Tim Ho » Ogilvy

The DI Tweetup 2010

Tim Ho — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 08:51:08 +0000

Why Tweetup?

Some of you might have seen tweets about the Ogilvy’s APAC Digital Influence Summit lately. Ogilvy’s DI Summit is an internal event held by the Asia Pacific Regional team where all the digital experts from around the region will be attending a 3-day event in Hong Kong to exchange digital knowledge, connect and bond with other team

Although the event is not open for public, we would like to offer you a chance to meet our team, head of the global digital influence team John Bell will also be flying all the way from Washington DC! It is a very rare opportunity for you to meet all of us at once, in the offline world!

When?

Tweetup will be held this Sunday, June 27th at 7pm. Not the perfect timing for tweetup but due to the World Cup schedule, this is the only time when venues are available.

Where?

Tweetup will be held in RED Soho as usual.

How to sign up?

Here

See you there!

What I learned from the University Students

Tim Ho — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 08:53:41 +0000

University is always a fun place to be, I went to Hong Kong Polytechnic University to give a presentation on how Social Media is changing the advertising industry last Friday.

As I told the students, I was THE bad boy when I was in University. Never liked to be in class, drank at the bar during “5-minute breaks”, and of course, never paid attention to guest speakers. These students are very different, I was very surprised how fun, active and curious they were about social media and I really enjoyed the discussion with them. Below is what I learned through our discussions.

Is Advertising Dying?

Since they are advertising students, concerns came up during my presentation around the topic on whether the knowledge they are getting now will still be relevant when they graduate. I think traditional advertising agency model is dead, but advertising is not dying, it’s just changing and companies/ agencies are now forced to integrate everything to come up as a strategy to adapt to the new media landscape. Advertising students have to understand how the media is changing and how this “one big idea beats all” theory doesn’t exist anymore.

Learning VS thinking

I think education is only like a tool to get people start thinking, not necessarily about what it will teach. Although education systems from some countries were poorly designed that kill students’ creativity, education wasn’t meant to make people think in a certain way. The key is really to learn how to develop an interest over certain things, then learning will come easy.

What do the Pros think:

When preparing for this presentation, I asked a few experts on digital media and advertising about “How new media is changing the advertising industry” and these are their responses.

Thomas Crampton (APAC Director of Digital Influencer at Ogilvy PR):

“Formerly, companies bought media. Now they are media.”

Matthew Leem (Regional Account Director at Ogilvy & Mather):

“It’s killing advertising (agencies)”

Paul Lam (Account Executive at Ogilvy & Mather):

“Social media is changing advertising because it is directly reinforcing the emotional connection between the consumer and the product.

In the past, traditional advertising would simply sell a product to a consumer. But now the consumer has a direct input in what they experience with the “idea” of the product, which can be shared to anyone openly. It has become more than just some tangible product… Social media has created a direct relationship, where the consumer can express what they feel. This movement has made brands more honest and grounded.

No more glitz and glamour, but simple truths”

Nic Tinworth (Digital Director at Fluid Design + Marketing):

“A common challenge for both advertisers and marketers alike has always been identifying and connecting with the right target audience. Recent trends in Social Media use have caused an unparalleled business paradigm shift, and recent studies have pointed to as much as 80% of ‘decision makers’ finding their own vendors, rather than the other way round. Social Media use is now so mainstream, that if as an agency you aren’t using and engaging with it yourself, you’re not just missing opportunities for your clients, you are also wasting opportunities for new business. To put it into layman’s terms, agencies now have to ‘walk the walk’ and not just ‘talk the talk’.”

Poly U Students:

Thanks for the fun times, I really enjoyed it and it made me miss uni so much! Please free feel to contact me if you need help on your projects, or maybe a beer or six between and after classes.

You can download the pictures with this link.

Goodluck to you all!

Ogilvy PR ranked top on Media PR Report Card 2009

Tim Ho — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:40:52 +0000

The annual Public Relations report card by Media magazine was out yesterday. Ogilvy Public Relations ranked 9 (10 highest) with an “Outstanding”. The team that I’m in, 360 Digital Influence, which is under Ogilvy Public Relations practice is also highlighted on the report.

It looked outside the PR world to hire former journalist and blogger Thomas Crampton to head up social media as director of 360 digital influence.

The digital shift may bring PR into competition, both for clients and tal- ent, with agencies from other areas. The digital sphere promises to be- come very crowded, as Thomas Crampton,OgilvyPR’sdirectorof360 digital influence notes: “Competition in most markets still comes from small start-up agencies run by three guys who wear black turtlenecks and know how to create Facebook fan pages.”

Download the Full Report here.

We are on Wall Street Journal Today!

Tim Ho — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:22:42 +0000

Our full page colour ad is on page 30 of Wall Street Journal Asia today! My teammates and I are very excited about it. We are hosting the third webinar in our “Executive Guide to Social Media” series.
We will have John Bell, Global Managing Director for Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence and Jamie Moeller to talk about Social Media for Crisis Management.

Registration is now open to the public! Please join us next Wednesday (December 2) at 11am Hong Kong time.

Overview of this Webinar:
The best time to respond to a crisis is before it happens. That is a communications fundamental. Now in age of Twitter, mobile phones, blogs and Facebook, the speed and style of our response has changed dramatically.

Brands that are used to tightly controlled messages are thrust into the back and forth of social media. Detractors are savvy with the ways of YouTube and inciting crowds. Customers and stakeholders often demand that their brands be more transparent and engaging than ever before.

This webinar will include concrete examples and action plans answering numerous questions, including:

How can you prepare for a crisis today?
How do you rally your Marketing and Communications team to use all of the resources of the social Web and effectively manage a crisis?
How should you assemble a plan?
What NOT to do in a crisis

We will also answer questions on Twitter during the webinar, so get your crisis questions ready!
Register now!

“Passion” will beat Education in the future job market

Tim Ho — Sat, 23 May 2009 02:46:52 +0000

Since we were young, most of us have been told that education/ knowledge was everything. Although many people still think that education is the key to success, I do think there’s something which is way more important than education, and it is passion.

I will show you why I think employers in the future will focus on job seekers’ enthusiasm rather than their education background.

Upcoming trends

As shown in the graph above, many marketing positions from the past were preferred to be filled by people with better education background. HR managers cared about the University Degree and the school results more than anything, and passion was just a plus.

As more and more positions require creativity and “love”, as well as overtime work at the office, employers seem to weight Passion slightly heavier than Education history these days.

When the percentage of University Grads continue to increase, while social media platforms keep on developing into a common lifestyle, employers will try to measure candidates’ Passion rather than just looking at the piece of framed paper from a University.

Why Passion wins?

Passion is everything, and knowledge comes after. When you are passionate about something, you basically live with it. Everything you see, hear, or think can relate to what you love. For example, a graphic design lover and a social media addict would have different approach to the same thing. This style of learning is way more powerful than how people learn from school.

My own experience at Ogilvy

During this Internship at Ogilvy PR Hong Kong this summer, I have been working closely with Thomas Crampton (@thomascrampton) ; Asia Pacific Director Digital Influence Ogilvy. From my observations, he cares about “what people love” more than “what people know”. Which makes perfect sense because it’s easier to collaborate with people who have the same passion and goals.

Mr Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs dropped out from school, lost power in Apple during 80′s. If he wasn’t passionate about what he did, it would be impossible for him to have his current success. He is a revolutionary person, and he wouldn’t be able to make it with only a brain full of knowledge, but also creativity which only comes with passion.