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Confessions of an Advertising Man
David Ogilvy was an advertising genius. At the age of 37, he founded the New York-based agency that later merged to form the international company known as Ogilvy & Mather. Regarded as the father of modern advertising, Ogilvy was responsible for some of the most memorable advertising campaigns ever created. Confessions of an Advertising Man is the distillation of all the Ogilvy concepts, tactics, and techniques that made this international best-seller a blueprint for sound business practice. If you aspire to be a good manager in any business, this seminal work is a must-read.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
About the author
David Ogilvy
54 books313 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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May 18, 2019This is one long, but entertaining, advert for Ogilvy's ad agency that's driven forward by a fantastic mixture of short paragraphs (many with just two sentences) and anecdotes. The first time reading it, I didn't really realise quite how relentless this effect was, until I found myself turning the last page.
Of course the business of keeping paragraphs short is one of the many pieces of advice that he gives in the book.
Ogilvy tells you how he runs his agency, how he gets his clients, how he creates his adverts and how, in his opinion, you can be a good client. What this allows him to do is to set out his wares and talk about the integrity, talent and business understanding that he could bring to the table. As well as drunkenness which on (at least one occasion) wins him a client as he has consumed so much that he is rendered incapable of saying anything and can only nod sagely, the potential customer reads into this a deep insight into his own business and wisdom rather than incipient liver damage and so hires Ogilvy.
Don't, however be put off.
It is also a slice of early 1960s life. The consumers will all be women and men will be writing the adverts. Illustrations are being phased out and replaced by black and white photographs and for the first time olde worlde cottages are being used to attract American tourists and their many dollars to Britain.
I recommend the chapter on how to be a good client to anybody responsible for outsourcing part of their business operations. It is geared to the advertising world, but the principles seem the same if you are commission professional services or carpet cleaners: appoint the right people in the first place, brief them thoroughly, don't try and compete with them. All those basics that are over looked from time to time are covered concisely here.
Ogilvy has no shortage of stories and advise and one can stand for all: "however hard you work, and however knowledgeable you become, you will be unable to represent your agency at the client's policy levels until you are at least thirty-five. One of my partners owes the rapidity of his ascent to the fact that he went bald when he was thirty, and another had the good fortune to become white-headed at forty. Be patient."
Of course the business of keeping paragraphs short is one of the many pieces of advice that he gives in the book.
Ogilvy tells you how he runs his agency, how he gets his clients, how he creates his adverts and how, in his opinion, you can be a good client. What this allows him to do is to set out his wares and talk about the integrity, talent and business understanding that he could bring to the table. As well as drunkenness which on (at least one occasion) wins him a client as he has consumed so much that he is rendered incapable of saying anything and can only nod sagely, the potential customer reads into this a deep insight into his own business and wisdom rather than incipient liver damage and so hires Ogilvy.
Don't, however be put off.
It is also a slice of early 1960s life. The consumers will all be women and men will be writing the adverts. Illustrations are being phased out and replaced by black and white photographs and for the first time olde worlde cottages are being used to attract American tourists and their many dollars to Britain.
I recommend the chapter on how to be a good client to anybody responsible for outsourcing part of their business operations. It is geared to the advertising world, but the principles seem the same if you are commission professional services or carpet cleaners: appoint the right people in the first place, brief them thoroughly, don't try and compete with them. All those basics that are over looked from time to time are covered concisely here.
Ogilvy has no shortage of stories and advise and one can stand for all: "however hard you work, and however knowledgeable you become, you will be unable to represent your agency at the client's policy levels until you are at least thirty-five. One of my partners owes the rapidity of his ascent to the fact that he went bald when he was thirty, and another had the good fortune to become white-headed at forty. Be patient."
July 5, 2013
Having always been fascinated by advertising, this book was on my list of must buy. A quick browse at Amazon.com, and I knew I just must have it. So why not more than 3 stars?
This was a book from a genius in the advertising field. The topics, or tips, or whatever you want to call them, were supposed to be, in my opinion, ageless. Some are. How to be the leading man in an agency, how to behave with clients to get accounts (sometimes), etc... Yet, a lot is typical to the time of writing, and not so much independent of time. Also, there was a heavy feel that this was an American way of handling advertising, and not necessarily international.
I do realize that this should have been expected, to a certain extent, yet I found it somewhat disappointing in crucial content.
That being said, Ogilvy, remains in my opinion, one of the best word manipulators of all time. His storytelling abilities shine through the book, just as much as his copywriting. Words captivate and enchant at the same time.
If you are new to the field of advertising, or simply interested in knowing about it, then this is a book I would definitely recommend. Just be sure to double check some of the info, as some of it is outdated.
This was a book from a genius in the advertising field. The topics, or tips, or whatever you want to call them, were supposed to be, in my opinion, ageless. Some are. How to be the leading man in an agency, how to behave with clients to get accounts (sometimes), etc... Yet, a lot is typical to the time of writing, and not so much independent of time. Also, there was a heavy feel that this was an American way of handling advertising, and not necessarily international.
