Political advertising ought to be stopped. It’s the only really dishonest kind of advertising that’s left. It’s totally dishonest.
DAVID OGILVYThe headline is the ‘ticket on the meat.’ Use it to flag down readers who are prospects for the kind of product you are advertising.
More David Ogilvy Quotes
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Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.
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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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Ninety-nine percent of advertising doesn’t sell much of anything.
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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.
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The pursuit of excellence is less profitable than the pursuit of bigness, but it can be more satisfying.
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Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.
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Advertising reflects the mores of society, but it does not influence them.
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It is flagrantly dishonest for an advertising agent to urge consumers to buy a product which he would not allow his own wife to buy.
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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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I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.
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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.
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Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon.
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In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create.
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A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself.
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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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Don’t bunt. Aim out of the ball park. Aim for the company of immortals.
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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.
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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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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.
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What you say in advertising is more important than how you say it.
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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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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.
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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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I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information.
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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.
DAVID OGILVY