Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy

Good campaigns can run for many years without losing their selling power. p22ĭon’t let men write advertising for products which are bought by women. p22īy attempting to cover too many things, they achieve nothing.

The key to success is to promise the consumer a benefit like better flavor, whiter wash, more moles per gallon, a better complexion. It pays to study the product before writing your advertisements. p20Ĭreating successful advertising is a craft, part inspiration but mostly know-how and hard work. They aren’t interested in the products they advertise, and assume that the consumer won’t be either, so they say almost nothing about their virtues. They have never sold anything in their lives. p18Īdvertising agencies are now infested with people who regard advertising as an avant-garde art form. If all advertisers were to follow the example of their direct response brethren, they would sell more. The curious thing is that the techniques which work best in “direct” advertisements are seldom used in ordinary advertising-like giving factual information about the product.

Search all the parks in all your cities you’ll find no statues of committees. I am supposed to be one of the more fertile inventors of big ideas, but in my long career I have not had more than twenty. You cannot bore people into buying your product you can only interest them in buying it. We put the creative function at the top of our priorities. What most clients want from agencies is good advertising campaigns. Pitchmen in open-air markets know this, so they talk fast.

On average, 200 words a minute sells more of your product. But when it comes to advertising, Advertising age says that I am “the creative King of advertising.” When Fortune published an article about me and titled it “Is David Ogilvy a Genius?,” I asked my lawyer to sue the editor for the question mark. I cannot read a balance sheet, work a computer, ski, sail, play golf, or paint. I am a miserable duffer in everything except advertising. Third, to make myself better known in the business world. Second, to condition the market for a public offering of our shares. Why did I write it? First, to attract new clients to my advertising agency.

Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy