The most important word in the vocabulary of advertising is TEST. If you pretest your product with consumers, and pretest your advertising, you will do well in the marketplace.
DAVID OGILVYLike a midwife, I make my living bringing new babies into the world, except that mine are new advertising campaigns.
More David Ogilvy Quotes
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Many people – and I think I am one of them – are more productive when they’ve had a little to drink. I find if I drink two or three brandies, I’m far better able to write.
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The advertisers who believe in the selling power of jingles have never had to sell anything.
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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.
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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.
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Don’t bunt. Aim out of the ball park. Aim for the company of immortals.
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The more informative your advertising, the more persuasive it will be.
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Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.
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Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon.
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What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form.
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Like a midwife, I make my living bringing new babies into the world, except that mine are new advertising campaigns.
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The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.
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The headline is the ‘ticket on the meat.’ Use it to flag down readers who are prospects for the kind of product you are advertising.
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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.
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Every advertisement should be thought of as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image.
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Advertising reflects the mores of society, but it does not influence them.
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Good copy can’t be written with tongue in cheek, written just for a living. You’ve got to believe in the product.
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If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.
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Never write an advertisement which you wouldn’t want your family to read. You wouldn’t tell lies to your own wife. Don’t tell them to mine.
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There are very few men of genius in advertising agencies. But we need all we can find. Almost without exception they are disagreeable. Don’t destroy them. They lay golden eggs.
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Hire people who are better than you are, then leave them to get on with it. Look for people who will aim for the remarkable, who will not settle for the routine.
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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.
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Leaders grasp nettles.
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What you say in advertising is more important than how you say it.
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You now have to decide what ‘image’ you want for your brand. Image means personality. Products, like people, have personalities, and they can make or break them in the market place.
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Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.
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First, make yourself a reputation for being a creative genius. Second, surround yourself with partners who are better than you are. Third, leave them to go get on with it.
DAVID OGILVY