I do realize that this should have been expected, to a certain extent, yet I found it somewhat disappointing in crucial content.
That being said, Ogilvy, remains in my opinion, one of the best word manipulators of all time. His storytelling abilities shine through the book, just as much as his copywriting. Words captivate and enchant at the same time.
If you are new to the field of advertising, or simply interested in knowing about it, then this is a book I would definitely recommend. Just be sure to double check some of the info, as some of it is outdated.
November 9, 2011
I wish I had read this book ten years ago. Ha.
Much of it is as spot-on now as it was then. I love the prologue from the 80's where he makes two small corrections to the book, as if everything else is totally un-changed. I wish David Ogilvy had lived in the internet times. I would love to know what the thought about things.
If you're in advertising, read this book. Balance it out with a book about Bill Bernbach. Ignore some of his cantankerous commentary about selling and blocked out type if you want to follow the Bernbach school, but do so at your peril. It's also fascinating how Ogilvy's background in direct draws some very interesting parallels with digital.
I was also pleased to see the last chapter "Should Advertising Be Banned?" and watching Ogilvy lay out a surprisingly comprehensive case for the benefits of advertising. I was also surprised to see his calling out for reform - both structural and moral - and couldn't help thinking "oh, sir, if you knew how much worse it got."
Oh, and if you own the rights to this book, Mrs. Ogilvy, I believe, please please please release it on the Kindle.
Much of it is as spot-on now as it was then. I love the prologue from the 80's where he makes two small corrections to the book, as if everything else is totally un-changed. I wish David Ogilvy had lived in the internet times. I would love to know what the thought about things.
If you're in advertising, read this book. Balance it out with a book about Bill Bernbach. Ignore some of his cantankerous commentary about selling and blocked out type if you want to follow the Bernbach school, but do so at your peril. It's also fascinating how Ogilvy's background in direct draws some very interesting parallels with digital.
I was also pleased to see the last chapter "Should Advertising Be Banned?" and watching Ogilvy lay out a surprisingly comprehensive case for the benefits of advertising. I was also surprised to see his calling out for reform - both structural and moral - and couldn't help thinking "oh, sir, if you knew how much worse it got."
Oh, and if you own the rights to this book, Mrs. Ogilvy, I believe, please please please release it on the Kindle.
May 17, 2010
Mad Men this ain’t.
A vainglorious book which glides through all the successes of David Ogilvy’s career (until this book’s 1963 publication) and shows the wonderful lessons there are to be learned. Inevitably dated and not only because advertising has moved on, few people these days write business books assuming an all male audience and at points getting the readers to ponder what their wives may think.
The truly frustrating thing is that there is an interesting story buried here, how did a Brit with a peripatetic existence end up running one of Madison Avenue’s top agencies? Sadly these Confessions do not tell us.
A vainglorious book which glides through all the successes of David Ogilvy’s career (until this book’s 1963 publication) and shows the wonderful lessons there are to be learned. Inevitably dated and not only because advertising has moved on, few people these days write business books assuming an all male audience and at points getting the readers to ponder what their wives may think.
The truly frustrating thing is that there is an interesting story buried here, how did a Brit with a peripatetic existence end up running one of Madison Avenue’s top agencies? Sadly these Confessions do not tell us.
May 12, 2020
20-ci əsrin reklam dahisi Oqilvi bu kitabında aktuallığını bu gün də qoruyan mövzulara toxunub. Reklamı və reklam camiasını çox gözəl incələyib.
Oqilvi deyir ki, “Ailənizin görmək istəməyəcəyi reklamları əsla yayımlamayın”.
Deyəsən ili hələ yarılamamış reklam sahəsinə aid çox kitab oxumuşam, istiqaməti dəyişmək lazımdır. :)
Oqilvi deyir ki, “Ailənizin görmək istəməyəcəyi reklamları əsla yayımlamayın”.
Deyəsən ili hələ yarılamamış reklam sahəsinə aid çox kitab oxumuşam, istiqaməti dəyişmək lazımdır. :)
August 14, 2020
Ogilvy was a genius.
This was a book I read for my internship and I honestly can’t figure out why no professor recommend it to us in class. I think it’s a very insightful read if you’re entering/interested in the field.
Ogilvy reminded me why I decided to pursue advertising.
This was a book I read for my internship and I honestly can’t figure out why no professor recommend it to us in class. I think it’s a very insightful read if you’re entering/interested in the field.
Ogilvy reminded me why I decided to pursue advertising.
September 16, 2014
The Donald Trump of advertising, both in success and ego.
February 26, 2016
OH MY. where to start?
1- I have never, ever, underlined so much in one single book, not even during my school time. If you work in advertising there is so much good stuff in here that it should be a must-read for any new employee of any ad agency (or marketing position inside a company). He gives so many advices and quotes and one-liners that are still very much valid today.
