A Collection of Ogilvy – isms

I stumbled upon a book called “Confessions of an Advertising Man”, by David Ogilvy at my local bookshop.

I was familiar with his name because I studied some of the work his agency had done in the 1950s and 1960s.

I opened the book, read the table of contents and thought I’ll give it a read.

A week later and I’m re-reading the book now and I’m compiling notes. The book is full of GOLD.

It was originally published in 1963 but many lessons in the book are still relevant today.

I advice any person running an agency or studio to read it.

I’m planning to write a longer blog post with all my notes from his book but for now, here is a list his “Ogilvy – isms”:

1. I believe in the Scottish proverb, ‘Hard work never killed a man’, men die of boredom. psychological conflict and disease. They do not die of hard work.
2. It is important to admit your mistakes and to do so before you are charged with them.
3. Big ideas are usually simple ideas.
4. Get rid of sad dogs who spread doom.
5. In the best establishments, promises are always kept, whatever it may cost in agony and overtime.
6. Change is our lifeblood.
7. Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating.
8. People do not buy from bad-mannered liars.
9. Tolerate genius.
10. It is a mistake to use highfalutin language when you advertise to uneducated people. I once used the word OBSOLETE, in a headline, only to discover that 33% of housewives had no idea of what it meant. In another headline I used the word INEFFABLE, only to discover that I didn’t know what it meant myself.
11. No manufacturer ever complained that his advertising was selling too much.
12. We prefer the discipline of knowledge to the anarchy of ignorance.
13. I admire people with gentle manners who treat other people as human beings.