360DigitalInfluence

Tim Whirledge is a Digital Account Manager in London having been trained on the Ogilvy Group UK’s prestigious graduate scheme working across a broad range of marketing disciplines. Tim is charged with developing and executing social media thinking, focusing on identifying online influencers and the deployment of online strategies through the development of engaging content. As a new member of the Digital Influence team in the UK, Tim has helped devise strategies and insight of how social media relates to the target customer for BT and GMAC and has worked with the Ogilvy International network and partner agencies to build social media monitoring proposals for blue chip clients. He has recently been gaining online exposure by deploying a range of social media tactics for two charities in his spare time; CALM and the Burma Arts Council (the latter’s video on youtube now having been viewed over 20,000 times since it’s launch 2 weeks ago).

Tim is also on the Ogilvy Interactive management committee helping to drive forward the digital enterprise across the whole of Ogilvy’s 13 group companies in the UK. He gives digital PR training sessions across the company and is also responsible for the creation and implementation of the Ogilvy Interactive EMEA PR programme reporting into the European Chairman of OgilvyOne.

Previously, Tim worked in the Corporate team working on FremantleMedia and Sony Europe and UK teams developing corporate reputation management and B2B strategies including byline articles, press releases, event coordination, on and offline press office management, and proactive and reactive media relations.

Tim also has experience in the above the line advertising, in Ogilvy Advertising, working as an Account Executive on the BP Corporate and Fuels accounts and new business team. More recently, he worked on one of Ogilvy UK’s largest below the line accounts BT in OgilvyOne, project managing from initial budget estimating and brief writing through to data analytics and evaluation on direct marketing campaigns worth over £1million in client spend mailing over 4 million people.

Tim believes that technology has fundamentally changed the rules of engagement between how brands and their audiences communicate, not just online but across all channels. The role of the media is, as a consequence, going through a seismic shift and interactive thinking therefore needs to be at the heart of all marketing strategy. He is innately interested in online social media in particular and how brands can harness this new medium to develop communications dialogue that resonates and cuts through the noise. He holds the Foundation Certificate from the Institute of Practising Advertisers (IPA).

Tim is a passionate football, rugby and general sport enthusiast having had a season ticket at his beloved Derby County for over 15 years, lost count of how many times he has arrived in fancy dress for a Headingley cricket test and cried into his beer watching Leicester Tigers rugby club! He loves good food, fine comedy and a decent pint. He cites Richard Branson as one of his all-time heroes and in a previous life ran a range of student club nights funding his university days whilst attaining a 2:1 degree in Management and Communications studies from the University of Leeds. He prides himself on the fact that he was one of the first of his friends on facebook though annoyed that he didn’t make a penny out of it! He is determined not to make the same mistake with his new online shop; www.ei42.com/whirlo!

You can find Tim online in many guises; he currently writes here www.timwhirledge.tumblr.com and here www.ogilvy.co.uk/publicrelations, has linkedin and facebook profiles (with too many groups to mention!) and flickr, delicious and youtube accounts. You’ll also be able to follow him here www.twitter.com/tim_whirledge and see his handle popup occasionally on the BBC football 606 debate sites, teamtalk.com and The Guardian comments section when Derby have played particularly poorly!

Tim is from Derbyshire, having been schooled at Trent College gaining 9 GCSEs (5 A’s, 4 B’s) and 3 A Levels (ABB) in English Literature, History and Business Studies. He is the oldest of 5 children and has finally admitted at the age of 23, he may not now make it as a professional footballer.