The document contains advice and observations from advertising executive David Ogilvy on various aspects of advertising and running an advertising agency. Some of his key points include that the best ads come from personal experiences, consumers are influenced by content not form, encouraging ideas from all staff, testing all aspects of ads and campaigns, and satisfying psychological needs of followers to be an effective leader. He stresses the importance of ideas, facts over claims, and making ads interesting to readers.

1. David Ogilvy

2.  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.

3.  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 Garamnd." Don't you believe it.
What really influences consumers to buy or
not to buy is the content of your advertising,
not its form.

4.  Senior men have no monopoly on great
ideas. Nor do creative people. Some of the
best ideas come from account
executives, researchers and others.
Encourage this; you need all the ideas you
can get.

5.  Few of the great creators have bland
personalities. They are cantankerous*
egotists, the kind of men who are unwelcome
in the modern corporation
*Cantankerous: Bad-tempered, argumentative, and uncooperative (I had to Google it, thought
you I’d save you the trouble).

6.  You aren't advertising to a standing army; you
are advertising to a moving parade.
 Three million consumers get married every year.
The advertisement which sold a refrigerator to
those who got married last year will probably be
just as successful with those who'll get married
next year.
 An advertisement is just like a radar
sweep, constantly hunting new prospects as
they come into the market. Get a good radar
and keep it sweeping.

7.  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.

8.  I used the word 'darling' in the headline of a
[Dove] ad because a psychologist had tested
hundreds of words for their emotional impact
and 'darling' had come out top.
 I was not aware that it is dangerous to use a
telephone when you are taking a bath.

9.  We have a habit of divine discontent with our
performance. It is an antidote to smugness.

10.  I figure that my staff will be less reluctant to
work overtime if I work longer hours than
they do.

11.  If you can't advertise yourself, what hope do
you have of advertising anything else?

12.  If you always hire people who are smaller
than you are, we shall become a company of
dwarfs. If, on the other hand, you always hire
people who are bigger than you are, we shall
become a company of giants.

13.  Every advertisement must tell the whole sales
story, because the public does not read
advertisements in series. The copy must be
human and very simple, keyed right down to its
market - a market in which self-conscious
artwork and fine language serve only to make
buyers wary. Every word in the copy must count.
Concrete figures must be substituted for
atmospheric claims; clichés must give way to
facts, and empty exhortations to alluring offers.

14.  I am a stickler for meeting deadlines. I can do
almost any job in one weekend. I think
everyone can. The trouble is most chaps are
too lazy to burn the midnight oil. They are
unwilling to rise to the occasion.

15.  When people aren't having any fun, they
seldom produce good work. Kill grimness
with laugher. Encourage exuberance. Get rid
of sad dogs who spread gloom.

16.  The most effective leader is the one who
satisfies the psychological needs of his
followers.

17. 1. Ogilvy & Mather - one agency indivisible
2. We sell - or else
3. You can not bore people into buying your
product; you can only interest them in buying
it.
4. Raise your sights! Blaze new trails!! Compete
with the immortals!!!
5. I prefer the discipline of knowledge to the
anarchy of ignorance. We pursue knowledge
the way a pig pursues truffles.

18. 5. We hire gentlemen with brains
6. The consumer is not a moron. She is your
wife. Don't insult her intelligence.
7. Unless your campaign contains a Big Idea, it
will pass like a ship in the night.
8. Only First Class business, and that in a First
Class way
9. Never run an advertisement you wouldn't
want your family to see

19.  Test your promise. Test your media.
 Test your headlines and your illustrations.
 Test the size of your advertisements
 Test your frequency.
 Test your level of expenditure.
 Test your commercials.
 Never stop testing, and your advertising will
never stop improving.