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
eye past people
Most readers look at the photograph first. If you put it in the middle of the page, the reader will start by looking in the middle. Then her eye must go up to read the headline; this doesn't work, because people have a habit of scanning downwards. However, suppose a few readers do read the headline after seeing the photograph below it. After that, you require them to jump down past the photograph which they have already seen. Not bloody likely.
bird mind trying
Try and inject into every commercial you make a touch of singularity; a bird that will hook on to the consumers mind
people looks stories
The more story-appeal there is in the picture or in the photograph, the more people would look at your ad
ideas technique helping
If you have a truly big idea, the wrong technique won't kill it. And if you don't have a big idea, the right technique won't help you
men rejection clients
Madison Avenue is full of masochists who unconsciously provoke rejection by their clients. I know brilliant men who have lost every account they have ever handled.
men lazy superficial
Lazy and superficial men and women do not produce superior work.
long brain style
It takes uncommon guts to stick to one style in the face of all the pressures to 'come up with something new' every six months. It is tragically easy to be stampeded into change. But golden rewards await the advertiser who has the brains to create a coherent image, and the stability to stick with it over a long period.
fire people management
It is the inescapable duty of management to fire incompetent people.
art winning awards
If you, my fellow copywriters or art directors, want to win the award, devote your genius to making the cash register ring.
believe once-upon-a-time toilets
Once upon a time I was riding on the top of a First Avenue bus, when I heard a mythical housewife say to another, "Molly, my dear, I would have bought that new brand of toilet soap if only they hadn't set the body copy in ten point Garamond." Don't you believe it. What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form.
night people television
People don't buy a new detergent because the manufacturer told a joke on television last night.
obscure headlines reader
Readers travel so fast they don't stop to decipher the meaning of obscure headlines.
home clients kind
While you are responsible to your clients for sales results, you are responsible to consumers for the kind of advertising you bring into their homes.
google tools use
Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving. Testing was used in advertising decades ago. The internet has made testing so easy that every online marketer can use it to improve advertising results. Google content experiment is a free tool for you to do split testing.