Ogilvy UK Wins Large Consultancy of the Year and More at PR Week Awards

Ogilvy UK had a big night at the PR Week Awards. The business, led by MD Nicola Dodd, not only won Large Consultancy of the Year, the biggest award of the night, but four more awards for their Mayor of London and Relate Hornicultural Society campaigns. 

“Winning the PR Week Agency of the Year award, as well as winning awards for our Mayor of London and Relate work, is the ultimate accolade. Ogilvy has an amazing creative heritage and we’ve worked hard to build a new type of PR agency, packed with different voices, fresh talent and rising stars. We’ve co-created a culture to provide opportunities for people to do the best work of their lives and create ideas and impact that others can’t. Here’s to another exciting year ahead!” Nicola Dodd, MD.

PR Week said of the wins: “The agency adopted a new approach around the theme ‘Ideas Others Can’t’ to reflect its ability to tap into teams across the global Ogilvy network to create a proposition and offer other agencies simply can’t match”

The Mayor of London was a powerful campaign by Ogilvy UK and came after a year in which violence against women in London had been much debated following the murders of women including Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa. By graphically calling out misogyny, the campaign showed that men can play a role in stepping in against their friends. The film was accompanied by billboards, broadcast, social, sports partnerships and influencer engagement, using the hashtag #HaveAWord.

Following phase one of the campaign The London Mayor Sadiq Khan assigned £18m of additional funding on top of the £100m to improve support services for women and girls in a further boost to this campaign. McDonalds also signed up to partner. 85% of men who had heard of the campaign said they would now call out bad behaviour if they saw it.

The film was featured on the BBC, Sky, ITV, in The Times, Telegraph, Mail, Express, Standard, Glamour, Cosmo, GQ, was translated into french by Marie Claire, adopted by the United Nations reported on worldwide, and posted and shared positively on all social platforms generating 3.1b earned impressions.

In recent years Ogilvy UK and Relate have taken the world by storm and was highly awarded at the 2021 Cannes Lions Festival, DMA's, LIA's and beyond. Ogilvy UK latest campaign for leading relationships charity, Relate unveiled a gardening centre condom campaign that celebrated the nation’s two favourite passions, as PHE research reveals STIs among the over 65’s is at an all-time high. The campaign rolled out nationwide on digital OOH screens and in garden centres during National Gardening Week.  Relate and Ogilvy UK created a series of vegetable-themed condom packet designs, looking much like vegetable seeds, which were displayed in garden centres. With a nod to the most popular cheeky vegetable emojis, the range features aubergines, plums, courgettes, onions and avocados – forming a fully sustainable condom collection that could even be planted in a pot to biodegrade. The playful, vegan, tongue-in-cheek illustrated condoms were showcased at garden centres. By bringing the sexual health debate to an unexpected environment like a garden centre, the campaign helped break down taboos and get people talking about later life sex. The campaign launched nationwide across digital Out of Home screens in partnership with Clear Channel UK. The billboards feature close-up shots of suggestive vegetable seed packets under the banner of ‘The Hornicultural Society’. The campaign proved hugely popular and was featured on GMTV, Loose Women and ITV news and national press including The Sun, The Times and Hello! Magazine.

This win was attributed across the entire Ogilvy agency, including Nicola Dodd, Charlie Coney, Matt Buchanan, Toby Conlon, Jane Fearnley, Andrew Soar, Rahul Titus and all of their teams and to Jules Chalkley, Nicola Wood, Andy Forrest, Katharine Easteal and all the broader team for their innovation, creativity and collaboration. Their combined efforts made the wins possible.

PR Week awards showcase only the very best talent and most impactful work of the industry through their notoriously rigorous judging process.  

The awards Ogilvy UK won were:

• Best Use of Creativity for Relate, 'The Hornicultural Society'
• Best Use of Content for Mayor of London, 'Have A Word With Yourself, Then Your Mates'
• Best Not-For-Profit for Mayor of London, 'Have A Word With Yourself, Then Your Mates'
• Best Not-For-Profit (Highly Commended) for Relate, 'The Hornicultural Society'
• Large Consultancy of the Year