So it’s the 21st century, and lots of brands want the public to know that they’re invested in the most powerful social movements of the day — be they environmental, ethical, or cultural. We also know that audience engagement is often the most important element of a successful social media-powered PR campaign. Social@Ogilvy recently conducted a study and published a white paper on the phenomenon, and we had a chance to talk to the firm’s “Global MD” John Bell about its conclusions.

What inspired you to conduct this study?

Our original motivation came from working with major brands on the idea of creating a movement around a major issue that both coincides with business goals and serves the larger social good. The Pepsi Refresh project, for example, not only benefited the company but also the communities that received funding. The “members project” from American Express was similar.

We’ve been designing big social programs for a while, but when considering the word “movement” we asked: how big is big — especially when the idea is centered around a brand?

What were the study’s parameters?

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Here’s a basic fact: Mexico is America’s number one tourist destination (and its formal name is The United Mexican States). At the same time, the country’s tourism board believes that many Americans don’t see the whole picture when it comes to our southern neighbor. In short, Mexico isn’t just about stereotypical Spring Break trips to Cancun and the requisite tanning sessions and tequila shots.

The country’s representatives want to change all that with an extensive rebranding campaign designed to focus on the more exclusive and luxurious elements of the Mexican tourism experience with the tagline “Mexico: the place you thought you knew.”

The campaign and tagline aren’t new, but we recently had the opportunity to speak to Gerado Llanes, CMO of the Mexico Tourism Board, about the latest elements of this countrywide shift in marketing and public relations strategies.

What is the primary goal of this campaign?

We want to convey the fact that Mexico is a lot more than beaches, margaritas and mariachis. Of course we are a spring break destination, but we want to more aggressively push the message about our luxury offerings.

For example: if you put all the hotels in North and South America together, you still wouldn’t have as many five-diamond locations as Mexico. We also have three of the world’s top 100 golf courses and the number one and two ranked spas in the world. Mexico also has many four-star restaurants that some people may not know about.

From business standpoint, we want to increase the average US spend in Mexico. We’re aiming for high-level consumers by saying “look and see what Mexico has to offer.”

How have you changed your marketing and PR strategies?

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Today in This Sounds Kind of Gross news: words on paper are somehow still around! This week sugary drinkmaker Fanta wants to turn its latest product launch campaign into something of a PR stunt with a new twist on that classic branding tool. The company and its agency, Dubai’s OgilvyOne, claim to have created the world’s first “tastable print ad” to promote its new “orange” flavor.

Intrigued? It’s a page that looks like this:

As you can see, the spot encourages dupes in the audience to “tear off a piece of this page, pop in your mouth & enjoy a Fanta”. What does it taste like? The team got a little creative with their copywriting, describing it as:

“…a burst of sunshine through a cool wisp of wind, it’s sweet and tangy, surprising and juicy. It tickles like a delicious secret that you cannot bear to share. And how lush it feels at every sip, like an instant whiff of a fresh bouquet of flowers in spring! With a quick sharp jolt of tart and a sudden burst of sugary-citrusy-sweetness, it leaves your tongue tingling pleasantly. Then, it curls deliciously around your taste buds, tantalizing your imagination & ripples happily down your spine.”

OK then! Here’s the video:

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Ogilvy Public Relations graciously opened its doors to the MediabistroTV crew, letting the team run wild through the red and white themed former chocolate factory that’s been renovated to house all of the Ogilvy properties.

Kimberly Ryan played host in showing off the clean open concept space where Ogilvy Public Relations staffers do their thing under the watchful thoughts of founder David Ogilvy who reminds everyone to “Tolerate Genius.”

For more mediabistroTV videos, check out our YouTube channel, and be sure to follow us on Twitter: @mediabistroTV

Capturing the Chinese market is every marketer’s dream. More than a billion potential customers in a newly open society that continues to grow more and more infatuated with brand-name goods? We can certainly see why everyone’s so interested.

So what are the world’s largest companies doing to familiarize the Chinese public with their products? Well, 2012 found them executing a lot of sly promotional campaigns via social media. Jeremy Webb (@thepekingorder), co-lead of Social@Ogilvy Beijing, recently provided us with his list of the year’s top 10 brand posts on Weibo, the Chinese micro-messaging equivalent of Twitter. It’s a fascinating list that shows us how PR/marketing practices in China are quite similar to those in the Western world.

In fact, we’d say that speedy, topical posts offering clever takes on the day’s “water cooler” topics are even more valuable in China than in the United States. Take, for example, the year’s most-shared post, which predictably concerned the Summer Olympics: It’s a Nike ad with a message about fairness, indirectly referring to the fact that many Chinese citizens believed the London judges to be biased against Chinese athletes.

