David Ogilvy Quotes About Advertising

Quotes about: Advertising

• The more informative your advertising, the more persuasive it will be.

  David Ogilvy

  Marketing, Advertising, Economy

  David Ogilvy (1963). “Confessions of an advertising man”, Holiday House

• The consumer isn't a moron; she is your wife.

  David Ogilvy

  Funny, Sarcastic, Witty

  Confessions of an Advertising Man (1963) ch. 5

• The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.

  David Ogilvy

  Creativity, Humor, Thinking

• To advertisers: "Do not compete with your agency in the creative area. Why keep a dog and bark yourself?"

  David Ogilvy

  Dog, Humorous, Agency

  David Ogilvy (1963). “Confessions of an advertising man”, Holiday House

• I never tell one client that I cannot attend his sales convention because I have a previous engagement with another client; successful polygamy depends upon pretending to each spouse that she is the only pebble on your beach.

  David Ogilvy

  Beach, Humorous, Successful

  David Ogilvy (1963). “Confessions of an advertising man”, Holiday House

• Advertising is a business of words, but advertising agencies are infested with men and women who cannot write. They cannot write advertisements, and they cannot write plans. They are helpless as deaf mutes on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.

  David Ogilvy

  Writing, Men, Agency

  David Ogilvy (1963). “Confessions of an advertising man”, Holiday House

• 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, the language they use every day, the language in which they think. We try to write in the vernacular.

  David Ogilvy

  Business, Writing, Thinking

• What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form.

  David Ogilvy

  Business, Insightful, Marketing

• 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.

  David Ogilvy

  Business, Average, People

• Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.

  David Ogilvy

  Business, People, Enemy

• 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.

  David Ogilvy

  Business, Lying, Writing

• Every advertisement should be thought of as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image.

  David Ogilvy

  Business, Marketing, Advertising

  David Ogilvy (1963). “Confessions of an advertising man”, Holiday House

• Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.

  David Ogilvy

  Business, Testing Yourself, Advertising

  David Ogilvy (1963). “Confessions of an advertising man”, Holiday House

• Talent, I believe, is most likely to be found among nonconformists, dissenters, and rebels.

  David Ogilvy

  Business, Believe, Rebel

  David Ogilvy (1963). “Confessions of an advertising man”, Holiday House

• Advertising is only evil when it advertises evil things.

  David Ogilvy

  Evil, Marketing, Advertising Business

• Like a midwife, I make my living bringing new babies into the world, except that mine are new advertising campaigns.

  David Ogilvy

  Baby, Campaigns, World

  David Ogilvy (1963). “Confessions of an advertising man”, Holiday House

• I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information.

  David Ogilvy

  Art, Information, Entertainment

• 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.

  David Ogilvy

  Business, Top Management, Service Culture

• Big ideas come from the unconscious. This is true in art, in science, and in advertising. But your unconscious has to be well informed, or your idea will be irrelevant. Stuff your conscious mind with information, then unhook your rational thought process. You can help this process by going for a long walk, or taking a hot bath, or drinking half a pint of claret. Suddenly, if the telephone line from your unconscious is open, a big idea wells up within you.

  David Ogilvy

  Art, Business, Drinking

• There isn’t any significant difference between the various brands of whiskey, or cigarettes or beer. They are all about the same. And so are the cake mixes and the detergents, and the margarines… The manufacturer who dedicates his advertising to building the most sharply defined personality for his brand will get the largest share of the market at the highest profit.

  David Ogilvy

  Beer, Cake, Differences

  David Ogilvy (1963). “Confessions of an advertising man”, Holiday House

• A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself.

  David Ogilvy

  Business, Drawing, Attention

  David Ogilvy (1963). “Confessions of an advertising man”, Holiday House

• Good products can be sold by honest advertising. If you don't think the product is good, you have no business to be advertising it.

  David Ogilvy

  Business, Thinking, Honest

  David Ogilvy (1963). “Confessions of an advertising man”, Holiday House

• What you say in advertising is more important than how you say it.

  David Ogilvy

  Business, Organization, Important

• If it doesn't sell, it isn't creative.

  David Ogilvy

  Wise, Witty, Humor

• 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.

  David Ogilvy

  Business, Design, Television

  David Ogilvy (1963). “Confessions of an advertising man”, Holiday House

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