Ogilvy Quotes: top 100 famous quotes about Ogilvy

Ogilvy Quotes & Sayings

Happy to read and share the best inspirational Ogilvy quotes, sayings and quotations on Wise Famous Quotes.

Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating. — David Ogilvy

The secret of long life is double careers. One to about age sixty, then another for the next thirty years. — David Ogilvy

There are now unmistakeable signs of a trend in favor of superior products at premium prices. The consumer is not a moron, she is your wife. — David Ogilvy

If you can't be brilliant, at least be memorable — David Ogilvy

Nobody ever arrives at a very big idea through a conscious, rational thought process. It comes from your unconscious. — David Ogilvy

Every ad is an investment in the long-term image of a brand. — David Ogilvy

Great marketing only makes a bad product fail faster. — David Ogilvy

I always said that mega-mergers were for megalomaniacs. — David Ogilvy

Great hospitals do two things. They look after patients, and they teach young doctors. We look after clients, and we teach young advertising people. — David Ogilvy

My motto has always been: Only first class business and that in a first class way — David Ogilvy

What you say in advertising is more important than how you say it. — David Ogilvy

You make the best products you can, and you grow as fast as you deserve to. — David Ogilvy

One half was sad because I had damaged my reputation. The other half was happy because I had damaged my reputation. — David Ogilvy

I always use my clients' products. This is not toady-ism, but elementary good manners. — David Ogilvy

Write the way you talk. Naturally. — David Ogilvy

If you have a truly big idea, the wrong technique won't kill it. And if you don't have a big idea, the right technique won't help you — David Ogilvy

Within every brand is a product, but not every product is a brand. — David Ogilvy

The best idea is the simplest. — David Ogilvy

Our offices must always be headed by the kind of men who command respect. Not phonies, zeros or bastards. — David Ogilvy

Don't count the people that you reach, reach the people who count — David Ogilvy

It's not creative unless it sells. — David Ogilvy

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

The worst fault a salesman can commit is to be a bore ... Pretend to be vastly interested in any subject the prospects shows an interest in. — David Ogilvy

Make sure you have a vice president in charge of your revolution, to engender ferment among your more conventional colleagues. — David Ogilvy

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

Readers travel so fast they don't stop to decipher the meaning of obscure headlines. — David Ogilvy

Political advertising ought to be stopped. It's the only really dishonest kind of advertising that's left. It's totally dishonest. — David Ogilvy

Advertising is the place where the selfish interests of the manufacturer coincide with the interests of society. — David Ogilvy

People don't buy a new detergent because the manufacturer told a joke on television last night. — David Ogilvy

Any damn fool can put on a deal, but it takes genius, faith and perseverance to create a brand. — David Ogilvy

Only amateurs use short copy. — David Ogilvy

Try and inject into every commercial you make a touch of singularity; a bird that will hook on to the consumers mind — David Ogilvy

Never write more than two pages on any subject. — David Ogilvy

You aren't advertising to a standing army; you are advertising to a moving parade. — David Ogilvy

In my experience, committees can criticize, but they cannot create. 'Search the parks in all your cities You'll find no statues of committees. — David Ogilvy

Why should a manufacturer bet his money, perhaps the future of his company, on your instinct? — David Ogilvy

No sale, no commission. No commission, no eat. That made an impression on me. — David Ogilvy

The advertisers who believe in the selling power of jingles have never had to sell anything. — David Ogilvy

Advertising reflects the mores of society, but it does not influence them. — David Ogilvy

Never use tricky or irrelevant headlines ... People read too fast to figure out what you are trying to say. — David Ogilvy

Don't hire a dog, then bark yourself — David Ogilvy

Unless your campaign has a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night. — David Ogilvy

David Ogilvy made his copywriters come up 100 different headlines for every ad they wrote. — David Ogilvy

Every advertisement should be thought of as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image. — David Ogilvy

Study the methods of your competitors and do the exact opposite. — David Ogilvy

I prefer the discipline of knowledge to the anarchy of ignorance. — David Ogilvy

It is flagrantly dishonest for an advertising agent to urge consumers to buy a product which he would not allow his own wife to buy. — David Ogilvy

