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Tom Beall

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Managing Director
Washington DC
Posts: 5

A 20+year Ogilvy veteran, Tom spearheaded the development of Ogilvy’s social marketing and health communications capabilities. Tom currently serves as senior counsel to many of the agency’s largest accounts, including work underway in support of such clients as the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. For more than a decade, Tom also served as co-head of the agency’s healthcare practice.

Tom’s passion is to apply communications to improving health and safety and enhancing the quality of life for individuals and communities alike. Before joining the ranks of communications professionals, Tom worked in the field of aging where his commitment to social causes took root.

Tom and his colleagues have won numerous awards and recognition for their pioneering contributions to applying communications to social change. Their greatest reward, however, lies in simply making meaningful contributions to helping clients address timely and important health and social issues.

Tom holds a B.A. and Masters of Health Services Administration, from The George Washington University.

Onward to Toronto! The 2013 World Social Marketing Conference

Apr 18

Category: Social Marketing

In a few days, I’ll be joining more than 500 colleagues, academics, researchers, and students in Toronto for the third biennial World Social Marketing Conference. As the title sponsor, Ogilvy Public Relations is honored to contribute to this pioneering event. This is the first time the conference will be held in North America.

For those who haven’t attended this event in the past, the conference is a unique opportunity for social marketing practitioners to meet and discuss behavior change principles and techniques that ultimately help people lead safer, healthier and more productive lives.

This year’s theme – exploring new challenges and solutions to social change – spotlights how social marketing practitioners are overcoming barriers to designing and  implementing highly effective, sustainable interventions. Panels, posters, and educational sessions on health, the environment, criminal justice, transport and finance will be presented with particular focus on sustainability, intra-disciplinary working and the relevance and application of behavior change practice and science.

The conference will feature notable speakers including: conference Chair Jeff French, a recognized global leader in the application of behavior change and social marketing, and Chief Executive of Strategic Social Marketing Ltd.; Nancy Lee, international economist, author, and president of Social Marketing Services, Inc.; Brian Wansink, professor at Cornell University and author of “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think;” and Phillip Kotler, professor, author, and founder of Kotler Marketing Group, Inc.

The conference will also feature renowned author and environmentalist Ma Jun, Founding Director of China’s Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs, as a keynote speaker.

For those of who cannot attend this year’s conference, I encourage you to follow and spur discussions about the conference online through Twitter, using the hashtags #wsmc and #OgilvyWSMC. You can also follow the conversation here on the Social Marketing exCHANGE and through the conference website, www.wsmconference.com.

Do you have issues that you would like to see World Conference participants address next week? Do you have recommendations for how we together build a stronger global movement dedicated to capturing, spreading and nurturing even better and more effective social marketing practices? Leave a comment here and I’ll share it with the conference organizers and participants next week. We will do our best to get your questions answered and your ideas considered.

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Event Wrap-up: Socially Responsible Behavior Change as a Business Imperative

Apr 20

Category: Behavior Change, Corporate Social Responsibility

Ogilvy Public Relations has been a leader in social marketing for nearly three decades. We’ve helped government agencies and Fortune 500 companies change minds, shift attitudes, redefine norms, and support sustained individual and community behavior change.

Today, we were joined by three experts in corporate social marketing to discuss how companies across a wide range of industries can become agents of socially responsible behavior change, building on corporate responsibility commitments to contribute even more so to the well-being of individuals and society:

  • Nancy Lee, Consultant, Author and Adjunct Faculty Member, the University of Washington Dan Evans School of Public Affairs, Seattle University’s Institute for Public Service and the University of South Florida’s School of Public Health
  • Michael Sachse, Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and General Counsel, Opower
  • Vidya Plainfield, North America, Senior Category Marketing Manager, Nutricia

Our conversation was led by Robert Terry, Managing Director of the Washington Business Journal, our event partner.

Crowd of attendees at Ogilvy Exchange, April 19, 2012

Several themes emerged during our discussion –

Authenticity is essential. One of the toughest challenges for businesses interested in implementing corporate social marketing initiatives is remaining authentic. Nancy Lee emphasized that companies must build programs that are congruent with their business objectives and brand identity. Companies who use corporate social marketing programs solely as a mechanism to combat critics can come off as inauthentic, instead of genuine.

Providing consumers with actionable information will help gain their loyalty. During the panel discussion Vidya Plainfield noted that today’s businesses need to help people live the lives they want to live. The goal should be not to push people, but to find them where they are, and give them information that’s useful to them. This includes providing them with reasonable advice for changing their behaviors–it’s not enough to simply ask people to change. Businesses must give consumers the knowledge and tools to change.

Corporate social marketing can deliver a double bottom line. All of the panelists noted that corporate social marketing initiatives can have an impact on a company’s revenue and a specific societal issue concurrently. Case in point, Michael Sachse noted that Opower helps its clients bolster their revenue while helping consumers reduce their energy consumption. This “double bottom line” can reap enormous benefits for corporations.

Results can be a business’ best friend. When it comes to behavior change, consumers want to understand the return on their investment. For example, if they consume less gasoline each month, how much money will they save? If they eat fewer calories, how many pounds will they lose? Hence, sharing metrics on corporate social marketing initiatives can help drive the success of these initiatives. Michael Sachse suggested that companies should build a compelling case for their programs by embracing their data, and using it as a proof point to build a case with consumers. He also commented that programs that can’t make a compelling, data-driven case, just won’t stick around.

