David Ogilvy

(19 votes)   If it doesn't sell, it isn't creative.

David Ogilvy
American, Businessman Quotes

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(11 votes)   The headline is the 'ticket on the meat.' Use it to flag down readers who are prospects for the kind of product you are advertising.

David Ogilvy
American, Businessman Quotes

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(10 votes)   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.

David Ogilvy
American, Businessman Quotes

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(8 votes)   Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.

David Ogilvy
American, Businessman Quotes

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(8 votes)   There are very few men of genius in advertising agencies. But we need all we can find. Almost without exception they are disagreeable. Don't destroy them. They lay golden eggs.

David Ogilvy
American, Businessman Quotes

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(160 votes)   I always said that mega-mergers were for megalomaniacs.

David Ogilvy
1911-, American Businessman, Advertising Expert

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(137 votes)   A well-run restaurant is like a winning baseball team. It makes the most of every crew member's talent and takes advantage of every split-second opportunity to speed up service.

David Ogilvy
1911-, American Businessman, Advertising Expert

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(67 votes)   Never write an advertisement which you wouldn't want your own family to read. You wouldn't tell lies to your own wife. Don't tell them to mine. Do as you would be done by. 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. Good products can be sold by honest advertising. If you don't think the product is good, you have no business to be advertising it.

David Ogilvy
1911-, American Businessman, Advertising Expert

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(46 votes)   Set exorbitant standards, and give your people hell when they don't live up to them. There is nothing so demoralizing as a boss who tolerates second rate work.

David Ogilvy
1911-, American Businessman, Advertising Expert

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(24 votes)   I did not feel 'evil' when I wrote advertisements for Puerto Rico. They helped attract industry and tourists to a country which had been living on the edge of starvation for 400 years.

David Ogilvy
American, Businessman Quotes

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(22 votes)   Advertising is only evil when it advertises evil things.

David Ogilvy
American, Businessman Quotes

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(22 votes)   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.

David Ogilvy
American, Businessman Quotes

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(21 votes)   A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself.

David Ogilvy
American, Businessman Quotes

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(20 votes)   Advertising is a business of words, but advertising agencies are infested with men and women who cannot write. They cannot write advertisements, and they cannot write plans. They are helpless as deaf mutes on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.

David Ogilvy
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(20 votes)   Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.

David Ogilvy
American, Businessman Quotes

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