INNOVATING AT SCALE
HOW TO DELIVER INNOVATION WITHIN A LARGE ORGANISATION...
SEMESTERS OF LEARNING
The Ogilvy Digital Innovation Lab was set up and founded in 2006.
Over time we developed a way to deliver innovation within a large organization.
There were a number of aspects to this -
A supportive leadership team that understood how the innovation of this nature would drive value for the business and the clients.
A determination to overcome the concerns of those who initially didn’t get it.
A way to bring in alchemy - create something from nothing.
The removal of ‘no’ from our vocabulary.
A clear brief to ‘bring Ogilvy into the 21st Century
A tribe of ‘intrapreneurs’ given the space to be curious and rewarded by making amazing work.
Make creativity and innovation standard practice now.
SEMESTERS OF LEARNING
We realised that only focusing and having patience was the only route. We decided to deliver a repeated ‘theme-based’ solution over time. We proved that that was how value would gradually stick and become a focal point for creativity. It worked.
Twice a year there would be a chosen topic/theme around which we would build a ‘semesters of learning’
The Ogilvy Labs in London operated as a self-funded R&D facility that acts as a change agent within Ogilvy Group UK - to ensure Ogilvy is innovating both inside the agency and for our clients.
The Old Ogilvy Labs vision is threefold:
To seek out and engage partners who would help the agency and its clients achieve their business and marketing goals.
To develop, nurture and support new business ventures.
To provide experiences that would inspire through pervasive creativity - such as our Bi-Annual Semesters of Learning.
SEEING RESULTS
The following videos and images explain it all.
These are just some of the outcomes that came out of those Semesters of Learning. And, given the year when this all started we were way ahead of our time. But that’s the basic principle of any R&D department.
The theme was often the ‘future of’ something. Storytelling, Retail, Travel & Tourism, Internet Of Things, Behavioural Economics, 3D Printing, Big Data and AR/VR for example - and many more below.
You will see below the videos of the work that specifically came out of those semesters.
To the disgust of many in the client community and the Industry at large Ogilvy leadership decided to move away from thinking about the future and bringing innovation to the workforce.
In September 2016 the labs were closed down. This was after almost 17 years of inspiration and education. The NYC was born to bring all this value to the clients despite the Ad Industry.
ALL THE LAB VIDEOS:
“CLIENT SPECIFIC ‘LAB’ DAYS FOR OUR GSK CLIENT - 2009 The Digital GSK Souk”
“FUTURE OF STORYTELLING SEMESTER 2012”
Storytelling was the topic of Ogilvy & Mather UK's 10th Digital Lab day. The Storytelling semester ended with a Lab day after 6 months at Ravensbourne. What came out of that Semester was multi award winning work for our Client ‘Beyond Dark’
“FUTURE RETAIL SEMESTER 2015”
The second half of 2015 saw the Future Retail semester of learning for Ogilvy Labs. This culminated in the Retail Lab Day in partnership with Unbound festival
FUTURE RETAIL OBJECTIVES: -Develop a creative idea that positions our Client ‘Triumph Essence’ as a premium brand -Deliver a unique launch experience that would excite the trade - multi award winning work for Ogilvy Action
INSPIRING FUTURE CREATIVITY THROUGHOUT THE ORGANISATION - 2,000 PEOPLE IN THE UK OFFICE.
“What a fantastic partnership it has been for the Digital Labs and although a life-drawing class it was not about the drawing, but about attitude, venturing out of your comfort zone, and viewing the world in a different way. Most importantly it brought to life one of the Digi-Labs’ key messages of delivering a new perspective on old ways of doing things…In three short weeks, 55 people attended Martin’s class and left hugely inspired.’’
“I asked Paul (Smith) and Nicole (Yershon) to look for the best life drawing teacher in the world. They found you (MAMO). Not only do I agree with them, but it was also an inspired choice.”
“(MAMO’s Class) helped us re-learn how to draw, you freed us to make marks, you gave us permission to play, to muck about, to get dirty, and you shed the shackles from our eyes when it came to the human form.”
– THAM KHAI MENG – Worldwide Creative Director & Chairman WW Creative Council Ogilvy & Mather
“I turned up at Martin’s (MAMO) course slightly reluctantly, convinced my strengths were verbal not visual. The effects were revelatory. The use of charcoal and the emphasis on speed and instinct over fastidious technique led to results that…at best made me proud of something I had drawn for the first time since the age of five. I never knew I had it in me.”
– RORY SUTHERLAND – Executive Creative Director and Vice-Chairman, Ogilvy One London and Vice Chairman, Ogilvy Group UK
“Mind expanding as a drug and like a drug should be used carefully because it’s addictive.”
“It (MAMO) took people who couldn’t draw and for a brief moment turned them into artists. I want everyone to learn to look and learn to see, I want the world to go to (MAMO’s) Life Class.”
