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The Unpublished David Ogilvy
Presents memos, letters, speeches, papers, lists, and quotes regarding the author's successful career in advertising
178 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1987
39 people are currently reading
1531 people want to read
About the author
David Ogilvy
68 books343 followersDavid Mackenzie Ogilvy was born in West Horsley, England, on June 23, 1911. He was educated at Fettes College in Edinburgh and at Christ Church, Oxford (although he didn't graduate).
david ogilvy After Oxford, Ogilvy went to Paris, where he worked in the kitchen of the Hotel Majestic. He learned discipline, management - and when to move on: "If I stayed at the Majestic I would have faced years of slave wages, fiendish pressure, and perpetual exhaustion." He returned to England to sell cooking stoves, door-to-door.
Ogilvy's career with Aga Cookers was astonishing. He sold stoves to nuns, drunkards, and everyone in between. In 1935 he wrote a guide for Aga salesmen (Fortune magazine called it "probably the best sales manual ever written"). Among its suggestions, "The more prospects you talk to, the more sales you expose yourself to, the more orders you will get. But never mistake quantity of calls for quality of salesmanship."
In 1938, Ogilvy emigrated to the United States, where he went to work for George Gallup's Audience Research Institute in New Jersey. Ogilvy cites Gallup as one of the major influences on his thinking, emphasizing meticulous research methods and adherence to reality...
david ogilvy After Oxford, Ogilvy went to Paris, where he worked in the kitchen of the Hotel Majestic. He learned discipline, management - and when to move on: "If I stayed at the Majestic I would have faced years of slave wages, fiendish pressure, and perpetual exhaustion." He returned to England to sell cooking stoves, door-to-door.
Ogilvy's career with Aga Cookers was astonishing. He sold stoves to nuns, drunkards, and everyone in between. In 1935 he wrote a guide for Aga salesmen (Fortune magazine called it "probably the best sales manual ever written"). Among its suggestions, "The more prospects you talk to, the more sales you expose yourself to, the more orders you will get. But never mistake quantity of calls for quality of salesmanship."
In 1938, Ogilvy emigrated to the United States, where he went to work for George Gallup's Audience Research Institute in New Jersey. Ogilvy cites Gallup as one of the major influences on his thinking, emphasizing meticulous research methods and adherence to reality...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
November 12, 2017
Why do I have this book!?! I know nothing about advertising!
Surprisingly, it's not boring - I guess David Ogilvy is famous in the ad world (Wikipedia describes him as the 'father of advertising'), this book collects various speeches, memos and interviews contributed by his colleagues for Ogily's birthday. Since the book is literally a birthday present it's very uncritical, but there are still interesting points:
- I guess Ogilvy is directly responsible for those weird Coca-Cola TV ads. In this world ads are not to sell a specific product, but to create an image of the company in people's heads: 'Today, I have come to believe, with Gardner and Levy, that every advertisement must be considered as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image.' or 'the kind of indestructible image which is the only thing that can make your brand part of the fabric of American life.'
- it's also interesting from a business/management/looking after your people perspective. His agency often quit on clients for various reasons, often to protect their own people, sometimes because he did not want his agency to become associated with a bad product:
Saying 'no' to something that doesn't work or where you don't want to be a part of is one of the things I still have to learn (but I'm happy to see that the term of someone being 'a shit' is not a recent invention)
They were one of the first to have an explicit company culture with rules and standards with the usual stuff people are used to now. What's interesting to me is that those rules always include that his employees should be good citizens and be involved in their respective communities.
That's something I don't see in modern capitalism - big companies like Facebook and Google explicitly keep their employees out of their respective communities by offering free food and activities with the companies. The idea is to have employees hang around as much as possible to interact with other employees and come up with new ideas. The downside is that these employees are completely disconnected from their (non-work) community since they cannot spend time in it, they have ceased being citizens (and don't get me started on the work hours - these people essentially work 10-11 hours a day while being paid for 8, they may get paid well for those 8 hours but it erodes standards people have fought for for more than 100 years)
I also will use these rules in all of my own work: 'We admire kindly people with gentle manners who treat other people as human beings – particularly the people who sell things to us. We abhor quarrelsome people. We abhor people who wage paper warfare. We abhor buck passers, and people who don’t tell the truth. [...] We admire people who practice delegation. The more you delegate, the more responsibility will be loaded upon you.'
