Buckley thinks that Jameson has largely succeeded in retaining who they are as a brand, but added that at times “we’ve lost sight of that.” In the pitch, Buckley said they were really looking for an agency that could zero in on that brand truth and essence in the work.

Why Ogilvy

Buckley needed an agency with a true global presence, which the brand certainly gets with Ogilvy. Buckley was also looking for chemistry, which it entrusted in R3 to find it agencies that the brand would work well with.

The Pernod Ricard veteran walked Adweek through the pitch and where Ogilvy eventually made its mark against the other agencies.

Jameson and R3 conducted the pitch in three rounds. The first strategy session asked agencies to interrogate and question the current the strategy. In the second session—the tissue creative session, which also included agencies bringing up their initial cost tables, Ogilvy “didn’t knock it out of the park.”

It was the third session where Buckley and the Jameson team came away impressed with the WPP shop. They had given Ogilvy—and all the agencies—feedback based on the second round, and Ogilvy returned to the final session and showed “their ability to listen and play back to us their interpretation was really strong.” In that final round, Buckley said Ogilvy also delivered some “great strategic thinking and great creative platform.” The combination of the ideas and the ability to adapt made Ogilvy the right fit for Jameson in Buckley’s eyes.

Following the win, Buckley and Ogilvy will go into more development and testing before going into production.

It’s the latest win for Ogilvy, which has been on a new business tear for almost two years now. Dating back to WPP’s collective win of The Coca-Cola Company, Ogilvy has rattled off new accounts with Audi, SC Johnson, H&R Block and Verizon Business. The agency also previously had its foot in the door with Pernod Ricard globally with Absolut and Pernod Ricard USA working on its tequila and mezcal brands that include Olmeca Altos Tequila, Tequila Avión, and Del Maguey.