2- if you're into Mad Men, THIS IS IT: David Ogilvy was a Madison Avenue ad man in the 50s and 60s, among drunken lunches, awards and 80 hours working weeks.
What a great, timeless book!
I'm pretty sure I will re-read time from time to time. It deserves to.
David: I've got a man crush on you.
1- I have never, ever, underlined so much in one single book, not even during my school time. If you work in advertising there is so much good stuff in here that it should be a must-read for any new employee of any ad agency (or marketing position inside a company). He gives so many advices and quotes and one-liners that are still very much valid today.
2- if you're into Mad Men, THIS IS IT: David Ogilvy was a Madison Avenue ad man in the 50s and 60s, among drunken lunches, awards and 80 hours working weeks.
What a great, timeless book!
I'm pretty sure I will re-read time from time to time. It deserves to.
David: I've got a man crush on you.
June 18, 2012
Full disclosure: I work at Ogilvy. Be that as it may, this is a book well worth reading, if only because so much of it is relevant today, if you know where to look.
This is a man who was so out in front of authenticity, story-mining and storytelling, it's not even funny. Read his Rolls Royce ad to find out how to mine for content hooks. Look at his Hathaway shirt ads to find out how to create a character that could be a brand's social voice. And read his stories about counseling clients to find out how to serve best interests.
This is a man who was so out in front of authenticity, story-mining and storytelling, it's not even funny. Read his Rolls Royce ad to find out how to mine for content hooks. Look at his Hathaway shirt ads to find out how to create a character that could be a brand's social voice. And read his stories about counseling clients to find out how to serve best interests.
March 26, 2008
David Ogilvy is, of course, a classic and a class act. Since advertising is my field, I took some practical pointers from this book, and also heard some of my own instincts confirmed (you have to love your clients like family, buy their products, etc.). But I think someone not in the industry would get something out of this as well. He was 'the man' during the great generation of ad men, which was an exciting and iconic time in our American culture.
October 25, 2016
اگیلوی در این کتاب نکات علمی و دانشگاهی به صورت ساده و مختصر در حد پاراگرافهایی داستان وار نقل می کنه . البته برخی از این موارد مربوط به فرهنگ آمریکایی میشه و شاید به درد ما نخوره ولی حتما ارزش مطالعه داره
April 5, 2017
Extremely well written, Ogilvy was truly a remarkable creature. He was also, probably, a prick and a megalomaniac. Some things written in this book are outdated but I would still advise anybody that wants to start a career in advertising to read it.
January 28, 2024
Contained too much of a sales pitch for Ogilvys ad agency and too little of solid advice as to how to run a good business.
July 19, 2010
This book is fascinating on many levels. First, that parts of it are even still relevant today as it laments about the lack of research on this crazy new medium called 'television' and warns against food commercials because they look so unappealing in black and white. Second, that Ogilvy makes advertising look like a noble profession, and as the way he practiced it, it was noble indeed. He did not believe in hawking products that he didn't believe in. He did not think of the 'consumer' as some rube simpleton but rather himself and his family. He believed very much in straightforward ads heavy on information.
I may have to scan a few pages for reference while I track down my own copy.
For extra fun, pretend Roger Sterling is reading it aloud to you.
I may have to scan a few pages for reference while I track down my own copy.
For extra fun, pretend Roger Sterling is reading it aloud to you.
January 14, 2015
Never before have I so wanted to throw a book across the room whilst reading it. For someone who claims to love simplicity of language or things simply put, at one stage I thought he was actually making words up. But as a self anointed genius - why wouldn't he be? Emoluments? Odium? Pettifoggers? Suzerainty? Wanker.
I know it was 1962, but apart from a couple of little gems within, the work of this outdated, egotistical, misogynist sociopath needs to be locked in a time capsule and shot into outer space. What a tool.
I know it was 1962, but apart from a couple of little gems within, the work of this outdated, egotistical, misogynist sociopath needs to be locked in a time capsule and shot into outer space. What a tool.
September 4, 2008
When my coworkers saw this on my desk, two of them separately noted surprise I hadn't already read it.
It's certainly insightful, and a nice (accidental) companion piece to my current Mad Men adoration. While the tone is just a little too self-congratulatory, Ogilvy fills his text to the brim with the sort of anecdotes and lists of rules you'd want in such a book. Highly recommended for anyone in love with/critical of American capitalism!
It's certainly insightful, and a nice (accidental) companion piece to my current Mad Men adoration. While the tone is just a little too self-congratulatory, Ogilvy fills his text to the brim with the sort of anecdotes and lists of rules you'd want in such a book. Highly recommended for anyone in love with/critical of American capitalism!
July 5, 2016
Advertising and marketing would be a very different beast if copywriters and ad agencies followed the principles in this book. It's a masterwork for a reason. Read it. Do it. Sell more.
October 27, 2014
Probably the best book I've read in years. Took it with me across Europe and couldn't put it down. I took several pages of notes just on the first chapter.
