Ogilvy & Mather Paris: The View from the Top

Up in Ogilvy’s ninth-floor penthouse on Rue Marbeuf in Paris, executive director Frédéric Levron is hatching a new vision of immersive 360-degree creativity and content. If only he could work out what his job title was...

Up in the Ogilvy Saloon on the ninth floor at Ogilvy & Mather Paris, Frédéric Levron is talking about the changing nature of his job role: “I think I’ve reinvented my job about 10 times over the past 15 years,” he says, “thanks to the advance in technology and the evolution of the industry.” Levron’s actual title is executive director/creative director, digital & branded content, and, while the definition of what exactly that might be is complex, in 2012 he oversaw impressive innovative executions for clients Tic Tac, Perrier, Ford and Coke Zero, incorporating a mix of unique live stunts, branded entertainment films and an improvised TVC, driven by social activation.

Despite being an excellent communicator, it’s usually a complicated task to express his ideas: “My job is basically to be in a room with everyone looking at me, thinking to themselves ‘what the fuck is he talking about?’,” says the Paris native. “My role is to sit down with the creatives and be there for all the different stages, checking the brief, making sure that we’re not enclosing the idea into a certain area or making it too square.”

Levron is clearly an important asset to Ogilvy and its ambitions. Since chief creative officer Chris Garbutt’s arrival in 2008, there’s been a healthy entrepreneurial spirit among its staff, encouraging belief and advocating bravery and courageous thinking. The group, including Ogilvy & Mather, OgilvyOne, Ogilvy HealthWorld, Ogilvy Public Relations and Ogilvy Interactive all now operate in the same building on Rue Marbeuf, which makes it possible for improved  interaction between divisions. It’s an interlocking social-professional environment that spells progress for what Levron represents.

It isn’t only his title that skews with change; the agency has been broadening its outlook on a recruitment level, too: “We need to find creative people who aren’t obsessed with format and the media but are just really passionate about ideas,” states Levron. “We’ve started to look for people in other creative industries, like TV and gaming, and that’s quite interesting, because those guys are coming in and they don’t have any respect for advertising, they just want to create something exciting and useful for the world.”

Changing of the guard

Being at Ogilvy, it’s clear to see that the dynamics of the traditional agency are changing. Just as digital can no longer be considered an ‘additional channel’, roles within agencies now need to align with the work being created. Levron feels that, as well as clients, it’s imperative that France’s creative community understands the need for a new way of thinking: “If you want to reach your target and build a strong relationship to really influence the perception of your brand, you need new form and new kinds of communication.”

Rather than talk things through beforehand, Levron prefers to try, fail and learn from the lesson on a job. He explains how he once took a flight to Canada on a 20-hour round trip to attend a dinner so that he could try to convince someone to give him the green light on a project. It’s the sort of “fire”, as he calls it, that he believes you need, but is more than aware of France’s budget constraints in comparison to markets like the US, having worked on the West Coast with the agency.

Ogilvy Paris’ Key Free, originally created to promote keyless locking systems on cars for one of the agency’s clients, is a perfect example of the type of execution Levron believes in. A mobile app, the technology enabled users to access all of their online accounts such as Facebook, Twitter and Gmail via one password through Bluetooth on smartphones. However, due to an online security issue, the app wasn’t released and the agency is currently working to develop it and use it elsewhere.

Levron and his team are also working on a new campaign for Perrier, 60 Lives, that promises to raise the bar on the online interactive playing field.

“For me, the only thing that counts is what you produce,” says the executive director. “I’m proud about one thing this year; we won three Branded Content Lions in Cannes. Agencies might be in competition but, at the end of the day, France is a part of the world and we all need to be representing. It all comes back to what you produce and I’d like to see more French work in the Integrated category this year.”

The 360-degree views from the David Ogilvy penthouse are breathtaking. It’s no wonder the agency – and Levron’s outlook – continues to remain fresh, wide and forward-thinking. You can see Perrier 60 Lives on shots.net this Spring, complete with insight and explanation from the executive director and his team.