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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

“Many of the greatest creations of man have been inspired by the desire to make money...If Oxford undergraduates were paid for their work, I would have performed miracles of scholarship and become Regius Professor of Modern History.”

Ifs Men Has Beens Desire Education Modern Creation Miracle Paid Inspired Making Money Professors Scholarship Oxford Modern History Creation Of Man

Author:David Ogilvy

“Lazy and superficial men and women do not produce superior work.”

Men Produce Men And Women Superiors Lazy Superficial

Author:David Ogilvy

“Madison Avenue is full of masochists who unconsciously provoke rejection by their clients. I know brilliant men who have lost every account they have ever handled.”

Knows Men Lost Accounts Brilliant Rejection Clients Provoking Avenues Madison Madison Avenue

Author:David Ogilvy

“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.”

Men Writing Economy Plans Stage Men And Women Advertising Agency Opera Helpless Deaf Advertisements Advertising Agencies Metropolitan Great Advertising Advertisement Negative

Book:Confessions of an advertising man

Source: Confessions of an advertising man

“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.”

Men Needs Genius Lays Golden Advertising Agency Exception Eggs Disagreeable Advertising Agencies Golden Eggs

Book:Confessions of an advertising man

Source: Confessions of an advertising man

“It strikes me as bad manners for a magazine to accept one of my advertisements and then attack it editorially - like inviting a man to dinner then spitting in his eye.”

Men Eye Accepting Economy Dinner Strikes Magazines Manners His Eyes Inviting Advertisements Accept Me Bad Manners

Book:Confessions of an advertising man

Source: Confessions of an advertising man

“The creative process requires more than reason. Most original thinking isn't even verbal. It requires 'a groping experimentation with ideas, governed by intuitive hunches and inspired by the unconscious.' The majority of business men are incapable of original thinking because they are unable to escape from the tyranny of reason. Their imaginations are blocked.”

Source: Confessions of an advertising man

“Hard work never killed a man. Men die of boredom, psychological conflict, and disease. They do not die of hard work.”

Men Hard Dies Hard Work Conflict Disease Psychological Boredom

Book:Blood, Brains and Beer

Source: Blood, Brains and Beer

“The majority of business men are not capable of an original thought, simply because they cannot escape the tyranny of reason.”

Men Reason Capable Originals Majority Tyranny Originality Business Man Original Thought

Author:David Ogilvy

“Senior men have no monopoly on great ideas. Nor do creative people. Some of the best ideas come from account executives, researchers and others. Encourage this, you need all the ideas you can get.”

People Men Needs Ideas Creative Design Accounts Executives Senior Monopoly Great Idea Creative People Researchers

Book:The Unpublished David Ogilvy

Source: The Unpublished David Ogilvy

“As a private person, I have a passion for landscape, and I have never seen one improved by a billboard. Where every prospect pleases, man is at his vilest when he erects a billboard. When I retire from Madison Avenue, I am going to start a secret society of masked vigilantes who will travel around the world on silent motor bicycles, chopping down posters at the dark of the moon. How many juries will convict us when we are caught in these acts of beneficent citizenship?”

“Managing an advertising agency isn't all beer and skittles. After fourteen years of it, I have come to the conclusion that the top man has one principle responsibility: to provide an atmosphere in which creative mavericks can do useful work.”

Men Years Can Do Responsibility Principles Creative Conclusion Advertising Beer Atmosphere Agency Fourteen Advertising Agencies Maverick Skittles

Book:Confessions of an advertising man

Source: Confessions of an advertising man

“Our offices must always be headed by the kind of men who command respect. Not phonies, zeros or bastards.”

Men Kind Office Command Advertising Phony

Author:David Ogilvy

“Few of the great creators have bland personalities. They are cantankerous egotists, the kind of men who are unwelcome in the modern corporation.”

Men Kind Modern Personality Creator Advertising Corporations Bland Unwelcome

Book:Confessions of an advertising man

Source: Confessions of an advertising man

“If you ever find a man who is better than you are - hire him. If necessary, pay him more than you pay yourself.”

Ifs Men Pay Better Than You

Book:The Unpublished David Ogilvy

Source: The Unpublished 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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