May 1, 2015
Incredible read with insight into the mind of a marketer that is relevant even today. If you do any kind of marketing, you are going to want to get this book.
December 10, 2014
A candid, down to earth how-to-do quality business with integrity and honesty.
Quotes:
It was inspiring to work under a supreme master.
Today I praise my staff as rarely as Picard praised his chefs, in the hope that they too will appreciate it more than a steady gush of appreciation.
In the best establishments, promises are always kept, whatever it may cost in agony and overtime.
But brains are not enough unless they are combined with intellectual honesty.
Ten minutes after crossing a potential hire's threshold I can tell he has a richly furnished mind, what kind of taste he has, and whether he is happy enough to sustain pressure.
In the modern world of business it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create. Management cannot be expected to recognise a great idea unless it is presented to them by a good salesman.
The agencies which are most successful in new business are those whose spokesmen show the most sensitive insight into the psychological makeup of the prospective client. Rigidity and salesmanship do not combine.
Handling accounts once you have go them is deadly serious business. You are spending other peoples' money, and the fate of their company often rests in your hands. But I regard the hunt for new clients as a sport. If you play it grimly , you will die of ulcers. If you play it with lighthearted gusto, you will survive your failures without losing sleep. Play to win, but enjoy the fun.
I have never wanted to get an account so big that I could not afford to lose it. The day you do that, you commit yourself to living with fear. Frightened agencies lose the courage to give candid advice, once you lose that you become a lackey.
Professional detachment doesn't work in advertising. Some level of personal commitment is required before a copywriter can sell a product.
Them's the conditions that prevail with almost all association accounts: Too many masters, too little money, too many objectives.
No advertising agent can serve two masters.
It is unwise to risk being publicly defeated. I like to succeed in public, but fail in secret.
I have noticed that when an antique dealer draws my attention to flaws on a piece of furniture, he wins my confidence.
Avoid taking on clients who have a record of firing their agencies at frequent intervals. You may think you can cure them of their infidelity, but the odds are against you, as are they when you marry a much-divorced woman.
The head of an agency has so much on his plate he is apt to see his clients only at times of crisis. This is a mistake. If you get into the habit of seeing clients when the weather is calm, you will establish an easy relationship which may save your life when a storm blows up.
IT is less distracting to the audience if one man does all the talking. He should be the most persuasive advocate available, and he should be so thoroughly briefed that he can stand up under cross examination.
There is no better way to demonstrate the agency is concerned with the client's affairs than by having the head of the agency give the presentation.
American businessmen are not taught that it is a sin to bore your fellow creatures.
No partnership can fructify without candour on both sides.
Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.
Underspending on advertising is like buying a ticket three quarters of the way to Europe, you have spent money, but you have not arrived.
A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself. It should rivet the reader's attention on the product. Instead of saying "What a clever advertisement", the reader says "I never knew that before. I must try this product."
What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form. Your most important job is to decide what you are going to say about your product, what benefits you are going to promise.
The consumer isn't a moron, she is your wife. You insult her intelligence if you assume that a mere slogan and a few vapid adjectives will persuade her to buy anything. She wants all the information you can give her.
If you tell lies about a product, you will be found out, either by the government, which will prosecute you, or your consumer, who will punish you by not buying your product a second time.
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. If you tell lies or weasel, you do your client a disservice, you increase your load of guilt, and you fan the flames of public resentment against the whole business of advertising.
I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgement, they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post, for support instead of illumination.
It is tragically easy to be stampeded into change.
In the average newspaper your headline has to compete with 350 others. Research has shown that readers travel so fast through the jungle that they don't stop to decipher the meaning of obscure headlines. Your headline must telegraph what you want to say, and it must telegraph it in plain language. Don't play games with the reader.
Don't be a bore. Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating.
It is a mistake to use highfalutin language when advertising to uneducated people.
A good advertisement has this in common with drama and oratory, that it must be immediately comprehensible and directly moving.
There is no need to make advertisements look like advertisements. If you make them look like editorial pages, you will attract about 50% more readers. You might think the public would resent this trick, but there is no evidence to suggest that they do.
Serif is easier to read than san serif. The Bauhaus brigade is not aware of this fact.
The passing motorist does not have time to read more than six words on a poster, and my early experience as a door to door salesman convinced me that it is impossible to sell anything with only six words.
On television, if you say something which you don't illustrate, the viewer immediately forgets it. I conclude that if you don't show it, there's no point in saying it. Try running your commercial without sound, if it doesn't sell without sound it is useless.
People dream about far-away places. Your advertisements should convert their dreams into action - transforming potential energy into kinetic energy. This can be done by offering the reader specific how-to information. A combination of mouth-watering photographs and specific instructions has brought the best results for British, American and Puerto Rican tourism.
(On hustling for domain expertise) At the end of the second year, you will know more about gasoline than your boss, and will be ready to succeed him.
Most of the young men in agencies are too lazy to do this kind of legwork. They remain permanently superficial.