Surprisingly, it's not boring - I guess David Ogilvy is famous in the ad world (Wikipedia describes him as the 'father of advertising'), this book collects various speeches, memos and interviews contributed by his colleagues for Ogily's birthday. Since the book is literally a birthday present it's very uncritical, but there are still interesting points:
- I guess Ogilvy is directly responsible for those weird Coca-Cola TV ads. In this world ads are not to sell a specific product, but to create an image of the company in people's heads: 'Today, I have come to believe, with Gardner and Levy, that every advertisement must be considered as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image.' or 'the kind of indestructible image which is the only thing that can make your brand part of the fabric of American life.'
- it's also interesting from a business/management/looking after your people perspective. His agency often quit on clients for various reasons, often to protect their own people, sometimes because he did not want his agency to become associated with a bad product:
We only had one office and about 18 clients and I dealt directly with all of them. Personal dislike made me resign many accounts. I didn’t like having to deal with the sonofabitch. Why should I? We pass this way only once. [...] I said I’ve come to resign your business. He asked why. I said because your Executive Vice President is a shit. And he’s behaving very badly. He’s treating your people atrociously and he’s treating my people atrociously. Now what he does to your people – that’s your business. But I’m not going to allow this man to go on demoralizing the people of Ogilvy & Mather. It’s something I won’t accept. So goodbye. [...] That’s why I resigned the Rolls-Royce account. They went through a very bad two-year period. I wrote to them one day and said – I put the heading “Lemons” on my letter (I don’t know if I stole that from the Volkswagen advertising) – I said that the last 600 cars you sent to the United States don’t work. And I will no longer be a party to recommending that people buy them. I resign.
Saying 'no' to something that doesn't work or where you don't want to be a part of is one of the things I still have to learn (but I'm happy to see that the term of someone being 'a shit' is not a recent invention)
They were one of the first to have an explicit company culture with rules and standards with the usual stuff people are used to now. What's interesting to me is that those rules always include that his employees should be good citizens and be involved in their respective communities.
That's something I don't see in modern capitalism - big companies like Facebook and Google explicitly keep their employees out of their respective communities by offering free food and activities with the companies. The idea is to have employees hang around as much as possible to interact with other employees and come up with new ideas. The downside is that these employees are completely disconnected from their (non-work) community since they cannot spend time in it, they have ceased being citizens (and don't get me started on the work hours - these people essentially work 10-11 hours a day while being paid for 8, they may get paid well for those 8 hours but it erodes standards people have fought for for more than 100 years)
I also will use these rules in all of my own work: 'We admire kindly people with gentle manners who treat other people as human beings – particularly the people who sell things to us. We abhor quarrelsome people. We abhor people who wage paper warfare. We abhor buck passers, and people who don’t tell the truth. [...] We admire people who practice delegation. The more you delegate, the more responsibility will be loaded upon you.'
November 15, 2013
The Unpublished David Ogilvy was published as a surprise gift for Ogilvy's 75th birthday. Thank God for that! Every person associated with the creative arts MUST read this book. It's a quick read with letters, notes, memos, speeches and pictures of Ogilvy.
An interesting section is his speech on leadership. Ogilvy was keen on this subject towards the later years of life. But, my favourite section was the interview by his partner Joel Raphaelson. The creative genius of Ogilvy is evident from the interview. Although he got old, his desire for learning and doing never faded. His interest and curiosity kept him going. He always wanted to 'do'. Indeed an inspiring interview.
I'm going to end this review now. Sometimes there's a lot to say and sometimes it just does to keep it short. And, as Ogilvy always says, 'Keep it simple.'
In simple words - READ IT.
