subsidiary industry advertising marketing public relations founded 1948 ; 68 years ago 1948 founder david ogilvy headquarters 636 eleventh avenue new york key people john seifert worldwide chief executive officer tham khai meng worldwide chief creative officer miles young worldwide chairman parent wpp plc subsidiaries ogilvy & mather advertising ogilvyone ogilvy public relations geometry global neo ogilvy redline website www.ogilvy.com ogilvy & mather is a new york city based advertising marketing and public relations agency . it started as a london advertising agency founded in 1850 by edmund mather which in 1964 became known as ogilvy & mather after merging with a new york city agency that was founded in 1948 by david ogilvy . it is part of the wpp group one of the largest marketing and communications companies in the world by revenue . the agency is known for its work with dove american express and ibm . contents 1 history 1.1 foundation 1.2 hewitt ogilvy benson & mather 1.3 ogilvy benson & mather 1.4 ogilvy & mather 1.5 1980s 1.6 1990s 1.7 2000s to present 2 services 3 company culture 4 major work 4.1 early ads 4.2 american express 4.3 merrill lynch 4.4 ibm 4.5 incredible india 4.6 dove 4.7 aspen 5 controversies 6 see also 7 references 8 bibliography 9 external links history edit foundation edit the agency that would become ogilvy & mather got its start in london in 1850 when edmund charles mather began an advertising agency on fleet street the traditional location and current metonym of the british newspaper industry . 1 after edmund s death in 1886 his son harley lawrence mather partnered with herbert oakes crowther and the agency became known as mather & crowther . 2 the agency pioneered newspaper advertising which was in its infancy due to a loosening of tax restrictions . mather & crowther educated manufacturers about the efficacy of advertising and also produced how to manuals for the nascent advertising industry . 2 the company grew in prominence in the 1920s after creating leading non branded advertising campaigns such as an apple a day keeps the doctor away and drinka pinta milka day . 2 3 in 1921 mather & crowther hired francis ogilvy as a copywriter . ogilvy eventually became the first non family member to chair the agency . when the agency launched the aga cooker a swedish cook stove francis composed letters in greek to appeal to british public schools the appliance s best sales leads . francis also helped his younger brother david ogilvy secure a position as an aga salesman . 4 the younger ogilvy was so successful at selling the cooker he wrote a sales manual for the company in 1935 called the theory and practice of selling the aga cooker . it was later called probably the best sales manual ever written by fortune magazine . 5 david ogilvy sent the manual to francis who was persuaded to hire him as a trainee . ogilvy began studying advertising particularly campaigns from america which he viewed as the gold standard . 6 in 1938 david ogilvy convinced francis to send him to the united states on sabbatical to study american advertising . 7 after a year ogilvy presented 32 basic rules of good advertising to mather & crowther . 8 over the next ten years ogilvy worked in research at the gallup polling company worked for british intelligence during world war ii then spent a few years farming among the amish community in pennsylvania . 7 in 1948 david ogilvy proposed that mather & crowther and another u.k. agency s.h. benson partner to create an american advertising agency in new york city to support british advertising clients . the agencies each invested us 40 000 in the venture but insisted ogilvy find a more experienced american to run it . david ogilvy recruited anderson hewitt from j. walter thompson to serve as president and run sales . ogilvy would serve as secretary treasurer and research director . along with their british sponsors which held controlling interest hewitt mortgaged his house and invested 14 000 in the agency and ogilvy invested 6 000 . 9 10 hewitt ogilvy benson & mather edit on september 23 1948 david ogilvy opened his united states shop as hewitt ogilvy benson & mather on madison avenue in manhattan . 11 initially mather & crowther and s.h. benson gave the agency four clients that were relatively unknown in the united states and had small budgets including wedgwood china british south african airways guinness and bovril . 12 the agency s first account was securing magazine advertising space for wedgwood . 10 it had its first successful ad with ogilvy s concept the guinness guide to oysters which was followed by several other similar food and guinness pairing guides . 13 hewitt ogilvy benson & mather s first large client was sunoco then called sun oil procured by hewitt in february 1949 . 11 helena rubinstein cosmetics was the first client won by ogilvy . 14 a breakthrough came after the agency was approached by maine based shirt manufacturer c. f. hathaway company . the company only had a small budget but its president promised to never change a word of copy . 15 in 1951 hewitt ogilvy benson & mather introduced the the man in the hathaway shirt campaign . the advertisement featured an aristocratic man in an eyepatch that ogilvy purchased on the way to the ad s photo shoot . c. f. hathaway company sold out of shirts within a week of the first ad s printing . the campaign increased the shirt maker s sales by 160 percent resulted in new business for hewitt ogilvy benson & mather and turned the recognizable hathaway man and his eyepatch into a popular cultural trope . 7 16 in 1952 the agency launched a campaign for schweppes using the beverage maker s united states president edward whitehead as company spokesman commander whitehead . 