Most of the work you do in an agency will be routine maintenance. If you do it well, you will make gradual progress, but your golden opportunity will come when you rise to a great occasion. The trick is to recognise the great occasion when it presents itself.
We see that factual advertising is widely regarded as a good thing. But when it comes to persuasive advertising, for one old brand against another, the majority of economists follow Marshall in condemning it.
Quotes:
It was inspiring to work under a supreme master.
Today I praise my staff as rarely as Picard praised his chefs, in the hope that they too will appreciate it more than a steady gush of appreciation.
In the best establishments, promises are always kept, whatever it may cost in agony and overtime.
But brains are not enough unless they are combined with intellectual honesty.
Ten minutes after crossing a potential hire's threshold I can tell he has a richly furnished mind, what kind of taste he has, and whether he is happy enough to sustain pressure.
In the modern world of business it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create. Management cannot be expected to recognise a great idea unless it is presented to them by a good salesman.
The agencies which are most successful in new business are those whose spokesmen show the most sensitive insight into the psychological makeup of the prospective client. Rigidity and salesmanship do not combine.
Handling accounts once you have go them is deadly serious business. You are spending other peoples' money, and the fate of their company often rests in your hands. But I regard the hunt for new clients as a sport. If you play it grimly , you will die of ulcers. If you play it with lighthearted gusto, you will survive your failures without losing sleep. Play to win, but enjoy the fun.
I have never wanted to get an account so big that I could not afford to lose it. The day you do that, you commit yourself to living with fear. Frightened agencies lose the courage to give candid advice, once you lose that you become a lackey.
Professional detachment doesn't work in advertising. Some level of personal commitment is required before a copywriter can sell a product.
Them's the conditions that prevail with almost all association accounts: Too many masters, too little money, too many objectives.
No advertising agent can serve two masters.
It is unwise to risk being publicly defeated. I like to succeed in public, but fail in secret.
I have noticed that when an antique dealer draws my attention to flaws on a piece of furniture, he wins my confidence.
Avoid taking on clients who have a record of firing their agencies at frequent intervals. You may think you can cure them of their infidelity, but the odds are against you, as are they when you marry a much-divorced woman.
The head of an agency has so much on his plate he is apt to see his clients only at times of crisis. This is a mistake. If you get into the habit of seeing clients when the weather is calm, you will establish an easy relationship which may save your life when a storm blows up.
IT is less distracting to the audience if one man does all the talking. He should be the most persuasive advocate available, and he should be so thoroughly briefed that he can stand up under cross examination.
There is no better way to demonstrate the agency is concerned with the client's affairs than by having the head of the agency give the presentation.
American businessmen are not taught that it is a sin to bore your fellow creatures.
No partnership can fructify without candour on both sides.
Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.
Underspending on advertising is like buying a ticket three quarters of the way to Europe, you have spent money, but you have not arrived.
A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself. It should rivet the reader's attention on the product. Instead of saying "What a clever advertisement", the reader says "I never knew that before. I must try this product."
What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form. Your most important job is to decide what you are going to say about your product, what benefits you are going to promise.
The consumer isn't a moron, she is your wife. You insult her intelligence if you assume that a mere slogan and a few vapid adjectives will persuade her to buy anything. She wants all the information you can give her.
If you tell lies about a product, you will be found out, either by the government, which will prosecute you, or your consumer, who will punish you by not buying your product a second time.
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. If you tell lies or weasel, you do your client a disservice, you increase your load of guilt, and you fan the flames of public resentment against the whole business of advertising.
I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgement, they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post, for support instead of illumination.
It is tragically easy to be stampeded into change.
In the average newspaper your headline has to compete with 350 others. Research has shown that readers travel so fast through the jungle that they don't stop to decipher the meaning of obscure headlines. Your headline must telegraph what you want to say, and it must telegraph it in plain language. Don't play games with the reader.
Don't be a bore. Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating.
It is a mistake to use highfalutin language when advertising to uneducated people.
A good advertisement has this in common with drama and oratory, that it must be immediately comprehensible and directly moving.
There is no need to make advertisements look like advertisements. If you make them look like editorial pages, you will attract about 50% more readers. You might think the public would resent this trick, but there is no evidence to suggest that they do.
Serif is easier to read than san serif. The Bauhaus brigade is not aware of this fact.
The passing motorist does not have time to read more than six words on a poster, and my early experience as a door to door salesman convinced me that it is impossible to sell anything with only six words.
On television, if you say something which you don't illustrate, the viewer immediately forgets it. I conclude that if you don't show it, there's no point in saying it. Try running your commercial without sound, if it doesn't sell without sound it is useless.
People dream about far-away places. Your advertisements should convert their dreams into action - transforming potential energy into kinetic energy. This can be done by offering the reader specific how-to information. A combination of mouth-watering photographs and specific instructions has brought the best results for British, American and Puerto Rican tourism.
