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Never use tricky or irrelevant headlines… People read too fast to figure out what you are trying to say.

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
Read
Use
Trying
Headlines
Never
Tricky
People
Irrelevant
Fast
Figure
Figures

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I prefer the discipline of knowledge to the anarchy of ignorance.
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Lazy and superficial men and women do not produce superior work.
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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.
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Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating.
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Study the methods of your competitors and do the exact opposite.
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The trouble with many copywriters in general agencies are that they don't really think in terms of selling. They have never written direct-response they have never tasted blood
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What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form.
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Advertising reflects the mores of society, but it does not influence them.
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It follows that unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90 percent of your money.
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Headlines can be strengthend by the inclusion of emotional words like darling, love, fear, proud, friend and baby.
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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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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.
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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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The manufacturer who finds himself up the creek is the short-sighted opportunist who siphons off all his advertising dollars for short-term promotions.
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Leaders grasp nettles.
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Any damn fool can put on a deal, but it takes genius, faith and perseverance to create a brand.
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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.
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I never write fewer than sixteen headlines for a single advertisement.
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I never assign a product to a writer unless I know that he is personally interested in it. Every time I have written a bad campaign, it has been because the product did not interest me.
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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.
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