– PAUL SMITH – Ogilvy & Mather EAME, London. Regional Creative Director EAME Digital
“(MAMO’s Class) was an eye opener as it takes away the fear of failure, self-consciousness and allows you the child-like innocence which is the epicenter of all creativity.”
– PIYUSH PANDEY – Ogilvy & Mather India Board, Mumbai. Executive Chairman & Creative Director, South Asia.
“MAMO leads rapid-fire life drawing workshops for artists and non-artists alike–one of the most freeing experiences I have had in a professional setting. If creativity matters to you, the workshop is a great way to tune up your perceptual and visual skills–while having fun!”
– CARLA HENDRA – Global Chairman OgilvyRED Ogilvy & Mather – Sao Paulo WWB Workshop
FUTURE MOBILE SEMESTER 2009
Short film about Ogilvy Advertising London's award-winning Fanta Stealth Sound System mobile ad
The work that came out of our Future Mobile semester of learning for our IBM and Fanta clients - multi award-winning.
FUTURE AUGMENTED REALITY SEMESTER 2009
The work that came out of our Future Augmented Reality Semester of Learning for our Client Wetherspoon, multi award-winning
Multi Award Winning work came from the Mobile, Data and Augmented Reality Semester of learning for our IBM client with work for Wimbledon. ECD: Colin Nimick. Creative directors: Emma De La Fosse / Charlie Wilson
I worked as part of a team coming up with ideas for the 2010 update of the Wimbledon / IBM seer app. Live data updates people at the Wimbledon championships with information such as, scores, café queue sizes and transport. My creative partner and I created the much talked about ‘see through walls’ aspect of the app.
You could hold your mobile up outside of a court and watch the live action that was going on inside. This gained press in places such as The Daily Telegraph, Fast Company and Gizmodo - as well as being the featured on the BBC news and BBC Click. Became the most downloaded sports app during the championships.
FUTURE DATA VISUALISATION SEMESTER 2011
The work that came out of our Future Data Visualisation Semester of Learning for our Client Freggo Ice Cream, multi-award-winning
FUTURE TALENT SEMESTER (DIVERSITY & INCLUSION) 2006 - THE ROUGH DIAMOND SCHEME
A film created by Ogilvy Labs interns from Ravensbourne as part of the Rough Diamond programme. The award winning creation between a University and a Corporate for Future Diverse Talent.
A week long work project hosted by Chelsea UAL in which 35 young people from around London are given the unique opportunity to respond to a live brief
FUTURE BRANDED UTILITY SEMESTER 2010
FUTURE GAMING SEMESTER 2009
The work that came out of our Future Gaming Semester of Learning for our Client BP, multi-award-winning
FUTURE VIRTUAL WORLDS SEMESTER 2007 (In 2023, some people may call this The MetaVerse)
The work that came out of our Future Gaming Semester of Learning for our Client Adventure Ecology, to raise awareness to climate change, multi-award-winning.
FUTURE OUT OF HOME POSTERS SEMESTER 2008
The work from our Future Out of Home Semester was for our Ford Client - Ford Freezes London - Senate House was the location chosen for the first multi-sensory interactive projection experience - using for the first time 3d Mapping Projections for the first time in London.
Work was also produced within this Semester for BP Castrol that was award-winning
FUTURE BIG DATA SEMESTER 2008
Ogilvy Advertising has created a new electronic billboard for Castrol, which shows drivers which sort of oil they should be using in their car.
Cameras placed near to the billboard read the car's number plate and then link to DVLA data, to work out which Castrol oil is best to use.
Castrol uses cameras and digital billboards to talk directly to motorists
LONDON - Castrol is combining speed camera technology with digital roadside billboards to tell around 200,000 drivers what the best oil for their vehicle is in a new ad campaign.
THE 2ND FUTURE BIG DATA SEMESTER 2013
Multi Award winning work with IBM each year at Wimbledon for the Creative Work with Big Data and also with 3D Printing.
“FUTURE ‘GIVING BACK’ PURPOSE SEMESTER
Founder of Team Awesome and 3D Print Show Kerry Hogarth shares her very own experience of Idea Shop. Check out the day she met the Ogilvy team
FUTURE SOCIAL MEDIA SEMESTER 2008
FUTURE MUSIC SEMESTER 2012
OGILVY LONDON HOSTS FIRST LAB DAY LIVE FOR ADVERTISERS AND THE MUSIC INDUSTRY
Ogilvy Group UK is set to host “Lab Day LIVE,” a unique event that will combine a conference, entitled “Making music matter as much to brands as it does to consumers” with a three-stage, live music festival.
