Ogilvy & PV Offer Clients Added-Value With UK Joint Venture

The tie-up is a consequence of a scenario familiar to most digital communications agencies and their clients: A carefully-researched and crafted e-mail campaign has gone out, the client is expecting great things, and so is the agency. But, following up, it becomes clear that a large number of customers have, for some unaccountable reason, not received their emails. This of course is serious - not only are emails an essential communications medium for many businesses; but also, the client is understandably concerned that he's not getting the best ROI.

The problem is more widespread than most people realize. In their efforts to thwart spammers and ward off security risks, internet service providers and email software programmers have tightened their systems to such an extent that a staggering 20% of legitimate e-mails are erroneously rejected as spam, while half of all major ISPs and e-mail programs routinely block links and images rendering messages either unrecognizable or at best reducing their effectiveness. The problem is further compounded by a bewildering and ever-changing set of rules and regulations across and even within national borders. Finally, all of this adds up to a lot of money, resulting, in some cases, in losses of more than £250,000 per year.

Now, thanks to a new joint venture between OgilvyOne and Pivotal Veracity, clients can find out how many of their emails are not getting through to end users; and, more crucially, why they're not getting through. The initiative aims to combine the skills of both companies to offer clients the tools, expertise and local best practices to preserve and optimize the credibility and performance of their e-mail communications.

"E-mail is a now a vitally important part of our clients' marketing efforts, but e-mail can only be effective if it reaches the inbox - and does so with the look, feel and functionality that the marketer intended," said John Baker, Head of Interactive at OgilvyOne. "We therefore consider optimizing campaigns an essential process. Working with the Pivotal Veracity toolset - already a proven, successful technology in the US - OgilvyOne will be able to ensure that not only do our clients' email messages get through, but that they also provide the best user experience for their recipients."

"Both Pivotal Veracity and OgilvyOne have long served major brands with a global presence," said Deirdre Baird, CEO of Pivotal Veracity. "OgilvyOne's strategic communications expertise coupled with Pivotal Veracity's global email delivery monitoring & optimization solutions will enhance client email communications by infusing local European best practices and account support. This combination truly empowers our international clients with the tools and expertise to not only 'think globally and act locally' but also 'think locally and act globally'!"

About Pivotal Veracity

Founded in 2003, Pivotal Veracity is the top-ranked independent email delivery auditing and optimization company. It aims to provide clients with the tools and expertise to improve the effectiveness and credibility of their online communications. Leading products include eDelivery Tracker, which allows clients to see whether or not their emails are reaching the inbox at over 300 domains in nearly 70 countries; and eDesign Optimizer, which allows the client to see exactly what their email looks like in all leading e-mail programs, including Outlook, Lotus Notes, Yahoo and Hotmail.

Pivotal Veracity's clients includes major companies such as Ernst & Young, Forbes, Merck, Time Life, Hewlett-Packard, NetFlix and General Mills, as well as leading agencies and e-mail service providers such as Acxiom Digital, Agency.com, Digital River, Digitas, Exact Target, Harte-Hanks, Merkle-Quris, OgilvyOne, Responsys, and Silverpop.

About OgilvyOne Worldwide

OgilvyOne Worldwide is the global leader in customer management and interactive marketing. OgilvyOne London, based at Canary Wharf, is one of the strongest offices in the network, and one of the top ranked one-to-one agencies in the United Kingdom. Clients include BT, IBM, American Express, Cisco, Nestle, Mothercare, SAP, Unilever, Cancer research UK and Avis. The agency's work has won it scores of awards, most recently a prestigious D&AD Yellow Pencil for its "Still Here" campaign for Cancer Research UK. Its subsidiary business OgilvyInteractive is the world's largest digital agency network, offering consultancy, creative development, design, technical build and maintenance across web, email, Interactive TV and mobile channels for a range of clients including BT, IBM, American Express, Ford and Unilever.

Ogilvy Group UK is the UK's biggest single employer in the brand communications sector. As well as OgilvyOne, the group umbrella encompasses 11 companies working in a variety of disciplines, including: sales promotion (Dialogue); public relations (OPR); above-the-line advertising (Ogilvy & Mather); brand design (Coley Porter Bell); marketing services (141); business-to-business advertising (Ogilvy Primary Contact). Clients include BP, IBM, Avis, Dove, Mattel, Cisco, BT, Ford, Sony, BA London Eye, Comfort, easyJet, Glenlivet, and American Express.

For further information, please contact:
Kevin Whitlock, PR Manager, OgilvyOne on 020 7309 1114 (Kevin.whitlock at ogilvy.com)
John Baker, Head of Interactive, OgilvyOne at (john.baker at ogilvy.com)
Michelle Eichner, Pivotal Veracity on 001 (602) 971-0502 (meichner at pivotalveracity.com)