David Ogilvy was a renowned businessman and advertisement magnate who is considered to be the ‘Father of Advertising’. During the early days of his career he worked as a door-to-door salesman for a pressure cooker manufacturer. He excelled there and was told to write an instruction manual for his colleagues. This manual was later acknowledged by the ‘Fortune Magazine’ as ‘the finest sales instruction manual ever written’. This helped him get a job as an accounting executive for a reputed advertising agency. He then went on to start his own advertising agency supported by his friends. The initial days witnessed some struggle but gradually the company got many renowned clients like ‘General Foods’ and ‘American Express’. His most notable advertising campaign was for ‘Dove Soap’ which escalated the company to become a top-seller. Ogilvy was very ambitious and in order to globalize his company he merged with Marther & Crather to form Ogilvy & Marther. He further led the company to become successful on a global scale. His book ‘Confessions of an Advertising Man’ is believed to be his best work and is said to work as a bible for the people of the advertising industry. Here is a collection of quotes and sayings by David Ogilvy which have been scanned from his writings, work, thoughts and books. Go through the thoughts and quotations by David Ogilvy that reveal the secrets of business and advertising.
The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.
David Ogilvy
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.
Where people aren’t having any fun, they seldom produce good work.
David Ogilvy
On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.
Much of the messy advertising you see on television today is the product of committees. Committees can criticize advertisements, but they should never be allowed to create them.
If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.
David Ogilvy
Don't bunt. Aim out of the ballpark. Aim for the company of immortals.
David Ogilvy
In my experience, committees can criticize, but they cannot create. ‘Search the parks in all your cities You’ll find no statues of committees.
Said Winston Churchill, ‘PERFECTIONISM is spelled PARALYSIS.
David Ogilvy
On average, helpful information is read by 75 per cent more people than copy which deals only with the product. This ad told how Rinso gets out stains. It was read and remembered
David Ogilvy
Advertisements with long copy convey the impression that you have something important to say, whether people read the copy or not.
Any fool can write a bad advertisement, but it takes a genius to keep his hands off a good one.
David Ogilvy
A psychologist flashed hundreds of words on a screen and used an electric gadget to measure emotional reactions. High marks went to darling. So I used it in a headline for Dove.