(On hustling for domain expertise) At the end of the second year, you will know more about gasoline than your boss, and will be ready to succeed him.
Most of the young men in agencies are too lazy to do this kind of legwork. They remain permanently superficial.
Most of the work you do in an agency will be routine maintenance. If you do it well, you will make gradual progress, but your golden opportunity will come when you rise to a great occasion. The trick is to recognise the great occasion when it presents itself.
We see that factual advertising is widely regarded as a good thing. But when it comes to persuasive advertising, for one old brand against another, the majority of economists follow Marshall in condemning it.
April 24, 2022
خیلی وقت بود میخواستم این کتاب رو بخونم. اول، به دلیل توصیه دوستای باتجربه حوزه بازاریابی و تبلیغات و دوم، به خاطر عنوان جالب کتاب که در زمان خودش، از یک تبلیغاتچی خلاق انتظار میرفت.
لحن کتاب هم کاملا نشون میده که نویسنده آگاهی خوبی درباره نحوه ارائه داره. ضمن اینکه بیوگرافی کوتاه دیوید اوگیلوی که اسمش بارها به گوشم خورده بود، جالب توجه هست.
در کل فکر میکنم دانش اولیه در زمینه بازار و تبلیغات برای هر کسی لازمه، حتی اگر درآمدی از کار یا فعالیتش نداشته باشه؛ چون این دانش، مهارتِ ارائه رو یادمون میده که به کار همه میاد. برای من هم نکات کاربردی زیادی داشت. گرچه به عنوان یک غیرمتخصص با همه مفاهیم و توصیههای اوگیلوی موافق نیستم.
لحن کتاب هم کاملا نشون میده که نویسنده آگاهی خوبی درباره نحوه ارائه داره. ضمن اینکه بیوگرافی کوتاه دیوید اوگیلوی که اسمش بارها به گوشم خورده بود، جالب توجه هست.
در کل فکر میکنم دانش اولیه در زمینه بازار و تبلیغات برای هر کسی لازمه، حتی اگر درآمدی از کار یا فعالیتش نداشته باشه؛ چون این دانش، مهارتِ ارائه رو یادمون میده که به کار همه میاد. برای من هم نکات کاربردی زیادی داشت. گرچه به عنوان یک غیرمتخصص با همه مفاهیم و توصیههای اوگیلوی موافق نیستم.
July 19, 2022
It didn't have anything for me, cause, you know, I'm not an advertising man.
November 22, 2015
I recently finished reading Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy.
Below are key excerpts from the book that I found to be particularly insightful:
Today, the world of advertising faces four problems of crisis dimensions. The first problem is that manufacturers of package-goods products, which have always been the mainstay of advertising, are spending twice as much on price-off deals as on advertising...The second problem is that advertising agencies, notably in Britain, France, and the United States, are now infested with people who regard advertising as an avant-garde art form...The third problem is the emergence of megalomaniacs whose mind-set is more financial than creative. They are building empires by buying up other agencies, to the consternation of their clients. The fourth problem is that advertising agencies still waste their clients' money repeating the same mistakes.
(1) Creating successful advertising is a craft, part inspiration but mostly know-how and hard work. If you have a modicum of mostly know--how and hard work. If you have a modicum of talent, and know which techniques work at the cash register, you will go a long way. (2) The temptation to entertain instead of selling is contagious. (3) The difference between one advertisement and another. when measured in terms of sales, can be as much as nineteen to one. (4) It pays to study the product before writing your advertisements. (5) The key to success is to promise the consumer a benefit - like better flavor, whiter wash, more miles per gallon, a better complexion. (6) The function of most advertising is not to persuade people to try your product, but to persuade them to use it more often than other brands in their repertoire. (Thank you, Andrew Ehrenberg.) (7) What works in one country almost always works in other countries.
(1) I admire people who work hard, who bite the bullet. I dislike passengers who don't pull their weight in the boat...(2) I admire people with first-class brains, because you cannot run a great advertising agency without brainy people. But brains are not enough unless they are combined with intellectual honesty...(4) I admire people who work with gusto. If you don't enjoy what you are doing, I beg you to find another job...(6) I admire self-confident professionals, the craftsmen who do their jobs with superlative excellence. They always seem to respect the expertise of their colleagues. They don't poach. (7) I admire people who hire subordinates who are good enough to succeed them. I pity people who are so insecure that they feel compelled to hire inferiors as their subordinates.
(1) I try to be fair and to be firm, to make unpopular decisions without cowardice, to create an atmosphere of stability, and to listen more than I talk. (2) I try to sustain the momentum of the agency - its ferment, its vitality, its forward thrust. (7) I try to recruit people of the highest quality at all levels, to build the hottest staff in the agency business. (8) I try to get the best out of every man and woman in the agency.
The agencies which are most successful in new business are those whose spokesmen show the most sensitive insight into the psychological make-up of the prospective client. Rigidity and salesmanship do not combine.
