Be Nice: Ogilvy & Mather CEO Gives Cable Its Marching Orders

The essence of Ogilvy & Mather chmn/CEO Shelly Lazarus’ CTAM Summit keynote was summed up at the end, when Comcast’s Dave Watson asked her what MSOs should do to get customers to like them. "You have to actively seek out relationships with the people you do business with," she said. "Do something with the people who answer the phone. Something is not quite right there… It starts with things as simple as a call center." In a spirited speech, Lazarus said MSOs, in particular, need to spend more time worrying about current customers, rather than always chasing new ones. And they also need to spend more time developing their brands. "Your number one job is to build and protect your brand," she said. She complimented cable networks that have created powerful brands, singling out, among others, MTV, HBO, ESPN and C-SPAN ("C-SPAN is a brand almost in spite of itself," she said.) MSOs, on the other hand, still need to strengthen their brand images. "The good news is that the lower the expectations, the easier it is to surprise," she said.