Quote

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

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David Ogilvy
Age: 88 †
Born: 1911
Born: June 23
Died: 1999
Died: July 21
Businessman
Businessperson
Economist
Writer
West Horsley
Surrey
David MacKenzie Ogilvy
Alone
Letter
Client
Though
Addresses
Stadiums
Read
Pretend
Gathered
Business
Readers
Copy
Together
Marketing
Clients
Writing
Advertising
Behalf
People
Letters
Address
Reader
Copies
Stadium

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Remove advertising, disable a person or firm from proclaiming its wares and their merits, and the whole of society and of the economy is transformed. The enemies of advertising are the enemies of freedom.
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If you ever find a man who is better than you are - hire him. If necessary, pay him more than you pay yourself.
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You have only 30 seconds in a TV commercial. If you grab attention in the first frame with a visual surprise, you stand a better chance of holding the viewer. People screen out a lot of commercials because they open with something dull. When you advertise fire-extinguishers, open with the fire.
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What you learn is more important than what you earn.
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Positioning should be decided before the advertising is created
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Don't hire a dog, then bark yourself
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Leaders grasp nettles.
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Political advertising ought to be stopped. It's the only really dishonest kind of advertising that's left. It's totally dishonest.
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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.
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It is the inescapable duty of management to fire incompetent people.
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We exist to build the business of our clients. The recommendations we make to them should be the recommendations we would make if we owned their companies, without regard to our own short-term interest. This earns their respect, which is the greatest asset we can have.
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We all have a tendency to use research as a drunkard uses a lamppost – for support, not for illumination.
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I'd like to be remembered, as a copywriter who had some big ideas. That's what the advertising business is all about. Big ideas
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David Ogilvy made his copywriters come up 100 different headlines for every ad they wrote.
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Every advertisement should be thought of as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image.
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If you have a truly big idea, the wrong technique won't kill it. And if you don't have a big idea, the right technique won't help you
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Many manufacturers secretly question whether advertising really sells their product, but are vaguely afraid that their competitors might steal a march on them if they stopped.
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Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating.
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In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create.
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