Some agencies pander to the craze for doing everything in committee. They boast about "teamwork" and decry the role of the individual. But no team can write an advertisement, and I doubt whether there is a single agency of any consequence which is not the lengthened shadow of one man.
(1) What You Say Is More Important Than How You Say It. (2) Unless Your Campaign Is Built Around a Great Idea, it Will Flop. (3) Give the Facts. (4) You Cannot Bore People into Buying. (5) Be Well-Mannered, But Don't Clown. (6) Make Your Advertising Contemporary. (7) Committees Can Criticize Advertisements, But They Cannot Write Them. (8) If You Are Lucky Enough To Write a Good Advertisement, Repeat It Until It Stops Pulling. (9) Never Write an Advertisement Which You Wouldn't Want Your Own Family To Read. (10) The Image and the Brand. (11) Don't Be a Copy-Cat.
On a concluding note, "a collection of Ogilvy-isms":
We prefer the discipline of knowledge to the anarchy of ignorance. Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating. In the best establishments, promises are always kept. whatever it may cost in agony and overtime. Change is our lifeblood. It is important to admit your mistakes and to do so before you are charged with them.
A recommended concise and perceptive read in the areas of advertising, and influence.
Below are key excerpts from the book that I found to be particularly insightful:
Today, the world of advertising faces four problems of crisis dimensions. The first problem is that manufacturers of package-goods products, which have always been the mainstay of advertising, are spending twice as much on price-off deals as on advertising...The second problem is that advertising agencies, notably in Britain, France, and the United States, are now infested with people who regard advertising as an avant-garde art form...The third problem is the emergence of megalomaniacs whose mind-set is more financial than creative. They are building empires by buying up other agencies, to the consternation of their clients. The fourth problem is that advertising agencies still waste their clients' money repeating the same mistakes.
(1) Creating successful advertising is a craft, part inspiration but mostly know-how and hard work. If you have a modicum of mostly know--how and hard work. If you have a modicum of talent, and know which techniques work at the cash register, you will go a long way. (2) The temptation to entertain instead of selling is contagious. (3) The difference between one advertisement and another. when measured in terms of sales, can be as much as nineteen to one. (4) It pays to study the product before writing your advertisements. (5) The key to success is to promise the consumer a benefit - like better flavor, whiter wash, more miles per gallon, a better complexion. (6) The function of most advertising is not to persuade people to try your product, but to persuade them to use it more often than other brands in their repertoire. (Thank you, Andrew Ehrenberg.) (7) What works in one country almost always works in other countries.
(1) I admire people who work hard, who bite the bullet. I dislike passengers who don't pull their weight in the boat...(2) I admire people with first-class brains, because you cannot run a great advertising agency without brainy people. But brains are not enough unless they are combined with intellectual honesty...(4) I admire people who work with gusto. If you don't enjoy what you are doing, I beg you to find another job...(6) I admire self-confident professionals, the craftsmen who do their jobs with superlative excellence. They always seem to respect the expertise of their colleagues. They don't poach. (7) I admire people who hire subordinates who are good enough to succeed them. I pity people who are so insecure that they feel compelled to hire inferiors as their subordinates.
(1) I try to be fair and to be firm, to make unpopular decisions without cowardice, to create an atmosphere of stability, and to listen more than I talk. (2) I try to sustain the momentum of the agency - its ferment, its vitality, its forward thrust. (7) I try to recruit people of the highest quality at all levels, to build the hottest staff in the agency business. (8) I try to get the best out of every man and woman in the agency.
The agencies which are most successful in new business are those whose spokesmen show the most sensitive insight into the psychological make-up of the prospective client. Rigidity and salesmanship do not combine.
Some agencies pander to the craze for doing everything in committee. They boast about "teamwork" and decry the role of the individual. But no team can write an advertisement, and I doubt whether there is a single agency of any consequence which is not the lengthened shadow of one man.
(1) What You Say Is More Important Than How You Say It. (2) Unless Your Campaign Is Built Around a Great Idea, it Will Flop. (3) Give the Facts. (4) You Cannot Bore People into Buying. (5) Be Well-Mannered, But Don't Clown. (6) Make Your Advertising Contemporary. (7) Committees Can Criticize Advertisements, But They Cannot Write Them. (8) If You Are Lucky Enough To Write a Good Advertisement, Repeat It Until It Stops Pulling. (9) Never Write an Advertisement Which You Wouldn't Want Your Own Family To Read. (10) The Image and the Brand. (11) Don't Be a Copy-Cat.
On a concluding note, "a collection of Ogilvy-isms":
We prefer the discipline of knowledge to the anarchy of ignorance. Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating. In the best establishments, promises are always kept. whatever it may cost in agony and overtime. Change is our lifeblood. It is important to admit your mistakes and to do so before you are charged with them.
A recommended concise and perceptive read in the areas of advertising, and influence.