10 17 the campaign increased sales by 600 percent in six months and grew from a single ad to a tv campaign that lasted through the 1960s . 17 that same year hewitt ogilvy benson & mather produced the come to britain campaign for the british tourist authority which led to britain rising from the fifth to first american tourist destination . 13 ogilvy benson & mather edit disagreements between hewitt and ogilvy particularly about creative direction and who should run the agency resulted in ogilvy s resignation in 1953 . 11 the agency s backers supported ogilvy leading to hewitt s resignation and the agency reopening as ogilvy benson & mather in 1954 . ogilvy hired retired benton & bowles executive esty stowell in 1956 to handle operations and non creative functions . 18 during the 1950s ogilvy benson & mather became known for its successful campaigns which david ogilvy called big ideas . the agency mainly through ogilvy s creative direction built a reputation for quality advertising which was defined by its use of well researched long copy large photographs and clean layouts and typography . ogilvy believed advertising s purpose was to sell through information and persuasion as opposed to entertain . 7 19 in 1955 ogilvy created the dove campaign dove is one quarter cleansing cream it creams your skin while you wash after learning one of the bar s ingredients was also used in cold cream . 20 in 1956 the agency invented titus moody for pepperidge farm a character which appeared in their commercials until the 1980s . 7 21 ogilvy also helped change the perception of puerto rico and increase tourism through campaigns in the 1950s . 7 10 ogilvy produced one of the agency s most iconic ads for car manufacturer rolls royce in 1960 with the headline at 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new rolls royce comes from the electric clock . 7 ogilvy borrowed the headline from an old article he came across while researching the company . the rest of the copy included 11 engineering advantages of the vehicle . after it was printed the ad was praised by other advertisers and ogilvy considered it his favorite . 18 22 that same year the agency nearly doubled in size and brought on john jock elliott as an executive after winning the shell oil account . 23 the agency agreed to work for shell on a fee basis rather than the traditional commission model and became one of the first major advertising agencies to use the system . 24 the agency produced ads for the company that included the ingredients of its gasoline and explained their benefits . 18 25 in the early 1960s david ogilvy s neighbor american express ceo howard clark approached him about taking on the account but stowell rejected the business as too small . ogilvy signed american express while stowell was on vacation . other major clients of the 1960s included sears roebuck and general foods . 26 in 1963 david ogilvy published confessions of an advertising man which became an international best seller and increased ogilvy s public profile . 10 18 ogilvy & mather edit as a reaction to the growth of international advertising ogilvy benson & mather formed an equal partnership with mather & crowther in november 1964 . 18 as part of the partnership the two agencies became subsidiaries of a new parent company called ogilvy & mather which was headquartered in new york . in january 1965 both changed their names to ogilvy & mather and the parent company became known as ogilvy & mather international inc. 11 jock elliott took over as chairman of united states operations from david ogilvy who remained chairman of ogilvy & mather international and became creative director . as a stipulation of the merger the company went public on april 27 1966 . it was the first advertising agency to go public on both new york and london stock exchange . 18 27 28 in 1969 ogilvy & mather became the first ad agency to work with the hershey company after it began national advertisements . 29 in 1971 the agency launched merrill lynch s bullish on america campaign . in 1979 it won business from twa the agency s largest account win in the united states at the time . 13 the agency also launched several popular campaigns for american express throughout the 1970s including advertisements with the headline do you know me featuring famous names with unrecognizable faces and the slogan don t leave home without it . the gains american express made through advertising led to the company becoming the agency s biggest client by the 1980s . 11 30 during the 1970s ogilvy & mather acquired numerous other agencies including s.h. benson one of its original sponsors in 1971 scali mccabe sloves in 1976 and cone & weber in 1977 . 11 one of the acquisitions hodes daniel resulted in the establishment of the agency s direct response service called ogilvy & mather direct in 1976 . it was renamed ogilvyone worldwide in 1997 . 13 the agency s growth through acquisitions was not led by ogilvy who feared the differing philosophies of the acquired agencies would undermine ogilvy & mather s culture and advertising beliefs which he called the true church . 31 32 after moving permanently to his french castle ch teau de touffou in 1973 david ogilvy stepped down as chairman and became worldwide creative head in 1975 . jock elliott was named chairman and ceo of ogilvy & mather international . 28 33 1980s edit the agency opened its public relations division ogilvy & mather public relations in 1980 . 34 jock elliott retired as chairman and was succeeded by william phillips in 1982 . 28 35 the next year ogilvy & mather established the interactive marketing group and became the first major agency to establish an interactive capability . 36 37 in december 1983