Siemens Wants to Regain Trust by Changing the Subject [1]
Submitted by Diane Farsetta [2] on
The Germany-based engineering company Siemens [3] is launching its most extensive ad campaign ever, as it grapples with "a massive corruption scandal." The "Siemens answers" campaign, developed by WPP [4]'s Ogilvy & Mather [5], will run in "major markets around the globe." Siemens is spending $148 million a year on the three-year campaign, which highlights health care, energy and industrial "technologies being developed by Siemens." In addition to print ads, the campaign will include billboards, television ads and "keyword-based marketing" online. The goal is to "help Siemens regain the public's trust," after allegations surfaced that company managers paid bribes to win infrastructure contracts in several countries. Siemens [6] is also [7] a frequent [8] funder [9] of video news releases [10]. Meanwhile, Ogilvy's lobbying arm "is seeking various federal approvals for a controversial $3B coal-fired power plant proposed for Desert Rock on Navaho land in New Mexico," reports O'Dwyer's [11]. Ogilvy Government Relations [12] is working for Sithe Global Power, which portrays the plant as "a way to meet the fast-growing energy needs of Phoenix and Las Vegas." Environmentalists and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson [13] oppose the plant.