Siemens Wants to Regain Trust by Changing the Subject

The Germany-based engineering company Siemens is launching its most extensive ad campaign ever, as it grapples with "a massive corruption scandal." The "Siemens answers" campaign, developed by WPP's Ogilvy & Mather, 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 is also a frequent funder of video news releases. 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. Ogilvy Government Relations 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 oppose the plant.