Many people - and I think I am one of them - are more productive when they've had a little to drink.… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
Nobody ever arrives at a very big idea through a conscious, rational thought process. It comes from your unconscious. — David Ogilvy Big idea Copy Share Image
Some manufacturers illustrate their advertisements with abstract paintings. I would only do this if I wished to conceal from the reader what… — David Ogilvy Abstract Copy Share Image
Hire people who are better than you are, then leave them to get on with it. Look for people who will aim… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
The worst fault a salesman can commit is to be a bore… Pretend to be vastly interested in any subject the prospects… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
We like people who are honest. Honest in argument, honest with clients, honest with suppliers, honest with the company - and above… — David Ogilvy Argument Copy Share Image
Consumers still buy products whose advertising promises them value for money, beauty, nutrition, relief from suffering, social status and so on. — David Ogilvy Advertising Copy Share Image
First, make yourself a reputation for being a creative genius. Second, surround yourself with partners who are better than you are. Third,… — David Ogilvy Creative Copy Share Image
...consumers do not buy one brand of soap, or coffee, or detergent. They have a repertory of four or five brands, and… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
If you tell lies about a product, you will be found out - either by the Government, which will prosecute you, or… — David Ogilvy Buying Copy Share Image
The consumer isn't a moron; she is your wife. You insult her intelligence if you assume that a mere slogan and a… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
The relationship between a manufacturer and his advertising agency is almost as intimate as the relationship between a patient and his doctor.… — David Ogilvy Advertising Copy Share Image
Most agencies run scared, most of the time. . . .Frightened people are powerless to produce good advertising. . . . If… — David Ogilvy Advertising Copy Share Image
Why do eight out of ten new consumer products fail? Sometimes because they are too new. The first cold cereals were rejected… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
The business community wants remarkable advertising, but turns a cold shoulder to the kind of people who can produce it. That is… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
Advertising is a business of words, but advertising agencies are infested with men and women who cannot write. They cannot write advertisements,… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
It strikes me as bad manners for a magazine to accept one of my advertisements and then attack it editorially - like… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
There is one category of advertising which is totally uncontrolled and flagrantly dishonest: the television commercials for candidates in Presidential elections. — David Ogilvy Advertising Copy Share Image
If you have a truly big idea, the wrong technique won't kill it. And if you don't have a big idea, the… — David Ogilvy Big idea Copy Share Image
The manufacturer who finds himself up the creek is the short-sighted opportunist who siphons off all his advertising dollars for short-term promotions. — David Ogilvy Advertising Copy Share Image
If you, my fellow copywriters or art directors, want to win the award, devote your genius to making the cash register ring. — David Ogilvy Art Copy Share Image
The headline is the most important element in most advertisements. It is the telegram which decides the reader whether to read the… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
Advertising is the place where the selfish interests of the manufacturer coincide with the interests of society. — David Ogilvy Advertising Copy Share Image
Consumers don't think how they feel. They don't say what they think and they don't do what they say. — David Ogilvy Advertising Copy Share Image
The most important word in the vocabulary of advertising is TEST. If you pretest your product with consumers, and pretest your advertising,… — David Ogilvy Advertising Copy Share Image
Remove advertising, disable a person or firm from proclaiming its wares and their merits, and the whole of society and of the… — David Ogilvy Advertising Copy Share Image
We exist to build the business of our clients. The recommendations we make to them should be the recommendations we would make… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
It has taken more than a hundred scientists two years to find out how to make the product in question; I have… — David Ogilvy Advertising Copy Share Image
“The best leaders are apt to be found among those executives who have a strong component of unorthodoxy in their characters. Instead… — David Ogilvy Confidence Copy Share Image
“The best way to settle such arguments is to measure the selling effectiveness of your campaign at regular intervals, and to go… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
A lot of today's campaigns are based on optimum positioning but are totally ineffective - because they are dull, or badly constructed,… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
The more informative your advertising, the more persuasive it will be. Before people making a buying decision, they have many questions. For… — David Ogilvy Advertising Copy Share Image
I once used the word OBSOLETE in a headline, only to discover that 43 per cent of housewives had no idea what… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
Always hold your sales meetings in rooms too small for the audience, even if it means holding them in the WC. 'Standing… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
You now have to decide what 'image' you want for your brand. Image means personality. Products, like people, have personalities, and they… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
“It is a good idea to start the year by writing down exactly what you want to accomplish, and end the year… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
Nowadays it is the fashion to pretend that no single individual is ever responsible for a successful advertising campaign. This emphasis on… — David Ogilvy Advertising Copy Share Image
I never tell one client that I cannot attend his sales convention because I have a previous engagement with another client; successful… — David Ogilvy Advertising Copy Share Image
“Never allow two people to do a job which one could do. George Washington observed, ‘Whenever one person is found adequate to… — David Ogilvy Duty Copy Share Image
I did not feel 'evil' when I wrote advertisements for Puerto Rico. They helped attract industry and tourists to a country which… — David Ogilvy Country Copy Share Image
