This is the book review of the book 'Confessions of an Advertising Man' by David Ogilvy

1. How to Build Great Campaigns
What is a Good
Advertisement? 5 Principles Experience of
3 School of followed by author
mail-order
Thoughts advertisers
What makes
Client’s Ok on it some techniques
succeed and
others fail
Remembered Research done
by some great
for a long time
advertisers
Research into
One which can advertisement
sell the product through
television
Brain picker

2. 11 Commands to obey:
What you say is more important than how you say
Unless your campaign is built around a great idea, it will flop
Give the Facts
You cannot bore people into buying
Be well mannered but don’t clown
Make your advertisement contemporary
Committee can criticize but cannot write advertisement
Repeat your advertisement , until it stops pulling
Never write an advertisement, which you would not want your own family to read
The Image of Brand
Don’t be a copy cat

3. How to Write Potent Copy
Headlines
Body Copy
Always include Testimonials
Give the reader helpful advice or service
Give the reader a single fact
Avoid bombast
Write your copy in a language which your customers understands
Resist the temptation to write the kind of copy, which wins award
Resist the temptation to entertain.

4. How to Illustrate Advertisements &
Posters
Illustration is more effective than words
Photographs are more remembered as they represent reality e.g. Babies, Pretty Girls
Avoid historical subjects
Don’t show close-ups
Always put caption under photograph
Set headlines in lower case
Use largest possible type to make brand-name visible at a glance

5. How to Make Good Television
Commercials
Purpose : Not to entertain viewer
but to sell.
Pictures should tell story
What you show is more
important than what you say
Commercial is useless if it can not
sell with only visuals (no sound)
No need to attract reader’s
attention
Show product and its name
properly
Make your product hero of the
commercial

6. How to Make Good Campaigns for Food
Products, Tourist Destinations and Patent Medicines
Food Products
Advertisement should look Tourist Destinations
appetizing on television.
• Use colour, food looks • Always portray the
appealing and appetizing destination favorably.
• Use Pictures • Always include something
• Give recipes when you can special about the
• Try to include news and destination.
brand name in the ad • Give images and thoughts
that will stay with the viewer.
• People who travel are
smart, do not insult their
intelligence.
• Help the reader understand
that they can afford the trip.

7. Patent Medicines
• The ad must show the benefits of your product over the
competition.
• The ad must contain news, or at least news worthy
events.
• Make the ad show that the medicine takes care of a
serious issue.
• The ad should show authority, or doctor
recommendation.
• The ad should talk about the disease and the medicine.
• The person wants to think you can help, so make them
believe that you can.