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David Ogilvy

David Ogilvy Quotes

Businessman

David Ogilvy, born on June 23, 1911 in Scotland, was an outstanding businessman. He was one of the founders of Ogilvy & Mather, an advertising agency that became one of the largest in the world. Known as the father of modern advertising, Ogilvy was renowned for his unique advertising philosophy and deep insights into consumer psychology, whose works had a profound impact on the global advertising industry.

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Famous David Ogilvy Quotes

“Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon.”

Trying Business Idiot Impress Pretentious Jargon Pretentiousness

Author:David Ogilvy

“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.”

People Ifs Inspirational Business Company Bigger Giants Dwarfs Recruitment

Author:David Ogilvy

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

Business Attention Products Sells Drawing Advertising Advertisements Advertising Agencies Great Advertising Drawing Attention

Book:Confessions of an advertising man

Source: Confessions of an advertising man

“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.”

People Looks Business Aim Management Advertising Settling Remarkable Routine Hiring Better Than You Service Culture Leadership And Management Top Management Managing People Great Managers Great Management

Author:David Ogilvy

“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.”

Want Writing Lying Business Wife Mines Marketing Advertising Advertisements Advertising Agencies Adverts Great Advertising Advertising And Marketing

Author:David Ogilvy

“In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create.”

Source: Confessions of an advertising man

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

Should Business Complexes Marketing Advertising Symbols Brands Contribution Advertisements Advertising Agencies Advertising And Marketing

Book:Confessions of an advertising man

Source: Confessions of an advertising man

“If you ever have the good fortune to create a great advertising campaign, you will soon see another agency steal it. This is irritating, but don't let it worry you; nobody has ever built a brand by imitating somebody else's advertising.”

Ifs Business Worry Economy Built Fortune Campaigns Stealing Advertising Brands Agency Good Fortune Irritating Irritated Imitating Advertising Agencies Great Advertising Advertisement Negative

Book:Confessions of an advertising man

Source: Confessions of an advertising man

“Advertising reflects the mores of society, but it does not influence them.”

Doe Business Influence Advertising

Author:David Ogilvy

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

Important Business Organization Advertising

Author:David Ogilvy

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

People Business Enemy Dangerous Research Advertising Signals Market Research Adverts

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

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

Form Business Marketing Advertising Consumers Insightful Great Advertising Advertising And Marketing Advertisement Negative Advertising Industry

Author:David Ogilvy

“Good copy can't be written with tongue in cheek, written just for a living. You've got to believe in the product.”

Believe Business Written Products Marketing Tongue Advertising Copies Cheeks Tongue In Cheek

Author:David Ogilvy

“Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.”

Business Advertising Improving Testing Great Advertising Advertisement Negative Testing Yourself Never Stop Improving

Book:Confessions of an advertising man

Source: Confessions of an advertising man

“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.”

Should Today Business Design Television Products Advertising Criticize Committees Messy Advertisements

Book:Confessions of an advertising man

Source: Confessions of an advertising man

“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.”

People Body Business Five Written Design Dollars Average Advertising Copies Cents Eighty Headlines Adverts Great Advertising Advertising And Marketing Online Advertising

Author:David Ogilvy

“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.”

Ifs Wells Important Leadership Business Products Tests Advertising Consumers Vocabulary Marketplace Important Words

Book:Confessions of an advertising man

Source: Confessions of an advertising man

“I have a theory that the best ads come from personal experience. Some of the good ones I have done have really come out of the real experience of my life, and somehow this has come over as true and valid and persuasive.”

Real Done Business Theory Advertising Ads Personal Experiences Persuasive

Author:David Ogilvy

“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.”

Ifs Needs Looks Business Economy Reader Pages Cents Advertisements Editorials Advertising Agencies

Book:Confessions of an advertising man

Source: Confessions of an advertising man

“I always said that mega-mergers were for megalomaniacs.”

Said Business Mega Mergers Megalomaniacs

Author:David Ogilvy

“Experience has taught me that advertisers get the best results when they pay their agency a flat fee. It is unrealistic to expect your agency to be impartial when its vested interest lies wholly in the direction of increasing your commissionable advertising.”

Lying Interest Results Business Pay Taught Advertising Agency Flats Fees Advertisers Vested Interests

Author:David Ogilvy

“Any damn fool can put on a deal, but it takes genius, faith and perseverance to create a brand.”

Deals Business Fool Genius Perseverance Brands Damn

Book:The Unpublished David Ogilvy

Source: The Unpublished David Ogilvy

“It has taken more than a hundred scientists two years to find out how to make the product in question; I have been given thirty days to create its personality and plan its launching. If I do my job well, I shall contribute as much as the hundred scientists to the success of this product.”

Ifs Years Wells Has Beens Two Jobs Given Business Taken Plans Products Personality Hundred Scientist Advertising Thirty Two Years Launching

Book:Confessions of an advertising man

Source: Confessions of an advertising man

“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.”

Ifs Thinking Business Honest Products Advertising

Book:Confessions of an advertising man

Source: Confessions of an advertising man

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

Believe Found I Believe Business Talent Advertising Rebel

Book:Confessions of an advertising man

Source: Confessions of an advertising man

“It has been found that the less an advertisement looks like an advertisement and the more it looks like an editorial, the more readers stop, look, and read.”

Looks Has Beens Found Business Reader Advertising Advertisements Editorials

Author:David Ogilvy

“Do not address your readers as though they were gathered together in a stadium. When people read your copy, they are alone. Pretend you are writing to each of them a letter on behalf of your client.”

People Writing Together Business Reader Letters Marketing Advertising Addresses Copies Clients Behalf Stadiums Digital Marketing Marketing Strategy Content Marketing Advertising And Marketing Business Marketing

Author:David Ogilvy

“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.”

“You make the best products you can, and you grow as fast as you deserve to.”

Grows Growth Business Products Achievement Deserve

Author:David Ogilvy

“Ninety-nine percent of advertising doesn't sell much of anything.”

Business Percent Sells Nine Advertising Ninety Ninety Nine

Author:David Ogilvy

“Never write an advertisement which you wouldn't want your own family to read. You wouldn't tell lies to your own wife. Don't tell them to mine. Do as you would be done by.”

Ifs Thinking Want Writing Done Government Would Be Lying Found Business Wife Honest Mines Products Advertising Consumers Buying Advertisements

Author:David Ogilvy

“Why should a manufacturer bet his money, perhaps the future of his company, on your instinct?”

Should Business Company Instinct Advertising

Author:David Ogilvy

“If you have all the research, all the ground rules, all the directives, all the data - it doesn't mean the ad is written. Then you've got to close the door and write something - that is the moment of truth which we all try to postpone as long as possible.”

Ifs Writing Trying Mean Long Moments Business Written Doors Research Advertising Data Ads Moment Of Truth Ground Rules

Author:David Ogilvy

About the Author

Born: June 23, 1911
Died: July 21, 1999
Known for: Businessman
Quotes: 223

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Advertising Ifs People Business Products Advertisements Consumers Economy Marketing Agency Clients Men Writing Advertising Agencies Great Advertising Ideas Brands Headlines Knows Thinking

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Books & Sources

Confessions of an advertising manRelated source material

The Unpublished David OgilvyRelated source material

An autobiographyRelated source material

Blood, Brains and BeerRelated source material

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