Entrepreneurs / Investors

48 David Ogilvy Quotes on Success (ADVERTISING)

December 1, 2023December 1, 2023

Top 10 Most Famous David Ogilvy Quotes (BEST)

If you can’t advertise yourself, what hope have you being able to advertise anything else.

Never write an advertisement which you wouldn't want your family to read. You wouldn't tell lies to your own wife. Don't tell them to mine. — Never write an advertisement which you wouldn’t want your family to read. You wouldn’t tell lies to your own wife. Don’t tell them to mine.

The consumer isn't a moron. She is your wife. — The consumer isn’t a moron. She is your wife.

Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating. You know you can’t bore people into buying your product, you can only interest them into buying it. — Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating. You know you can’t bore people into buying your product, you can only interest them into buying it.

The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.

Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.

Hard work never killed a man. Men die of boredom, psychological conflict, and disease. They do not die of hard work. — Hard work never killed a man. Men die of boredom, psychological conflict, and disease. They do not die of hard work.

What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form.

Don't bunt. Aim out of the ball park. Aim for the company of immortals. — Don’t bunt. Aim out of the ball park. Aim for the company of immortals.

Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.

13 Inspirational David Ogilvy Quotes on Advertising

“I have a theory that the best ads come from personal experience. Some of the good ones I have done have really come out of the real experience of my life, and somehow this has come over as true and valid and persuasive.”
David Ogilvy

Be more ambitious. Don’t bunt. When you get a job to do a story or an ad, try and hit the ball out of the park every time. — Be more ambitious. Don’t bunt. When you get a job to do a story or an ad, try and hit the ball out of the park every time.

When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to tell me that you find it ‘creative’. I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product.

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

Your role is to sell, don’t let anything distract you from the sole purpose of advertising. — Your role is to sell, don’t let anything distract you from the sole purpose of advertising.

Good ad; all facts. No adjectives. All specifics.

The more informative your advertising, the more persuasive it will be.

I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information.

It is flagrantly dishonest for an advertising agent to urge consumers to buy a product which he would not allow his own wife to buy.

Ninety-nine percent of advertising doesn't sell much of anything. — Ninety-nine percent of advertising doesn’t sell much of anything.

Advertising is only evil when it advertises evil things.

The more you tell, the more you sell.

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.

2 David Ogilvy Quotes on Hiring and Building a Team

“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.”
David Ogilvy

Hire people who are better than you are, then leave them to get on with it. Look for people who will aim for the remarkable, who will not settle for the routine.

3 David Ogilvy Quotes About the Importance of Headlines

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

On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.

The headline is the 'ticket on the meat'. Use it to flag down readers who are prospects for the kind of product you are advertising. — The headline is the ‘ticket on the meat’. Use it to flag down readers who are prospects for the kind of product you are advertising.

8 David Ogilvy Quotes to Inspire Success in Life and Business

First, make yourself a reputation for being a creative genius. Second, surround yourself with partners who are better than you are. Third, leave them to go get on with it. — First, make yourself a reputation for being a creative genius. Second, surround yourself with partners who are better than you are. Third, leave them to go get on with it.

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.

Good copy can't be written with tongue in cheek, written just for a living. You've got to believe in the product. — Good copy can’t be written with tongue in cheek, written just for a living. You’ve got to believe in the product.

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

Develop your eccentricities while you are young. That way, when you get old, people won’t think you’re going gaga.

The most effective leader is the one who satisfies the psychological needs of his followers.

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

The secret of long life is double careers. One to about age sixty, then another for the next thirty years.

10 Wise David Ogilvy Quotes to Live By (WISDOM)

“I don’t believe in tricky advertising, I don’t believe in cute advertising, I don’t believe in comic advertising. The people who perpetrate that kind of advertising never had to sell anything in their lives.”
David Ogilvy

I don't know the rules of grammar. If you're trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language. — I don’t know the rules of grammar. If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language.

Many people - and I think I am one of them - are more productive when they've had a little to drink. I find if I drink two or three brandies, I'm far better able to write. — Many people – and I think I am one of them – are more productive when they’ve had a little to drink. I find if I drink two or three brandies, I’m far better able to write.

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.

Try and get great ideas, great ideas that nobody has ever had before will last for years.

Unless your advertising has a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night.

The more story-appeal there is in the picture or in the photograph, the more people would look at your ad.

Try and inject into every commercial you make a touch of singularity; a bird that will hook on to the consumer's mind. — Try and inject into every commercial you make a touch of singularity; a bird that will hook on to the consumer’s mind.

What you say in advertising is more important than how you say it.

Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon.

2 David Ogilvy Quotes on Direct-Response Marketing

Nobody should be allowed to create general advertising until he has served his apprenticeship in direct-response.

The trouble with many copywriters in general agencies is 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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(MUST READ) Ogilvy on Advertising

Ogilvy on Advertising — Ogilvy on Advertising

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David Ogilvy Quotes on Success (ADVERTISING) - Gracious Quotes

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