An interesting section is his speech on leadership. Ogilvy was keen on this subject towards the later years of life. But, my favourite section was the interview by his partner Joel Raphaelson. The creative genius of Ogilvy is evident from the interview. Although he got old, his desire for learning and doing never faded. His interest and curiosity kept him going. He always wanted to 'do'. Indeed an inspiring interview.
I'm going to end this review now. Sometimes there's a lot to say and sometimes it just does to keep it short. And, as Ogilvy always says, 'Keep it simple.'
In simple words - READ IT.
October 20, 2020
Incredible words and speeches from the father of Modern advertising. Must read for people who manage a few people under them directly. Most of the book is useful for large section of people and some part of the book will appeal to only those who work in creative industry.
March 25, 2019
Ogilvy - đanh đá, chăm chỉ và luôn đầy cảm hứng!
(4 sao vì đọc phải dịch như dở hơi).
(4 sao vì đọc phải dịch như dở hơi).
September 22, 2013
I have never read a non-fiction book with so much gusto until this one. WOW!
I just gobbled his words like they were chocolates. :O
I just gobbled his words like they were chocolates. :O
January 27, 2014
Unpublished David Ogilvy is a collection of Ogivly's writing compiled by his colleagues. It has a lot of good info for anyone who promotes a business or cause. Definitely a must read for marketers.
November 22, 2022
In another world I would have gotten the WPP Fellowship and ended up in advertising. But in this world I went to payments and ended up in HBS.
Reading the words of the godfather of advertising made me think about the forks in our life and the “what ifs”. I didn’t find his words terribly profound but some bits stood up to me:
Don’t judge the value of higher education in terms of careermanship. Judge it for what it is — a priceless opportunity to furnish your mind and enrich the quality of your life.
I cannot play golf, tennis or bridge. I cannot, alas, ski or sail. I still ride a bicycle. I spend several hours a day working with my gardeners, and several hours at my desk. And I read a great deal.
Set exorbitant standards, and give your people hell when they don’t live up to them. There is nothing so demoralising as a boss who tolerates second-rate work.
Don’t let your people fall into a rut. Keep leading them along new paths, blazing new trails. Give them a sense of adventurous pioneering.
You have to endure the horrors of A levels and O levels. The masters have to cram you full of facts, so that you can pass those odious examinations. This is like cramming corn down the throat of a goose to enlarge his liver. It may produce excellent pate de foie gras, but it does the goose no permanent good.
The mission of a great school is not to cram you with facts and give many boys a distaste for learning that they will never read another book so long as they live. The mission of a school is to inspire you with a taste for scholarship — a taste which will last you all your life.
The man who was then President of our agency thought I was nuts to take your account. He said it was too small. He told me, “Jesus Christ could perform a miracle by feeding the multitude with three loaves and two small fishes, but you ain’t Jesus Christ.” So I waited for our President to go on vacation, and then signed up.
When the toy-buyer at Sears made a mistake which cost his company 10 million bucks, I asked the head of Sears, “Are you going to fire him?” “Hell no,” he replied, “I fire people who don’t make mistakes”.
Are we devoting too much time and money to salvaging our flops — and not enough to exploiting our breakthroughs?
So little of research percolates down to the people on the firing line. It might be a good idea to declare a five year moratorium on new research projects while we analyse the huge volume of discoveries that is gathering dust on the shelves.
If you always hire people who are smaller than you are, you shall become a company of dwarfs. If you hire people who are bigger than you are, we shall become a company of giants.
Good leaders do not suffer from the crippling need to be universally loved; they have the guts to make unpopular decisions — including to fire non-performers. Gladstone once said that a great Prime Minister must be a good butcher.
Good leaders are decisive. They grasp nettles.
I shall always look back on the years I worked with him as some of the most difficult and trying ones in my life. For all that I thank God that I was given the opportunity of working alongside of such a man, and of having my eyes opened to the fact that occasionally such supermen exist on this earth.
Megamergers are for megalomaniacs. The people who make megamergers are people who want to be the head of the biggest goddamn agency. These mergers do nothing for the people in the agency. They do nothing for their clients. And it remains to be seen whether they do anything for stockholders. What they do good for is the megalomaniacs who engineer them.