February 27, 2014
The reason I’ve always been interested in advertising despite the silly consumerist culture it so strongly promotes, is because I find an amusement in the way the lies are told, a method in which truth is fabricated and an immensely satisfying pleasure in the art that is created.
As of learning, there can be two options before you:
One – observe the advertisements around you. (It's abundant to the point of nausea!)
Two – Read this book.
Not exactly equivalent choices but if you are a true Tarantino fan you would do ‘One’ and f**k the literature. But you will not. Because you love books - you love to purchase them read them and form your brag opinions about them and that's ok but it would be real nice if you gave some of your f**cks to Tarantino anyway. He likes that, you know.
PS: Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained, Pulp Fiction etc. )- the most influential filmmaker of our generation never went to any film school. Watching films were his school.
As of learning, there can be two options before you:
One – observe the advertisements around you. (It's abundant to the point of nausea!)
Two – Read this book.
Not exactly equivalent choices but if you are a true Tarantino fan you would do ‘One’ and f**k the literature. But you will not. Because you love books - you love to purchase them read them and form your brag opinions about them and that's ok but it would be real nice if you gave some of your f**cks to Tarantino anyway. He likes that, you know.
PS: Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained, Pulp Fiction etc. )- the most influential filmmaker of our generation never went to any film school. Watching films were his school.
October 3, 2007
I want to love this, because I'm supposed to, but it's really starting to get a little dated. There are a few essential guidelines here about being an honest, forthright businessperson, but the culture of the consumer has changed so radically in the 50 years since this book was published that the rest of it is sometimes hard to find an application for. Still, Ogilvy's personality makes it a fun read, and it will always be essential reading if you're in the advertising business.
April 10, 2012
Even today (in 2012), this insight is brilliantly accurate:
"I have never wanted to get an account so big that I could not afford to lose it. The day you do that, you commit yourself to living with fear. Frightened agencies lose the courage to give candid advice; once you lose that, you become a lackey."
In my software/web startup experience over the last 12 years, this is absolutely true. Putting yourself and your company in this position will result in inevitable failure.
"I have never wanted to get an account so big that I could not afford to lose it. The day you do that, you commit yourself to living with fear. Frightened agencies lose the courage to give candid advice; once you lose that, you become a lackey."
In my software/web startup experience over the last 12 years, this is absolutely true. Putting yourself and your company in this position will result in inevitable failure.
February 16, 2014
The perfect blend of style, experience, and research, this book presents the essential qualities of advertising, both the personal, practical, and formal.
But it a book to be discussed, not chewed privately. The tone is conversational and the insights have little regard for theory or numbered steps or formulas for success in the field; they must be run through verbally.
The author's candor and stolid excellence as a writer more than qualify him as a master of his field.
But it a book to be discussed, not chewed privately. The tone is conversational and the insights have little regard for theory or numbered steps or formulas for success in the field; they must be run through verbally.
The author's candor and stolid excellence as a writer more than qualify him as a master of his field.
May 25, 2012
Not as applicable as it was, say, 50 years ago, but there are some quality nuggets of advice lurking within these pages. Well worth the read, if but from a historical perspective.
March 1, 2020
David Ogilvy-em đã chính thức tìm ra ai là người em ngưỡng mộ.xúc động dã man. 1 thiên tài ở nhiều lĩnh vực.1 nhà khởi nghiệp đại tài. 1 người có thiên bẩm về khả năng lãnh đạo, đặc biệt lãnh đạo những người có cá tính. 1 nhà kể chuyện vĩ đại. cuốn sách của ông là tác phẩm của 1 bậc thầy văn chương. văn phong hóm hỉnh, giản dị, sâu sắc, tinh tế. Những câu chuyện của ông truyền cảm hứng mạnh mẽ cho em từ sự đam mê, tính nghiêm túc của ông đối với sự nghiệp mà ông theo đuổi. Cuốn sách em đang đọc đã có hơn lịch sử 50 năm. Luôn ở vị trí hàng đầu trong danh sách must read. Thực sự cực kì xúc động. Mà ko hiểu vì sao bây giờ em mới biết đến 1 bậc thầy thế này ý.
Chưa thấy ai viết sách mà đáng yêu tỉ mẩn như David. Công nhận tư duy của bậc thầy rất là dã man. Xuất phát điểm từ dân nghiên cứu nên các luận điểm đưa ra gì cũng sắc sảo có luận chứng đầy đủ.
Vô cùng ngưỡng mộ.
1.3.2020: Kết thúc 1 quyển sách hay cho ngày đầu tháng 3. Tháng của mình🥰❤
Chưa thấy ai viết sách mà đáng yêu tỉ mẩn như David. Công nhận tư duy của bậc thầy rất là dã man. Xuất phát điểm từ dân nghiên cứu nên các luận điểm đưa ra gì cũng sắc sảo có luận chứng đầy đủ.
Vô cùng ngưỡng mộ.
1.3.2020: Kết thúc 1 quyển sách hay cho ngày đầu tháng 3. Tháng của mình🥰❤
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