David Ogilvy Quotes

Concentrate your time, your brains, and your advertising money on your successes. Back your winners, and abandon your losers.

All too often the bottoms of advertisements are littered with miscellaneous crap, gadgets, etc. Get rid of them; they contribute to an appearance of untidiness which reduces “impact” and readership.

Si te rodeas de personas más pequeñas que tú, acabarás siendo un enano. Si te rodeas de personas más grandes que tú, te convertirás en un gigante.

If it doesn't sell, it isn't creative.

Most campaigns are too complicated. They reflect a long list of objectives, and try to reconcile the divergent views of too many executives. By attempting to cover too many things, they achieve nothing.

People buy products, not television commercials.

It isn’t the whiskey they choose, it’s the image.

It is often charged that advertising can persuade people to buy inferior products. So it can – once. But the consumer perceives that the product is inferior and never buys it again. This causes grave financial loss to the manufacturer, whose profits come from repeat purchases. The best way to increase the sale of a product is to improve the product.

advertisements with long copy convey the impression that you have something important to say, whether people read the copy or not.

The hallmarks of a potentially successful copywriter include: Obsessive curiosity about products, people and advertising. A sense of humor. A habit of hard work. The ability to write interesting prose for printed media, and natural dialogue for television. The ability to think visually. Television commercials depend more on pictures than words. The ambition to write better campaigns than anyone has ever written before.

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.

If the consumer does not perceive any real benefits in the brand, then no amount of ingenious advertising and selling can save it.

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

Said Winston Churchill, ‘PERFECTIONISM is spelled PARALYSIS.

Tell your prospective client what your weak points are, before he notices them. This will make you more credible when you boast about your strong points.