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Transparency begins at home. Here are the guidelines we designed for Ogilvy bloggers. These came before the Ogilvy group blog you are now reading. They were intended to guide and encourage bloggers within the Ogilvy universe. Still, they are all quite relevant and guide our behavior even today:

Ogilvy PR Blogging Guidelines

Offer a Deliberate Point Of View
Having a deliberate point of view is essential to providing an interesting and credible voice in the blogosphere. Deliberate, by it’s very definition, means you’ve arrived at your view or argument in a thoughtful way and have carefully researched the facts about a particular topic. Failing to provide an original take on an issue and you risk being dismissed. Make up facts or go off on something you don’t understand and you’ll be exposed and embarrassed by someone who does.

Be Yourself
Speak in the first person and let your own personality come to the surface in your writing. Disclose any conflicts of interest. If you’re blogging about your work for Ogilvy, be clear about who you are, use your real name, and identify the type of work that you do for Ogilvy (and don’t forget #7 – below). On the blogosphere, transparency and honesty are essential and will get you noticed. At the same time, be judicious about the type of personal information you provide on the Web as it’s open to anyone and will be available for a long time.

Refrain From Pettiness
Don’t be catty or pick fights. Blog search engines and RSS feeds make it relatively easy for clients, colleagues and friends to locate your blog and regularly read your writing. As such, always be respectful to others – from clients to competitors and everyone in between. If you wouldn’t verbally communicate something to a colleague or client directly or include it in an email – certainly don’t post it on a blog. Lastly, if you speak about a competitor, you must ensure that what you say is factual and is not disparaging.

Be Ethical and Abide by the Employee Handbook
Ogilvy PR’s employee policies enumerated in the Employee Handbook apply offline as well as online. Pay close attention to what the Employee Handbook has to say about proprietary information, avoiding misrepresentation and about competition. In general, disclosing information that is considered confidential or privileged by any client, Ogilvy PR, or third parties is prohibited. In addition, as an employee of a publicly owned company, simply talking about the agency’s revenue, future plans, or the WPP share price will land you and the agency in legal trouble. Have questions? Refer to the Employee Handbook on O-Village or seek the advice of your manager.

Do Not Reference Clients, Partners or Vendors
In order to respect and protect our client’s, partners and vendors confidentiality, never cite or reference Ogilvy PR clients by name in your blog. In particular, aspects of client engagements that are confidential should never be discussed or in any way referenced on a blog. It is acceptable, however, to talk generally about various kinds of projects relevant to public relations and to use non-identifiable pseudonyms for clients (in accordance with any non-disclosure agreements that may be in place).

Acknowledge and Correct Mistakes Quickly
To err is human – everyone makes mistakes. If you learn that you’ve posted something factually incorrect, acknowledge the error and be upfront. If you feel that you must revise an earlier post, don’t delete it entirely. The best course of action is to update the post and make it clear to users that you’ve updated it.

Know Thy Neighbor
Getting to know and pay attention to fellow bloggers writing about similar topics is essential. Use a blog search engine – such as http://www.technorati.com/ or http://www.blogpulse.com/ - to figure out who’s blogging about the topics you care about. Once you’re clear about who’s who, be sure to reference and link to the important bloggers on a regular basis. Even consider dropping them a quick email introducing yourself and your blog. Invite them to participate.

Use a Disclaimer
Always make it clear that the views you post about on your blog or someone else’s are representative of your views alone and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Ogilvy PR. If you publish your own blog, at minimum, we recommend using a general legal disclaimer such as “The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily reflect the positions or opinions of Ogilvy PR.”

Refer All Media Contacts
Blogs are public forums, open to everyone including journalists. As such, blog postings can generate media coverage. If a reporter contacts you about a posting related to Ogilvy or a client – or requests additional information of any kind – contact Dana Fields Muldrow, the agency’s external relations manager at 212.880.5200 or Dana.FieldsMuldrow@ogilvypr.com. Always clarify with your client or supervisor about whether specific information has been disclosed publicly before posting on your blog.

Conduct Quality Assurance
Typos and meandering posts turn off users and reflect poorly on the blogger. Use a spell checker to avoid simple spelling mistakes and make every effort to keep posts concise and pithy. Another good idea is to enlist colleague and friends to comment on the design and content of your blog and make ongoing improvements.

Remember Your Day Job
We encourage active participation in blogs, wikis and other online discussion outlets. At the same time, you must ensure that your participation does not interfere with work and client commitments.