Reading the words of the godfather of advertising made me think about the forks in our life and the “what ifs”. I didn’t find his words terribly profound but some bits stood up to me:
Don’t judge the value of higher education in terms of careermanship. Judge it for what it is — a priceless opportunity to furnish your mind and enrich the quality of your life.
I cannot play golf, tennis or bridge. I cannot, alas, ski or sail. I still ride a bicycle. I spend several hours a day working with my gardeners, and several hours at my desk. And I read a great deal.
Set exorbitant standards, and give your people hell when they don’t live up to them. There is nothing so demoralising as a boss who tolerates second-rate work.
Don’t let your people fall into a rut. Keep leading them along new paths, blazing new trails. Give them a sense of adventurous pioneering.
You have to endure the horrors of A levels and O levels. The masters have to cram you full of facts, so that you can pass those odious examinations. This is like cramming corn down the throat of a goose to enlarge his liver. It may produce excellent pate de foie gras, but it does the goose no permanent good.
The mission of a great school is not to cram you with facts and give many boys a distaste for learning that they will never read another book so long as they live. The mission of a school is to inspire you with a taste for scholarship — a taste which will last you all your life.
The man who was then President of our agency thought I was nuts to take your account. He said it was too small. He told me, “Jesus Christ could perform a miracle by feeding the multitude with three loaves and two small fishes, but you ain’t Jesus Christ.” So I waited for our President to go on vacation, and then signed up.
When the toy-buyer at Sears made a mistake which cost his company 10 million bucks, I asked the head of Sears, “Are you going to fire him?” “Hell no,” he replied, “I fire people who don’t make mistakes”.
Are we devoting too much time and money to salvaging our flops — and not enough to exploiting our breakthroughs?
So little of research percolates down to the people on the firing line. It might be a good idea to declare a five year moratorium on new research projects while we analyse the huge volume of discoveries that is gathering dust on the shelves.
If you always hire people who are smaller than you are, you shall become a company of dwarfs. If you hire people who are bigger than you are, we shall become a company of giants.
Good leaders do not suffer from the crippling need to be universally loved; they have the guts to make unpopular decisions — including to fire non-performers. Gladstone once said that a great Prime Minister must be a good butcher.
Good leaders are decisive. They grasp nettles.
I shall always look back on the years I worked with him as some of the most difficult and trying ones in my life. For all that I thank God that I was given the opportunity of working alongside of such a man, and of having my eyes opened to the fact that occasionally such supermen exist on this earth.
Megamergers are for megalomaniacs. The people who make megamergers are people who want to be the head of the biggest goddamn agency. These mergers do nothing for the people in the agency. They do nothing for their clients. And it remains to be seen whether they do anything for stockholders. What they do good for is the megalomaniacs who engineer them.
March 10, 2025
What's it about? (No spoilers!)
Imagine getting a peek into the private files of David Ogilvy, the "Father of Advertising." That's exactly what this book offers. It's a collection of his personal memos, letters, speeches, and notes, gathered together as a birthday gift for him years ago. Because these weren't meant for the public, they're incredibly candid and give you a real sense of the man behind the legend. We're talking about five decades worth of his thoughts on advertising, being creative, and leading people.
What I Loved:
The best part is how real Ogilvy feels. It's like he's personally mentoring you. He's incredibly direct and doesn't mince words, which is refreshing. He has some amazing, quotable lines about not boring people into buying your stuff and making sure every ad tells the whole story. Plus, the book includes his famous sales manual for the AGA Cooker – which is apparently legendary in its own right. Just that part makes the book worth reading.
What Could Have Been Better:
Because it's a collection of different things from different times, it can feel a little jumpy. Sometimes, you wish there was a bit more background information to explain why he wrote a particular memo or what was going on at the time. It's not a smooth, flowing narrative, but more like a scrapbook.
Who Should Read It?
If you're in marketing, advertising, or any kind of communications role, this is a must-read. It's also great for business leaders who want to learn about managing creative teams and building a strong company culture. And if you're starting your own business, Ogilvy's advice on selling and building a brand is timeless.
