Despite huge success, Richard Brett, President, Ogilvy PR Asia Pacific & CEO Ogilvy PR ANZ and Ogilvy Health Australia, has never forgotten the power of a simple smile-of uplifting others and celebrating hard work. Brett wants everyone to win, from his team to his clients, and he champions positivity to make sure it happens.
In this week’s Fast 10, B&T’s Greg ‘Sparrow’ Graham, sat down with Brett to discuss growth, challenges, and championing his team.
Last month, Ogilvy ANZ unveiled a new offering, Generative Impact, in collaboration with AI optimisation partner Semrush, aiming to boost brand visibility and prominence within Large Language Model (LLM)-driven information discovery. Using a proprietary framework and combining Ogilvy PR’s earned media with Ogilvy One’s strength in digital experience optimisation, it aims to ensure brands are cited by AI systems as trusted, authoritative sources. That’s just one of the many examples of innovation that Brett and his team strive towards every day.
1) You’ve had an outstanding, enduring career, from an account executive, client side, to many C-suite roles at Ogilvy PR, to a new role as President of APAC. If you had to pick only one, what would be your career highlight so far?
Richard Brett: It’s very hard to pick one specific role, as all of them have contributed to my learning, experience and skill set. There are probably two highlights. Firstly, I have, and am, thoroughly enjoying my time at Ogilvy. It is an incredible organisation, with a very powerful culture, that still channels the founder’s beliefs and principles. Secondly, it would also be my global role at Samsonite. It was a very exciting and stimulating time as we were expanding into retail and into different markets around the world, and it allowed me to learn about so many different cultures, especially in Asia, and to meet so many different people.
Both of these roles taught me a huge amount about leadership and the importance, especially in global and regional roles, of working as an equal with the local team to deliver, on one-hand, a regional or global strategy, but with the input and nuance of local insights and intelligence.
2) We both love that David Ogilvy quote: if we are able to hire people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants. How do you attract/retain the best PR talent?
RB: At the heart of the approach is a simple idea – that happy people do great work. So, we really strive hard at Ogilvy to build a high-performance culture that is a rewarding, fulfilling and an enjoyable place to work.
I believe there are three components of this. Firstly, it is about the employee experience levers and ensuring they are all working well – training, onboarding, benefits, reward and recognition, inclusion. Secondly, for leaders this means being open, humble, transparent, and vulnerable whilst at the same remaining close to the work, to the clients and to the team. Finally, and most importantly is the culture: where everyone’s voice is heard, where people feel safe to be themselves, that is both high performance and fun.
3) You’ve had a great new business record. What sets Ogilvy PR apart and contributes to your success?
RB: Yes, the agency has continued to grow. Central to it, I think, is always being connected to the very latest trends, insights and shifts in the industry and how you can apply that to briefs.
Secondly, is having brilliant people – which goes back to the David Ogilvy quote above – having a smart team who can effectively work together to deliver a compelling product that clients keep coming back for. Clients buy people, not agencies, but of course teams do change, so having a unifying thread of culture is critical to the client experience.
Finally, the most important thing I believe for a pitch is to have fun – my absolute highlights at Ogilvy are always working with the team on a pitch, and the laughter, joy and fun that you can have together as you create – this is where the magic happens.
4) As a young boy, what did you want to be when you grew up?
RB: Well, I had two obsessions which gave clues. Firstly, I was obsessed with Lego as a little boy and would spend hours building with it – so one option was to be an architect. I was also obsessed with advertising and would sit and record all the ads and watch them over and over again! So, it had to be one of these two, but certainly a creative calling, and one of them worked out.
5) The agency has won a slew of Awards, including B&T’s 30 under 30 Awards. Do clients value Award recognition?
RB: They do for the work we deliver together - but above all clients value effectiveness and impact. And if you deliver an effective campaign that delivers a meaningful organisational outcome, then the awards will follow.
6) As an industry, what’s one thing you would change to make us all better?
RB: I would change the pitch. And this is not a uniform ambition because some clients run their pitches very well. But too often, we come across requests that are a huge lift for us all, or ones which are not real opportunities, or the outcome was not as promised.
We all need to work together as an industry and get the right balance – yes, potential clients really want to understand the agency’s capabilities, problem solving, creativity and the team fit, but I would like the industry to come together to agree to a set of guidelines and standards to make the ask and the requests more proportionate, realistic and transparent.
7) What are the current growth challenges for your clients, and how is Ogilvy PR APAC helping with solutions?
RB: Of course it’s a tough economic situation for many. But specifically, in earned media the fragmentation of audiences and the rise of misinformation and disinformation is a real challenge for clients and how they communicate their messages. Because of these challenges we are working hard to reinvent our product mix to develop new solutions to these challenges – whether that be the Believability product suite, our new Generative Impact LLM tool or by using WPP Open.
WPP Open has really allowed us to accelerate our ability to react to cultural conversations on behalf of our clients, or to spot potential brewing crises and risks; that all helping contribute our effectiveness. What’s exciting is that we are able to build dedicated new PR tools on the platform – such as the new CompassAI measurement suite that allows clients to measure and track the results of campaigns in a faster and more efficient way.
8) Your commitment and passion for the industry are outstanding, and you are always giving back to the industry. What drives that ambition?
RB: I want us all to win. This is not a zero-sum game. If we can consistently show that the investment by clients into communications is worth it, then there will be more for us all. I am obsessed with measurement, and this is something that traditionally PR has not been good at, but focusing our teams on organisational outcomes and talking to clients about real results is critical. As an industry we need to be able to show that earned makes a real positive impact, and that the investment is worth it.
9) What’s one thing that’s not on your LinkedIn profile?
RB: After university, I continued to study in London and to pay my way, I worked in a cafe in the evenings and at weekends. Hospitality is incredibly hard work, and it taught me to always be nice and smile at those around you who are working to help you – there is nothing worse than a rude or aggressive customer – it can really impact someone’s day in a bad way. Never forget the power of a smile.
10) Important last question, do your parents actually know what you do?
RB: Sort of. They know who I work for but still don’t really understand what I do each day!
