David Ogilvy Quotes

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.

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I once used the word OBSOLETE in a headline, only to discover that 43 per cent of housewives had no idea what it meant. In another headline, I used the word INEFFABLE, only to discover that I didn't know what it meant myself.

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It has taken more than a hundred scientists two years to find out how to make the product in question I have been given thirty days to create its personality and plan its launching. If I do my job well, I shall contribute as much as the hundred scientists to the success of this product.

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

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The pursuit of excellence is less profitable than the pursuit of bigness, but it can be more satisfying.

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

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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, the language they use every day, the language in which they think. We try to write in the vernacular.

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To advertisers Do not compete with your agency in the creative area. Why keep a dog and bark yourself

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If you tell lies about a product, you will be found out - either by the Government, which will prosecute you, or by the consumer, who will punish you by not buying your product a second time.

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I always use my clients' products. This is not toady-ism, but elementary good manners.

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You now have to decide what 'image' you want for your brand. Image means personality. Products, like people, have personalities, and they can make or break them in the market place.

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

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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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The advertisers who believe in the selling power of jingles have never had to sell anything.

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Leaders grasp nettles.

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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.

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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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There is no need for advertisements to look like advertisements. If you make them look like editorial pages, you will attract about 50 per cent more readers.

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The consumer isn't a moron she is your wife.

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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.

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

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I know of a brewer who sells more of his beer to the people who never see his advertising than to the people who see it every week. Bad advertising can unsell a product.

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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.

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Give people a taste of Old Crow, and tell them it's Old Crow. Then give them another taste of Old Crow, but tell them it's Jack Daniel's. Ask them which they prefer. They'll think the two drinks are quite different. They are tasting images.

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Make sure you have a Vice President in charge of Revolution, to engender ferment among your more conventional colleagues.

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