Damage control is important in China, too:

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Ogilvy Public Relations named Ogilvy PR veteran Tara May general manager of the Denver office and appointed Kabira Hatland director of client service for OgilvyEarth, expanding its local team. May began working in Ogilvy PR’s Washington, D.C., office in 1992 as part of the Public Affairs practice and recently spent five years at Feinstein Kean Healthcare, an Ogilvy subsidiary, where she directed accounts for a range of health science organizations. Hatland joined the firm in 2011 and focuses on corporate and environmental communications. Prior to her time at Ogilvy PR, Hatland was a principal at Clarus Communications, working with clients in the consumer product and hospitality sectors. (Release)

RF|Binder announced that Linda Perry-Lube has joined the agency as chief digital officer. Perry-Lube, an experienced digital strategist who previously served as the first-ever chief digital officer for the American Museum of Natural History, will lead RF|Binder’s Digital Strategy Group. In addition to her work at the American Museum of Natural history, Perry-Lube also brings experience from Microsoft, Ford Motor Company and Online2000, a business consultancy practice she founded. (Release)

Plantronics, Inc. named Genevieve Haldeman vice president of global communications. Haldeman will be responsible for driving the communications strategy worldwide, guiding executive communication and setting the strategy for public/analyst relations and social media engagement. She will work closely with Plantronics leadership on new efforts to reach business and consumer audiences. Most recently, Haldeman was vice president of global communications at Webroot, a software company that provides Internet security solutions for consumers and small and medium businesses. (Release)

A recent story in The New York Times detailed the state of California’s efforts to lead the nation in implementing 2010’s Affordable Care Act (better known as “Obamacare”)—and helping citizens make the most of a changed health care system.

Tucked inside the article was a very interesting tidbit that has gained attention in the past few weeks: The state hired Ogilvy PR Worldwide to help promote the law through various channels including pop culture institutions like reality TV‘s “The Biggest Loser” and top scripted shows like “Modern Family.” But how will these efforts work? And how will the state gauge their success?

The Affordable Care Act presents a considerable PR challenge, because it remains controversial despite the fact that most of its key elements are extremely popular among Americans of all political stripes (oh, the horrible irony). The question: Can California’s pop-culture approach to selling the ACA succeed where the Obama administration’s own messaging efforts have failed to break through our nation’s partisan divide?

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Charlie Melcher has been upending traditions and expectations in the publishing industry for more than 25 years. He first broke onto the scene in a big way with Madonna’s notorious “SEX” book, and his company Melcher Media published a string of successful titles ranging from Eminem’s autobiography to Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” before Melcher was forced “out of [his] comfort zone” in 2009 by a market that continues to push the industry in a digital direction.

Melcher Media’s first significant digital project was creating an app tie-in to Gore’s most recent book, “Our Choice”. After the app ruled the iTunes store for a few weeks and received both a David Pogue write up in The New York Times and a design award from Apple, Melcher became more fully invested in the idea of “reinventing the book for the digital age” and turning traditional narratives into multi-media experiences.

Melcher has some big ideas about the future that extend well beyond the world of traditional publishing and into the basic practice of storytelling, or the human desire to share and re-share personal narratives that touch us, move us, and even infuriate us. This Friday, October 5th in New York’s Snug Harbor, Melcher Media will host a one-day summit titled “The Future of Storytelling” to begin the complex task of turning those ideas into reality—and you’re invited.

This won’t be your conventional media gathering;

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This week the people of Ogilvy PR’s Media Influence group did a bit of what they do best: hosting an informal get-together for representatives from some of New York media’s biggest brands and inviting your humble editor along for the ride!

The third quarterly MediaXchange event took place at the East Side’s Club A Steakhouse, a restaurant known for its prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, its low-light atmospherics, and the strategically placed mirrors that make its upstairs lounge area look even more spacious than it actually is.

The event included representatives from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, Fox News, Fast Company and more, and its main concerns were networking and discussing the shifting influence of “traditional” media on the national conversation.

Jennifer Risi, EVP of Ogilvy Media Influence and director of content creation, explained the purpose of the series: “Despite the emergence of social media, events such as the MediaXchange series are proving to be an invaluable forum for promoting the stories of our clients and establishing lasting connections with key influencers.  The informal setting fosters an ‘old school’ environment where we are able to promote, share and collaborate with some of the leading reporters and conference organizers in the industry today.”

There was indeed quite a bit of healthy fraternizing going on: Read more

In a surprise get, Ogilvy PR announced today that Susan Peters has joined the agency’s Chicago office as executive vice president of consumer marketing after a stint at Edelman.

Peters began her new role on Tuesday, September 4, reporting to executive vice president and consumer group director Liz Van Lenten. The part she plays in company operations will be twofold: She will provide counsel to existing clients while seeking “new business development opportunities.” She will also expand the “agency’s Midwest presence in the consumer space.”

Peters, of course, has a long history in the PR industry: Read more