David Ogilvy Quotes

Think of a pitch in terms of advertising: You're trying to hook a reader the way a commercial tries to hook a detergent user.

Commercials were too phony for me. I just didn't like selling products I didn't believe in.

Even when I do commercials, I try to tell a story about the product. With music, I try to tell the story of the person's struggle for success. And I believe every word I say. I never read anything on the air I don't believe in. I think people sense that about me, and they respond to it.

Marketing is designed to bring people into something.

I have learned that it is far easier to write a speech about good advertising than it is to write a good ad.

You have to prove that the Freberg way will sell their product better than if they just did straight advertising. Whenever I give a lecture or seminar, that's what I try to get across to people. I hear very few radio commercials that sound like I could have written them or that they got the idea.

Advertising is a wonderful lubricant for business, if it's used properly.

We believe that the best Web content optimization strategy is something as old as journalism itself: the shocking truth and the authentic opinion.

Storytelling is the game. It's what we all do. It's why Nike is Nike, it's why Apple is Apple, it's why Walt Disney built Disney World and it's why Vince McMahon makes a billion dollars.

I have learned that any fool can write a bad ad, but that it takes a real genius to keep his hands off a good one.

I've learned any fool can write a bad ad, but it takes a real genius to keep his hands off a good one.

I have a theory that the best ads come from personal experience. Some of the good ones I have done have really come out of the real experience of my life, and somehow this has come over as true and valid and persuasive.

Good advertising does not just circulate information. It penetrates the public mind with desires and belief.

If you have a good selling idea, your secretary can write your ad for you.

Advertising ought to work by telling you what it is you want to tell, you should understand what you want us to do, what you want us to think, where you want us to shop.

We try to be driven by what's a good story, what's truthful, and the drama of what happens next.

Apple has great marketing, among the best PR and marketing in the world.

Advertising is the life of trade.

I've always been a fan of advertising, I've always been a fan of television, I've loved commercials, I've loved all the jingles, I loved all the stuff.

Marketing is a contest for people's attention.

There was a period of time in America where the advertising world actually went to the housewives of America and had them write jingles that would appeal to them. It was actually brilliant marketing.

Writing good ads is easy when you have something to say.

I understand the concept of advertising. It makes sense. Companies want to reach customers with information about their products. It's a completely legitimate and valuable notion.

I want my fiction to seem real.

Humor has been a major component in our past successes; a good joke and a good product combined can get a lot of people talking.