David Mackenzie Ogilvy, CBE was a renowned advertising executive and an excellent businessman. Popularly known as the “Father of Advertising”, Ogilvy is seen as the genius and expert in the field of selling a product. His life is quite inspirational. Starting from being just a mere chef to a door-to-door salesman, he established himself as the owner of one of the largest advertising agencies in the world. Ogilvy transformed the world of advertising by introducing a new appealing perspective to the same. He introduced creativity and morality into the advertisements. Honoring his creative instinct and sharp business acumen, “Time” magazine referred him as “the most sought-after wizard in today’s advertising industry” in 1962. Also his book “Confessions of an Advertising Man” is one amongst the bestsellers that has been translated into 14 different languages with a sale of more than a million copies globally.
Quotes of David Ogilvy :
1. Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon.
2. 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.
3. The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.
4. Develop your eccentricities while you are young. That way, when you get old, people won’t think you’re going gaga.
5. A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself.
6. I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. Don’t bunt. Aim out of the ball park. Aim for the company of immortals.
10. 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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