This is a benchmark event for Ogilvy in that it will be the first London agency to provide a forum that will engage both the advertising and music communities. This is part of Ogilvy’s on-going drive to help clients and their brands navigate the rapidly changing landscape of the music industry in the digital age.
An extension of Ogilvy’s ‘Ogroovy’ music initiative, Lab Day LIVE will invite members of the music industry to present their ideas and products to Ogilvy clients and employees
Lab day Live digital poster site @ Canary Wharf Event to be hosted @ Ogilvy
FUTURE BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE SEMESTER 2014
Multi Award Winning client work for Greenwich Council ‘The Power of Cute’ came out of this semester
Multi Award Winning OgilvyOne's putpockets integrated campaign aims to influence nationwide behavioural change towards pickpocketing
FUTURE TRAVEL & TOURISM SEMESTER 2016 (2 months before the Lab got shut down)
FUTURE OF PUBLISHING SEMESTER 2006
We self published with It’s Nice That, Rory Sutherland’s First book, as an experiment within Ogilvy Labs
FUTURE ‘INTERNET OF THINGS’ SEMESTER 2015
FUTURE STARTUPS SEMESTER 2016
ABOUT
Digital Shoreditch is a unique community celebrating the outstanding creative, technical and entrepreneurial talent of the UK, Europe and beyond. They run regular meet-ups, workshops and hackathons, and deliver enormous festivals to showcase and support the growth of our flourishing creative society.
Their annual festival runs over 2 weeks with different themes for each day. The Connect Day aimed to "unite, celebrate and prepare to be inspired by the change makers working in tech, digital and creative who support and inspire next generations and innovations."
The Ogilvy Lab Days take place twice a year in order to educate & inspire staff and clients so they have a deeper knowledge on a popular topic or upcoming trend in the consumer space.These one day events mark the culmination of 24 weeks of intensive information gathering known as Semesters of Learning.
The Lab day hosted a half day event during Digital Shoreditch 2015, taking over the main stage. Focusing on start-ups, incubators and accelerators – and how modern marketers can leverage their innovations. Ogilvy Labs’ 15th Lab Day was an integral part of this year’s Digital Shoreditch festival (May 11-24th).
Documenting the currently relationship between Ogilvy and and Collider, facilitated by Ogilvy Labs - many relationships came out of this Semester and Partnerships that still work with Ogilvy and their clients today.
FUTURE 3D PRINTING SEMESTER 2013
3D PRINT SHOW PUTS EDUCATION FIRST WITH FREE 3D PRINTERS FOR SCHOOLS
The 3D Printshow Education Session will provide free access to 3D printing for school and university groups
London, 25 September 2013 – 3D Printshow today announces its 3D printing education programme for schools. Aimed at educating and exciting students about the capabilities of 3D printing technology, the programme will give 3,000 students from across the country a hands-on experience with the technology at The 3D Printshow Education Session on Friday, 8th November.
3D Printshow will also award a free 3D printer to each comprehensive school bringing more than 35 students to the event. School groups will take these printers back to the classroom, giving students the chance to learn, study and develop their skills using 3D technology.
The 3D Printshow Education Session will also run in the Paris and New York shows and is the first part of a long-term plan to support 3D printing in schools, which will include an education tour in 2014. By allowing young visitors to interact with the technology, the organisation also hopes to encourage students to participate in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects.
Each participating school group will attend one interactive 3D printing workshop and one seminar which will be held at the event in The 3D Printshow Lab – a classroom environment equipped with giant Lego-style furniture and constructed in partnership with Ogilvy Labs. These will include sessions hosted by The Denford ‘F1 For Schools’ Team, Autodesk, Legacy Effects, Stratasys, MakerBot, Printcraft, KIDE, EuropePac, and Robosavvy.
Students will also be given a tour of one of 3D Printshow London’s key attractions, which include:
The 3D Printshow Hospital – Six different rooms showing innovative uses of 3D printing technology in the field of medical science, such as soft tissue prosthesis and stem cells.
The 3D Printshow Fashion House – In-show catwalk displaying the work of over 40 fashion designers, with a dazzling range of 3D printed clothing and accessories.
The 3D Printshow Movie Zone – Never before seen ‘making of’ footage and an exhibition of props, suits and costumes from blockbuster films including Iron Man, Avatar and Pacific Rim.
The Scanning Zone – Selected students will be given the chance to have a full colour and texture 3D body scan, which can then be 3D printed.
The 3D Printshow Education Session is being supported by Stratasys and Ogilvy Labs.
Multi award winning work with our Unilever client for Helmans Mayonnaise - Burgers rule. But we may have found something that could take their awesomeness rating onto another level. Burger Selfies. Bring out the best of summer
Ever wondered what your music taste, tastes like? Have a butchers at our DJ powered BBQ. Serving up flame-grilled tunes all summer long
FUTURE BIO HACKING SEMESTER 2014
