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David Ogilvy Quotes

David Mackenzie Ogilvy was a British advertising tycoon, founder of Ogilvy & Mather, and known as the "Father of Advertising". Trained at the Gallup research organisation, he attributed the success of his campaigns to meticulous research into consumer habits. Wikipedia  

✵ 23. June 1911 – 21. July 1999  •  Other names David Mackenzie Ogilvy, ديفيد أوجلفي
David Ogilvy photo

Works

Confessions of an Advertising Man
David Ogilvy: 12 quotes4 likes

Famous David Ogilvy Quotes

“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.”

David Ogilvy

“Where people aren’t having any fun, they seldom produce good work.”

David Ogilvy book Confessions of an Advertising Man

Source: Confessions of an Advertising Man

“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.”

David Ogilvy book Confessions of an Advertising Man

Source: Confessions of an Advertising Man, p. 96 (Ballantine Books)

“When someone is made the head of an office in the Ogilvy & Mather chain, I send him a Matrioshka doll from Gorky. If he has the curiosity to open it, and keep opening it until he comes to the inside of the smallest doll, he finds this message: 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.”

David Ogilvy

Ogilvy on Advertising, p. 47

David Ogilvy Quotes

“… there are now unmistakeable signs of a trend in favor of superior products at premium prices. The consumer is not a moron, she is your wife.”

David Ogilvy

Ogilvy on Advertising, p. 170

“At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.”

David Ogilvy

Source: Rolls-Royce print ad, 1958. This is sometimes referred to as the most famous headline in advertising history.

“Always hold your sales meetings in rooms too small for the audience, even if it means holding them in the WC. 'Standing room only' creates an atmosphere of success, as in theatres and restaurants, while a half-empty auditorium smells of failure.”

David Ogilvy

Ogilvy on Advertising, p. 172

“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.”

David Ogilvy book Confessions of an Advertising Man

Confessions of an Advertising Man, p. 87 (Ballantine Books)

“Viewers have a way of remembering the celebrity while forgetting the product. I did not know this when I paid Eleanor Roosevelt $35,000 to make a commercial for margarine. She reported that her mail was equally divided. "One half was sad because I had damaged my reputation. The other half was happy because I had damaged my reputation."”

David Ogilvy

Not one of my proudest memories.
Ogilvy on Advertising, p. 109

“When someone is made the head of an office in the Ogilvy & Mather chain, I send him a Matrioshka doll from Gorky. If he has the curiosity to open it, and keep opening it until he comes to the inside of the smallest doll, he finds this message: If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs.”

David Ogilvy

But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.
Ogilvy on Advertising, p. 47

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