If it is something important, get a colleague to improve it, — David Ogilvy

Don't bunt. Aim out of the ballpark. Aim for the company of immortals. — David Ogilvy

Positioning should be decided before the advertising is created — David Ogilvy

The only marketers who know what the hell they're doing are those who have worked in sales — David Ogilvy

You will never win fame and fortune unless you invent big ideas. — David Ogilvy

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

The temptation to entertain instead of selling is contagious. — David Ogilvy

I think I was the beneficiary of a little bit of charity. — Geoff Ogilvy

Play to win, but enjoy the fun. — David Ogilvy

Good copy can't be written with tongue in cheek, written just for a living. You've got to believe in the product. — David Ogilvy

Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving. — David Ogilvy

If you can't advertise yourself, what hope do you have of advertising anything else? — David Ogilvy

Develop your eccentricities early, and no one will think you're going senile later in life — David Ogilvy

Committees can criticize, but they cannot create. — David Ogilvy

People who think well, write well — David Ogilvy

Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals. — David Ogilvy

If you ever find a man who is better than you are - hire him. If necessary, pay him more than you pay yourself. — David Ogilvy

Consumers don't think how they feel. They don't say what they think and they don't do what they say. — David Ogilvy

Every advertisement is part of the long term investment in the personality of the brand. — David Ogilvy

I figure that my staff will be less reluctant to work overtime if I work longer hours than they do. — David Ogilvy

Creativity Is a fancy word for the work we have to do by Friday. — David Ogilvy

When you have nothing to say, sing it. — David Ogilvy

Like a midwife, I make my living bringing new babies into the world, except that mine are new advertising campaigns. — David Ogilvy

The most effective leader is the one who satisfies the psychological needs of his followers. — David Ogilvy

Lazy and superficial men and women do not produce superior work. — David Ogilvy

Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon. — David Ogilvy

Where people aren't having any fun, they seldom produce good work. — David Ogilvy

The more story-appeal there is in the picture or in the photograph, the more people would look at your ad — David Ogilvy

A consumer is not a moron. She's your wife. Don't insult her intelligence, and don't shock her. — David Ogilvy

It is the inescapable duty of management to fire incompetent people. — David Ogilvy

I'd like to be remembered, as a copywriter who had some big ideas. That's what the advertising business is all about. Big ideas — David Ogilvy

Any fool can write a bad advertisement, but it takes a genius to keep his hands off a good one. — David Ogilvy

Does advertising corrupt editors? Yes it does, but fewer editors than you may suppose ... the vast majority of editors are incorruptible. — David Ogilvy

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. — David Ogilvy

It's the lack of ambition that cripples most people, and makes them so pedestrian in the advertising/creative business — David Ogilvy

Ninety-nine percent of advertising doesn't sell much of anything. — David Ogilvy

Consumers do not buy products. They buy product benefits. — David Ogilvy

Never use jargon words like 'reconceptualize', 'demassification', 'attitudinally', 'judgmentally'. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass. — David Ogilvy

Hard work never killed a man. Men die of boredom, psychological conflict, and disease. They do not die of hard work. — David Ogilvy

The consumer isn't a moron. She is your wife. — David Ogilvy

Creativity needs discipline and freedom. — David Ogilvy

If you, my fellow copywriters or art directors, want to win the award, devote your genius to making the cash register ring. — David Ogilvy

What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form. — David Ogilvy

At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock. — David Ogilvy

Develop your eccentricities while you are young. That way, when you get old, people won't think you're going gaga. — David Ogilvy

Don't bunt. Aim out of the ballpark. — David Ogilvy

We all have a tendency to use research as a drunkard uses a lamppost - for support, but not for illumination — David Ogilvy

Advertising is only evil when it advertises evil things. — David Ogilvy

Few of the great creators have bland personalities. They are cantankerous egotists, the kind of men who are unwelcome in the modern corporation. — David Ogilvy

Nobody should be allowed to create general advertising until he has served his apprenticeship in direct-response — David Ogilvy

The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible. — David Ogilvy

I admire people with gentle manners who treat other people as human beings. — David Ogilvy

The psychiatrists say that everybody should have a hobby. The hobby I recommend is advertising — David Ogilvy