of better use to us were we on Twitter all day, but we certainly know people who are, so feel free to go to the site and see if you feel like playing Twitter king.

Nearly five years to the day that it was announced he was joining Ogilvy’s New York HQ from AKQA, we’ve received word that Adam Lau, group creative director/copywriter on the IBM account, is leaving the agency. We haven’t been told why or when Lau is exactly leaving or where he’s headed to next, but during his 20-year ad career, he’s served as a CW at Saatchi & Saatchi, had a five-year stint at McCann Erickson as GCD and worked as a CD/copywriter at the aforementioned AKQA for same amount of time. Some of Lau’s more notable projects in the past few years include the Sprite Lebron 23:23 mix contest while at AKQA and the “color sensitive” billboard for IBM.

Just a week after we reported about some buzz that Matt Bonin was leaving the West Coast and TBWA\Chiat\Day LA for a job on the East with Ogilvy, the latter agency has confirmed his move. O&M has officially announced that Bonin is joining the New York office in the newly created role of chief production officer.

In a statement, Ogilvy North America CCO Steve Simpson says, “Matt has done in practice—and to wonderful effect—what many agencies are still attempting notionally. He knows how to pull all the levers of production, at all the right times, in the service of the idea. Matt’s arrival accelerates the work we have done at Ogilvy in working in a more fully, deeply integrated way and—beyond process–he will be central to our efforts to develop new kinds of content.”

We’ve been through Bonin’s resume before, but in case you need a refresher, he spent around five years at CP+B, working on integrated production models for BK, VW and Microsoft. Following his stay in Boulder, Bonin moved on to Trailer Park, Tool and finally Chiat LA before heading out to our neck of the woods.

O&M tells us that he will start at the end of the month.

Yes folks, the Matt Bonin agency tour continues. After barely a year spent at TBWA\Chiat\Day LA as executive director of integration, word on the street is that the CP+B alum is making a move to the East Coast and taking a gig at Ogilvy. After spending the last few years in the West Coast with the likes of Tool, Goodness Mfg. and more, we figure that Bonin is savoring some winter flavor, though at this point, we don’t know why. No word on start date or title just yet, but stay tuned.

A source familiar with the matter sent us a memo from Dimitri Maex and Harvey Kipnis, managing director of OgilvyOne NY managing director and MD of OgilvyOne North America, respectively, that confirms CCO Mat Zucker has left the agency. Read below.

“Nearly three-years ago Mat Zucker returned to OgilvyOne to embark on a journey with us to grow our creative portfolio in new directions.

He took us to Cannes with the Search for the World’s Greatest Salesman. He brought a fresh new meaning to David Ogilvy’s “We Sell, or Else” credo. He helped us win new business and became a sought-after creative jury member.

Mat has informed us that he is now ready to begin a new journey – and will be leaving Ogilvy. We will miss him. He was a terrific creative partner and mentor to many.

Please join us in wishing him all the best in his new venture.

Dimitri and Harvey”

No word on where Zucker is headed to, but from what his LinkedIn tells us, he’s also serving as a correspondent at The Faster Times. Ogilvy had to no look further than from within, as the departing exec’s duties will be absorbed by Shackleton alum Alfonso Marian, who initially partnered with Zucker as co-CCO at OgilvyOne last summer. Prior to his second tour of duty at Ogilvy, Zucker held senior creative roles at the likes of Agency.com and R/GA.

While the interminable wait for the winner of the McCann push-pin contest continues, we might as well bring you this somewhat related clip that features several folks from Ogilvy’s Chicago office paying homage to their agency’s co-founder via, you guessed it, push-pins. According to the YouTube page, the David Ogilvy mural was concepted by art director Brian Thibodeau and copywriter Bill Wanek and took over 33,000 push-pins in five specific colors to be fleshed out. The end result is a rather sharp, touching tribute, we say.

Sources familiar with the matter confirm that Ogilvy let go of some staff today in the New York and LA offices. From what we’ve been told, the cuts, which were made across departments, affect “less than three percent” of staff in said locations. The primary reasons, according to our sources, is that clients are “being very cautious” about spending in 2012 and relationships are changing from retainer to project-based. In addition, we hear O&M is “remixing” its talent to accommodate needs. Take that as you will.

Ogilvy has a new worldwide chief marketing officer in Lauren Crampsie, who has spent the last 18 months as CMO of the agency’s North American operations. Crampsie replaces Eleanor Mascheroni, an 11-year O&M vet who has left to join a company in Detroit (we’re checking to see which one). Crampsie, meanwhile, has been with Ogilvy for eight years, eventually moving up the ladder to new business director in 2008 before assuming her post as NA CMO in 2010.

Ogilvy’s worldwide CEO Miles Young says in a statement, “Lauren is someone with phenomenal energy and great skills.  She’ll be a tremendous spokesperson for the vigor of our brand in the new landscape of communications.”