David Ogilvy Quotes

Don't bunt. Aim out of the ballpark. Aim for the company of immortals.

Some copywriters write tricky headlines – double meanings, puns and other obscurities. This is counter-productive. In the average newspaper your headline has to compete with 350 others. Readers travel fast through this jungle. Your headline should telegraph what you want to say.

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

The headlines which work best are those which promise the reader a benefit

Big ideas come from the unconscious. This is true in art, in science and in advertising. But your unconscious has to be well informed, or your idea will be irrelevant. Stuff your conscious mind with information, then unhook your rational thought process.

Never allow two people to do a job which one could do. George Washington observed, ‘Whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty by close application thereto, it is worse executed by two persons, and scarcely done at all if three or more are employed therein.

Sound an alarm! Advertising, not deals, builds brands.

On average, helpful information is read by 75 per cent more people than copy which deals only with the product. This ad told how Rinso gets out stains. It was read and remembered

Only amateurs use short copy.

Said Winston Churchill, ‘PERFECTIONISM is spelled PARALYSIS.

In my experience, committees can criticize, but they cannot create. ‘Search the parks in all your cities You’ll find no statues of committees.

Consumers still buy products whose advertising promises them value for money, beauty, nutrition, relief from suffering, social status and so on.

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

The trouble with market research is that people don't think what they feel, they don't say what they think and they don't do what they say.

It will help you recognize a big idea if you ask yourself five questions: 1 Did it make me gasp when I first saw it? 2 Do I wish I had thought of it myself? 3 Is it unique? 4 Does it fit the strategy to perfection? 5 Could it be used for 30 years? You