If it doesn't sell, it isn't creative. David Ogilvy More Quotes by David Ogilvy More Quotes From David Ogilvy A consumer is not a moron. She's your wife. Don't insult her intelligence, and don't shock her. David Ogilvy insult shock wife Good copy can't be written with tongue in cheek, written just for a living. You've got to believe in the product. David Ogilvy marketing business believe Develop your eccentricities while you are young. That way, when you get old, people won't think you're going gaga. David Ogilvy people way thinking I never tell one client that I cannot attend his sales convention because I have a previous engagement with another client; successful polygamy depends upon pretending to each spouse that she is the only pebble on your beach. David Ogilvy humorous successful beach I avoid clients for whom advertising is only a marginal factor in their marketing mix. They have an awkward tendency to raid their advertising appropriations whenever they need cash for other purposes. David Ogilvy awkward marketing needs The mission of a great school is not to cram you with facts so that you can regurgitate them...This gives many boys such a distaste for learning that they never read another book as long as they live. No, the mission is to inspire you with a taste for scholarship - a taste which will last you all your life. David Ogilvy boys book school Making the logo twice the size is often a good thing to do, because most advertisements are deficient in brand identification. Showing the clients' faces is also a better stratagem than it may sound, because the public is more interested in personalities than in corporations. Some clients can be projected as human symbols of their own products. David Ogilvy personality sound may The pursuit of excellence is less profitable than the pursuit of bigness, but it can be more satisfying. David Ogilvy planning excellence perfection 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 vapid wife giving My motto has always been: Only first class business and that in a first class way David Ogilvy class way firsts Within every brand is a product, but not every product is a brand. David Ogilvy brands products The psychiatrists say that everybody should have a hobby. The hobby I recommend is advertising David Ogilvy hobbies advertising should-have I have an inviolable rule against employing nepots and spouses, because they breed politics. Whenever two people get married, one of them must depart - preferably the female, to look after the baby. David Ogilvy money baby two We admire people who work hard, who are objective and thorough. We detest office politicians, toadies, bullies, and pompous asses. We abhor ruthlessness. The way up our ladder is open to everybody. In promoting people to top jobs, we are influenced as much by their character as anything else. David Ogilvy hard-work jobs character The manufacturer who finds himself up the creek is the short-sighted opportunist who siphons off all his advertising dollars for short-term promotions. David Ogilvy promotion advertising dollars ...consumers do not buy one brand of soap, or coffee, or detergent. They have a repertory of four or five brands, and move from one to another. They almost never buy a brand which has not been admitted to their repertory during its first year on the market. David Ogilvy coffee years moving Consumers still buy products whose advertising promises them value for money, beauty, nutrition, relief from suffering, social status and so on. David Ogilvy relief suffering promise H. L. Mencken once said that nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public. That is not true. I have come to believe that it pays to make all your layouts project a feeling of good taste, provided that you do it unobtrusively. An ugly layout suggests an ugly product. There are very few products which do not benefit from being given a first class ticket through life. David Ogilvy feelings class believe Ninety-nine percent of advertising doesn't sell much of anything. David Ogilvy ninety-nine advertising business We like people who are honest. Honest in argument, honest with clients, honest with suppliers, honest with the company - and above all, honest with consumers. David Ogilvy honest clients people