My Overall Impression (and Star Rating):
Even though it's a bit of a mixed bag in terms of structure, this book is a goldmine of wisdom. It's a rare chance to learn from one of the greatest minds in advertising. His ideas about connecting with people and being truly creative are still incredibly relevant today. I'd give it four and a half stars out of five.
Imagine getting a peek into the private files of David Ogilvy, the "Father of Advertising." That's exactly what this book offers. It's a collection of his personal memos, letters, speeches, and notes, gathered together as a birthday gift for him years ago. Because these weren't meant for the public, they're incredibly candid and give you a real sense of the man behind the legend. We're talking about five decades worth of his thoughts on advertising, being creative, and leading people.
What I Loved:
The best part is how real Ogilvy feels. It's like he's personally mentoring you. He's incredibly direct and doesn't mince words, which is refreshing. He has some amazing, quotable lines about not boring people into buying your stuff and making sure every ad tells the whole story. Plus, the book includes his famous sales manual for the AGA Cooker – which is apparently legendary in its own right. Just that part makes the book worth reading.
What Could Have Been Better:
Because it's a collection of different things from different times, it can feel a little jumpy. Sometimes, you wish there was a bit more background information to explain why he wrote a particular memo or what was going on at the time. It's not a smooth, flowing narrative, but more like a scrapbook.
Who Should Read It?
If you're in marketing, advertising, or any kind of communications role, this is a must-read. It's also great for business leaders who want to learn about managing creative teams and building a strong company culture. And if you're starting your own business, Ogilvy's advice on selling and building a brand is timeless.
My Overall Impression (and Star Rating):
Even though it's a bit of a mixed bag in terms of structure, this book is a goldmine of wisdom. It's a rare chance to learn from one of the greatest minds in advertising. His ideas about connecting with people and being truly creative are still incredibly relevant today. I'd give it four and a half stars out of five.
July 18, 2017
I immersed myself thoroughly from the beginning of the book. It's not a biography or memoirs of David Ogilvy. It's his aphorism about advertising. His philosophy about business, leadership, management.
This is a book unlike other. It's a birthday present from his devoted family and colleagues who collected more than twenty-five years of memos, letters, speeches, notes and interviews written and spoken by David Ogilvy himself.
Every word that he spilled during his speeches, every sentence he wrote in his notes and memos. Contain dozen of wisdom about showmanship, advertising, and passion. In this book, the reader can be able to stand on his point of view as it was like we look thru David Ogilvy's eye in his ingenious mind.
It's a short read, but contain so much of wisdom about entrepreneurship and marketing.
As David Ogilvy says it: "Every advertisement must tell the whole sales story, because the public does not read the advertisement in series. The copy must be human and very simple, keyed right down to its market - a market in which self-conscious artwork and fine language serve only to make buyers wary."
This is a book unlike other. It's a birthday present from his devoted family and colleagues who collected more than twenty-five years of memos, letters, speeches, notes and interviews written and spoken by David Ogilvy himself.
Every word that he spilled during his speeches, every sentence he wrote in his notes and memos. Contain dozen of wisdom about showmanship, advertising, and passion. In this book, the reader can be able to stand on his point of view as it was like we look thru David Ogilvy's eye in his ingenious mind.
It's a short read, but contain so much of wisdom about entrepreneurship and marketing.
As David Ogilvy says it: "Every advertisement must tell the whole sales story, because the public does not read the advertisement in series. The copy must be human and very simple, keyed right down to its market - a market in which self-conscious artwork and fine language serve only to make buyers wary."
December 29, 2024
This book is a collection of memos, speeches, snippets, and other writings that the father of modern American advertising David Ogilvy put down over the years. It was put together and printed without his knowledge as a birthday gift, and as such it represents a splendent view into how Ogilvy thought and communicated.
The kernels of knowledge in these assembled writings can inform anyone doing communications or marketing work, whether that be selling cars, marketing entire corporations, or getting candidates elected.
It's an invaluable read.
