WPP’s Ogilvy re-invents friendship for Philadelphia

How many agency folk does it take to change a light bulb? Mondelez International’s new campaign for Philadelphia from Ogilvy and WPP also draws on the efforts of INGO (in Stockholm), VMLY&R Italy and Ogilvy Madrid while the “new platform” draws on research by Ogilvy’s behavioural science team, specifically the insight that “Philadelphia is seen as an inherently comforting and social way to connect.”

That is, soft cheese can be shared by friends.

“Ogilvy discovered that hidden in our namesake city of Philadelphia, among the letters, was something special. ‘Philia’ is an ancient word for the love we have for our friends,” says Mondelez head of brand equity Derya Seyman.

“The Ancient Greeks thought this love was more important than romance or family, but modern life has stretched us thin, leaving our friendships de-prioritised and millennials feeling lonelier than ever. Deeply rooted in its heritage, we all agreed that Philadelphia could remind people to break bread with their friends.”

Could be a Netflix series. A pattern seem to be emerging at WPP of attaching the holding company and its resources as well as a specific creative agency (which presumably does the heavy lifting) to high profile clients. Obviously with Coca-Cola but recently with Boots (from VMLY&R) too.

Is this the holding company “creative transformation” thing or the impact of Rob Reilly, global CCO, who may have found single agency creative resources a bit stretched. Maybe both.

It’s all a bit of a palaver but the result, here anyway, is a decent enough effort.

One which owes much to veteran director Vince Squibb, who cut his teeth at the late lamented Lowe Howard-Spink.

MAA creative scale: 7.