If it doesn't sell, it isn't creative. David Ogilvy More Quotes by David Ogilvy More Quotes From David Ogilvy You cannot bore people into buying your product - you can only interest them in buying it. David Ogilvy interest buying people If you always hire people who are bigger than you are, we shall become a company of giants David Ogilvy bigger giants people The headline is the 'ticket on the meat.' Use it to flag down readers who are prospects for the kind of product you are advertising. David Ogilvy flags perspective meat The temptation to entertain instead of selling is contagious. David Ogilvy contagious selling temptation The business community wants remarkable advertising, but turns a cold shoulder to the kind of people who can produce it. That is why most advertisements are so infernally dull.... our business needs massive transfusions of talent. And talent, I believe, is most likely to be found among nonconformists, dissenters, and rebels. David Ogilvy community believe people A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself. David Ogilvy drawing business attention Never write more than two pages on any subject. David Ogilvy pages writing two 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. David Ogilvy business average people We all have a tendency to use research as a drunkard uses a lamppost – for support, not for illumination. David Ogilvy illumination support use Creativity Is a fancy word for the work we have to do by Friday. David Ogilvy fancy friday creativity It follows that unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90 percent of your money. David Ogilvy copywriting headlines percent 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. David Ogilvy agency eggs men 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. David Ogilvy business writing thinking I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination. David Ogilvy illumination support marketing At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock. David Ogilvy clock hours noise 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. David Ogilvy design business television Leaders grasp nettles. David Ogilvy nettles leader leadership A well-run restaurant is like a winning baseball team. It makes the most of every crew member's talent and takes advantage of every split-second opportunity to speed up service. David Ogilvy teamwork baseball running 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. David Ogilvy business writing people 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? David Ogilvy passion moon dark