The kernels of knowledge in these assembled writings can inform anyone doing communications or marketing work, whether that be selling cars, marketing entire corporations, or getting candidates elected.
It's an invaluable read.
May 26, 2024
It's like an archive of everything David Ogilvy has written or said, so sometimes it feels a little disjointed. And as a non native some of the context is lost. It does however have a lot of pearls of wisdom related to leadership, managing culture that I'd like to revisit again.
All in all, it was a quick read :)
All in all, it was a quick read :)
December 29, 2017
Amazing book! This was the kind of inspiration I needed. David Ogilvy's character is so eccentric yet so human. He is brilliant and principled, and insightful book about him and many lessons that I could learn from him.
October 11, 2020
A great book to get to know a lot about Corporate Culture, Advertising Industry and David Ogilvy the man.
Simple collection of various memos, letters, excerpts from his speeches. Every page is kind-of filled with usable insights.
Simple collection of various memos, letters, excerpts from his speeches. Every page is kind-of filled with usable insights.
March 28, 2021
A few minutes of read but a lot of years to understand. Ogilvy summarize years of tests, mistakes and failure to explain how Ogilvy succeed in a difficult environment. You need to read an put in practice.
June 17, 2022
I decided to pick up this book to reignite my love for advertising. And damn, genuinely made me wish I was alive at the same time David was.
Also made me sad to think how much Ogilvy as an agency has changed/deviated from the vision of the modern advertising’s very own man.
Also made me sad to think how much Ogilvy as an agency has changed/deviated from the vision of the modern advertising’s very own man.
February 28, 2017
Lots of pragmatic advice on management that is universally applicable across industries.
September 14, 2018
Outstanding quick read. Actual memos and thoughts of a really top-notch leader and practitioner. Good for leaders in service organizations especially.
July 5, 2018
Marvelous man. Marvelous read.
September 3, 2018
Only got really interesting towards the second half of the book, but there it picked up quite good and revealed some nuggets.
July 29, 2019
Поглед към философията на Дейвид Огилви в поредица от негови писма, статии и речи.
July 17, 2020
This book was an easy whimsical book showing how quirky ogilvy could be but also very practical and clear and honest in his writing. Also witty and whimsical. Easy to read.
January 2, 2021
Fun recollections by one of the greatest ad man in recent times. Not all useful or business nuggets, but enjoyable.
February 7, 2021
Все уже написано до нас. Но хотелось бы больше
May 25, 2021
Charming, hilarious; and there are philosophies you can't help but write down, and try internalize. One of the best business books I have ever read.
September 5, 2022
Тука звездите са 5 по 5 на квадрат и тн... просто е хубаво да се прочете !
January 30, 2023
An essential book for anyone interested in advertising and human nature.
May 14, 2024
Short book lets you dip your toes in the mind of David Ogilvy. Adding Confessions of an Ad Man and Ogilvy on Advertising to my reading list!
February 21, 2025
Fun to hear how he thinks and they way he ran the business. The excerpts were from different speeches, interviews, etc so it was a little hard to follow.
May 3, 2015
This is a short (I read most of it on a one-hour flight from Virac to Manila) collection of excerpts from Ogilvy's private and public memos, letters, speeches, and interviews. Full of useful and insightful gems, Ogilvy felt real to me, like a mentor, not an author. Really enjoyed the book's format.
A recurring emphasis is old-fashioned hard work -- "Men die of boredom, psychological conflict, and disease. They never die of hard work." -- which I found very insightful, since it's so unfashionable today.
Also, it was enlightening to read how his opinion on advertising evolved (from Claude Hopkin's emphasis on each advertisement earning a profit today towards each campaign being a building block of the long-term and complex thing that is the 'brand').
A recurring emphasis is old-fashioned hard work -- "Men die of boredom, psychological conflict, and disease. They never die of hard work." -- which I found very insightful, since it's so unfashionable today.
Also, it was enlightening to read how his opinion on advertising evolved (from Claude Hopkin's emphasis on each advertisement earning a profit today towards each campaign being a building block of the long-term and complex thing that is the 'brand').
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews