David Ogilvy
David Ogilvy
David Mackenzie Ogilvy CBEwas an advertising executive who was widely hailed as "The Father of Advertising". In 1962, Time called him "the most sought-after wizard in today's advertising industry". He founded Ogilvy & Mather...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionBusinessman
Date of Birth23 June 1911
buy people persuade rules seems trying
I don't know the rules of grammar. If you're trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language.
among charge ferment president sure vice
Make sure you have a Vice President in charge of Revolution, to engender ferment among your more conventional colleagues.
business needs looks
There is no need for advertisements to look like advertisements. If you make them look like editorial pages, you will attract about 50 per cent more readers.
enemy merit disability
Remove advertising, disable a person or firm from proclaiming its wares and their merits, and the whole of society and of the economy is transformed. The enemies of advertising are the enemies of freedom.
men thinking ideas
The creative process requires more than reason. Most original thinking isn't even verbal. It requires 'a groping experimentation with ideas, governed by intuitive hunches and inspired by the unconscious.' The majority of business men are incapable of original thinking because they are unable to escape from the tyranny of reason. Their imaginations are blocked.
might advertising march
Many manufacturers secretly question whether advertising really sells their product, but are vaguely afraid that their competitors might steal a march on them if they stopped.
abstract-painting advertising reader
Some manufacturers illustrate their advertisements with abstract paintings. I would only do this if I wished to conceal from the reader what I was advertising.
advertising
When you have nothing to say, sing it.
men personality corporations
Few of the great creators have bland personalities. They are cantankerous egotists, the kind of men who are unwelcome in the modern corporation.
men office kind
Our offices must always be headed by the kind of men who command respect. Not phonies, zeros or bastards.
business lying writing
Never write an advertisement which you wouldn't want your own family to read. You wouldn't tell lies to your own wife. Don't tell them to mine. Do as you would be done by. If you tell lies about a product, you will be found out - either by the Government, which will prosecute you, or by the consumer, who will punish you by not buying your product a second time. Good products can be sold by honest advertising. If you don't think the product is good, you have no business to be advertising it.
long personality investment
Every advertisement is part of the long term investment in the personality of the brand.
teamwork fashion successful
Nowadays it is the fashion to pretend that no single individual is ever responsible for a successful advertising campaign. This emphasis on "teamwork" is bunkum - a conspiracy of the mediocre majority.
ninety-nine advertising percent
Ninety-nine percent of advertising doesn't sell much of anything.