It's the lack of ambition that cripples most people, and makes them so pedestrian in the advertising/creative business — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
Develop your eccentricities while you are young. That way, when you get old, people won't think you're going gaga. — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
On the average, five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy. — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
You cannot bore people into buying your product - you can only interest them in buying it. — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
Never use tricky or irrelevant headlines… People read too fast to figure out what you are trying to say. — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals. — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
People don't buy a new detergent because the manufacturer told a joke on television last night. — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline,… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
I have an inviolable rule against employing nepots and spouses, because they breed politics. Whenever two people get married, one of them… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
Give people a taste of Old Crow, and tell them it's Old Crow. Then give them another taste of Old Crow, but… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
Set exorbitant standards, and give your people hell when they don't live up to them. There is nothing so demoralizing as a… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
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… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
I don't know the rules of grammar... If you're trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
Training should not be confined to trainees. It should be a continuous process, and should include the entire professional staff of the… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
“When someone is made the head of an office in the Ogilvy & Mather chain, I send him a Matrioshka doll from… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
We admire people who work hard, who are objective and thorough. We detest office politicians, toadies, bullies, and pompous asses. We abhor… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
Most readers look at the photograph first. If you put it in the middle of the page, the reader will start by… — 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
I have a theory that the best ads come from personal experience. Some of the good ones I have done have really… — 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 Copy Share Image
You have only 30 seconds in a TV commercial. If you grab attention in the first frame with a visual surprise, you… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
The more story-appeal there is in the picture or in the photograph, the more people would look at your ad — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
I admire people with gentle manners who treat other people as human beings. — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
Do not address your readers as though they were gathered together in a stadium. When people read your copy, they are alone.… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
Most agencies run scared, most of the time. . . .Frightened people are powerless to produce good advertising. . . . If… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
I know of a brewer who sells more of his beer to the people who never see his advertising than to the… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
Great hospitals do two things. They look after patients, and they teach young doctors. We look after clients, and we teach young… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
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
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
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
If you always hire people who are bigger than you are, we shall become a company of giants — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
When people aren't having any fun, they seldom produce good work. Kill the grimness with laughter. Encourage exuberance. Get rid of sad… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
Senior men have no monopoly on great ideas. Nor do creative people. Some of the best ideas come from account executives, researchers… — 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 Copy Share Image
I had a friend who was the King's surgeon in England. One day I asked him what makes a great surgeon. He… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
I figure that my staff will be less reluctant to work overtime if I work longer hours than they do. — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
In most agencies, account executives outnumber the copywriters two to one. If you were a dairy farmer, would you employ twice as many milkers… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
“Your alcoholics may include some of your brightest stars. The problem is to identify them, protected as they always are by their secretaries and… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
It takes a big idea to attract the attention of consumers and get them to buy your product. Unless your advertising contains a big… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
Many manufacturers secretly question whether advertising really sells their product, but are vaguely afraid that their competitors might steal a march on them if… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
Once upon a time I was riding on the top of a First Avenue bus, when I heard a mythical housewife say to another,… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create. — David Ogilvy 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 Copy Share Image
The worst fault a salesman can commit is to be a bore. Foster any attempt to talk about other things; the longer you stay… — David Ogilvy Copy Share Image
