'Thumbs Up' for World's Greatest Salesperson

Public voting activated and prestigious judging panel announced

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May 10, 2010, 10:04 ET

NEW YORK, May 10 /PRNewswire/ -- As the search for the World's Greatest Salesperson contest enters its final week, OgilvyOne Worldwide today announced the activation of public voting and a prestigious line-up of judges from distinguished companies who know how to sell including IBM and Salesforce.com.

For the first time, YouTube subscribers can give their "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down" to the video submissions. Contestants have submitted videos of up to two minutes in length that demonstrate how they would sell a red brick. Submissions to the online contest will close on Sunday May 16.

Twelve judges will be selecting the three finalists who will be flown to Cannes for the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival where they will be pitching a product live on stage at a special session on Monday June 21st. The judging panel consists of:

Jerry Wilson, Chief Commercial Officer, Coca-Cola
Bill Ogle, CMO, Motorola
Geoff Dodge, SVP, Salesforce.com
Buell Duncan, VP of Marketing, IBM Software
Ed Kaczmarek, Director of Innovation, Consumer Experiences, Kraft Foods
Vincent Young, Co-founder, RetailLeverage.com
Erin Foster, Director, Worldwide Sports and Entertainment Marketing, Eastman Kodak Company
Carol Krol, Editor-in-Chief, DM News
Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman, Ogilvy Group UK
Gustavo Martinez, Global New Business Director, Ogilvy & Mather
Mat Zucker, Executive Creative Director, OgilvyOne New York
Marie-Claire Barker, Chief Talent Officer, Ogilvy & Mather

Both the judging panel and the general public will be asked to vote on the videos based on creativity and effectiveness. The popular vote could potentially influence the judging panel.

"Since the first video was submitted, we have watched with joy the original ways in which our contestants have approached this one small aspect of the selling process," said Mat Zucker, Executive Creative Director of OgilvyOne in New York and the originator of the contest. "We have a growing body of work to choose from and hope that even more would-be salespeople will send additional submissions before the judging begins."

"We are so interested to learn how the craft of selling will be refreshed and reinvented for the 21st century," says Brian Fetherstonhaugh, Chairman and CEO of OgilvyOne Worldwide.

Tapping several tools of the sales trade, OgilvyOne is on a mission to reinvigorate the noble art of salesmanship and the credo of its founder David Ogilvy who said, "We sell, or else." To that end, OgilvyOne launched a global search to find the world's greatest salesperson through an online video competition on YouTube. Three finalists will be selected from entries received March 30 through May 16 and will pitch live on stage at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. The winner will be named the "Worlds' Greatest Salesperson" and will receive a three month fellowship with OgilvyOne to help craft the sales guide to the 21st century.

For details on the contest visit:

http://www.youtube.com/ogilvy

http://www.facebook.com/ogilvy

http://twitter.com/Sell_Or_Else/

http://www.linkedin.com/in/worldsgreatestsalesperson

About OgilvyOne Worldwide

OgilvyOne Worldwide is the strongest, most experienced and most highly awarded one-to-one marketing network in the world, with over 130 offices in 50 countries. It provides clients with a full range of direct, consulting and interactive services to deliver profitable customer relationships. The roster of clients is equally balanced between global clients including American Express, Cisco, IBM, Lenovo, Nestle, SAP and Unilever, and leading clients in our local markets. OgilvyOne Worldwide is a unit of The Ogilvy Group, a WPP company (Nasdaq: WPPGY), one of the world's largest communications services groups.

SOURCE OgilvyOne Worldwide