Talk:David Ogilvy

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• We all have a tendency to use research as a drunkard uses a lamppost -- for support, but not for illumination.

• The pursuit of excellence is less profitable than the pursuit of bigness, but it can be more satisfying.

• Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon.
  • Notes: The business in question is advertising, specifically copywriting.

• Once upon a time I was riding on the top of a First Avenue bus, when I heard a mythical housewife say to another, "Molly, my dear, I would have bought that new brand of toilet soap if only they hadn't set the body copy in ten point Garamond." Don't you believe it. What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form.

• H. L. Mencken once said that nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public. That is not true. I have come to believe that it pays to make all your layouts project a feeling of good taste, provided that you do it unobtrusively. An ugly layout suggests an ugly product. There are very few products which do not benefit from being given a first class ticket through life.

• It has been found that the less an advertisement looks like an advertisement, and the more it looks like an editorial, the more readers stop, look and read. Therefore, study the graphics used by editors and imitate them. Study the graphics used in advertisements, and avoid them.

• If it doesn't sell, it isn't creative.