Today’s panelists emphasized another key insight as well – driving business is already about driving behavior change. So, driving socially responsible behavior change is a natural fit for companies who wish to build brand loyalty among their consumers, increase revenue, and contribute to the wellbeing of their communities.

Let’s keep the dialogue going online–how do you believe companies can become agents of socially responsible behavior change? Share your thoughts here.

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Ogilvy Talks the Talk and Walks the Walk This Holiday Season

Dec 17

Category: Ogilvy Washington, Social Marketing

According to noted authority Jeff French’s tips for developing and implementing effective social marketing programs, Ogilvy’s Washington office has organized and conducted a pitch perfect social marketing initiative in recent weeks.  Among other characteristics, the effort:

-Actively engaged individuals and communities (that included competing internal staff teams, as well as other Washington, D.C.-based global public relations agencies);

-Focused on measurable behavioral goals (namely collecting and donating food and goods for needy families in the Washington, D.C. region);

-Harnessed all possible assets, including internal resources as well as external networks of families, friends, and neighbors;

-Used an array of interventions to prompt, support, and bring about changes in knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, while delivering meaningful help to people in need.

Over the past three weeks, the entire Washington office alone has collected and donated nearly two tons of food and personal care items on behalf of the Washington, D.C.-based Capital Area Food Bank and the more than 380,000 people throughout the DC area that it serves.  You too can contribute to their efforts by visiting the Capital Area Food Bank’s website.

The Ogilvy holiday drive included the donation of over 200 boxes of diapers in support of Huggies Every Little Bottom, the first-ever corporate social responsibility program to help moms and babies in diaper need.  Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide worked with Kimberly-Clark and Huggies to develop and launch the program in 2010.  We collected 10,500 diapers, enough to diaper four-to-five babies for a full year!

Ogilvy Washington Drops Off Goods for the Capital Area Food Bank at the Annual "Stuff-a-Truck" Event

As you can see, the effort has left big smiles on the faces of those involved…driving home the satisfaction derived from making a contribution and a difference where and when you can.  Hopefully the effort also will bring smiles to the hundreds of families across the region who are the direct beneficiaries.

Ogilvy Washington’s success adds further proof of the fact that Ogilvy folks both talk the talk and walk the walk when it comes to applying their hearts, minds and talents to making the world a better place.

This holiday season—and in the year ahead—why not join us in striving to make a difference each and every day?  Now, that’s a thought that warms the heart on a cold, snowy Washington day.

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Social Marketing – A Global Need and Opportunity

May 20

Category: Behavior Change, Social Marketing

It soon will be announced that Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide will become the title (read: lead) sponsor of The 2nd World Non-Profit & Social Marketing Conference, to be held in Dublin, Ireland, April 11-12, 2011.

The Conference will focus on exploring how strategic communications, marketing and behavior change methodologies can be applied to address vital social issues and challenges. Participants drawn from across the globe will include experts in social marketing, the behavioral sciences, strategic communications, health promotion, community engagement, policy development and advocacy.  Special effort also is being made to attract governmental officials, policy think tanks and charitable organizations.

Ogilvy is honored to be supporting this pioneering conference.  This is especially so at a time when more and more leaders in the public and private sectors across the world are recognizing the benefits of applying social marketing techniques to addressing vital social, health, safety and development issues.   Ogilvy colleagues around our global network are seeing this interest and opportunity unfold in countries and regions ranging from Ireland and the European Union, to Brazil, the Middle East, Africa, Singapore, Australia, China and the United States.

Conference organizers are soliciting submissions of proposed papers, presentations, workshops and exhibits until Friday, June 18, 2010. Each different type of presentation has different submission guidelines.  You can review guidelines here.

Please help spread the word about this groundbreaking opportunity to learn and share and to advance the science and the art of applying communications to tackling key social challenges. You can join the conference group on Facebook, and follow conference updates on Twitter and the conference blog.

For full details about the conference, visit wsmconference.com.

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Let the dialogue begin!

Apr 30

Category: Behavior Change, Best Practices, Social Marketing

Welcome to Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide’s new group blog, SOCIAL MARKETING exCHANGE.

Through the exCHANGE, Ogilvy’s social marketing team hopes to foster a rich discussion among colleagues, clients, practitioners, academicians, policymakers, and others interested in the application of social marketing and behavior change communications to address vital health, social and development issues.

Our perspectives reflect our work as practitioners engaged in the application of marketing principles to the promotion of ideas, issues, and practices.  We are communications professionals who apply these social marketing principles and techniques to raise awareness and influence attitudes; prompt and support personal and community behavior change; and support policy and systems change.

Our work has addressed some of the most important issues of our time, ranging from health, safety, and risk communications to environmental stewardship and community development. Specific areas of focus have included HIV/AIDS, heart disease and stroke, pandemic influenza, global health, nutrition, cancer prevention and treatment, homeland security, emergency preparedness, driving and transportation safety, dating and youth violence, and community conservation.

Our approach is centered in applying both the science and the art of social marketing combined with behavior change communications.  While firmly rooted in applying relevant models, theories, and evidenced-based interventions, our work also embodies a healthy appreciation for audience-based communications that reflect new ideas and promising approaches.

We strive to find new and better answers, to test ideas and exchange perspectives, and, of course, to push the proverbial envelope.  That is our primary reason for starting the exCHANGE.

Please join our search.  Wonder out loud.  Take issue.  Raise questions.  Advance ideas. Share experiences and perspective.  Voice your opinions.  We look forward to the exCHANGE.

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