11 minutes to absorb life long lessons from an advertising genius.
Reading three times should take roughly 33 minutes, read once in 11 minutes. It took 2 hours and 42 minutes to listen and note take. It took 68 minutes to remove fillers.
Founders Podcast Link: Confessions of an Advertising Man: David Ogilvy
Learn from the “Father of Advertising”. Apply proven strategies to increase sales.
David Ogilvy, is considered an advertising genius by greats, such as Warren Buffet. His pursuit of excellence and attention to detail earned him his nickname, “The Father of Advertising”. A farmer in Lancaster Pennsylvania, a chef in Paris, France, an assistant to Sir William Stephenson (the basis of James Bond), founded his advertising conglomerate later in his life in 1948.
David Ogilvy’s principals became the principals of the company. Ogilvy led through his own actions.
Sell or else.
You cannot bore people into buying your product, you can only excite.
Pursue knowledge the way a hungry pig scours for truffles.
Hire gentlemen with brains.
The consumer is your wife. She is not a moron. Do not insult her intelligence.
Unless your campaign includes a grand idea. It will be unseen like a needle in a haystack.
First class business in a first class way.
Never run an ad that you would not be proud to show your family.
Search the cities, you won’t find a statue of a committee. Believe in you.
He was a master of language, creating short phrases and analogies that were simple and memorable.
“Pay peanuts and you get monkeys.” - - [pay cheap, you get cheap]
Short, concise, and most importantly memorable.
How did Ogilvy stop being an amateur? Dissecting and studying the greats that came before him. He was ignorant to the work and strategies.
How did Ogilvy hire the best talent? Understood that A+ players ruthlessly surround themselves with A+ talent. Only hire A+ talent.
Warning: With great talent comes great problems. Tolerate geniuses - disagreeable, non-conforming, difficult, but genius. At age 9, Ogilvy disagreed with his teachers, explaining the textbooks were wrong and he was correct.
Excellence is not everything. It is the only thing.
As a founder, Ogilvy believed he had one role - usher an environment for creative mavericks.
Ogilvy praised rarely. He stated that his employees would not appreciate oozing, consistent, false praise. He only praised when it was genuine.
Ogilvy thought majority of business men think too logically and reasonably. He knew that is why they are in the majority. Be in the minority of greatness.
Ogilvy believed in the power of your unconscious. Often he let his brain lie fallow - Taking walks, vacations, retreats, baths, warm showers. This is how he received his best ideas.
There may be 1,000 advertising agencies. 50 are good. 5 are great. Those 5 are willing to do the work no others are willing to.
The extension of great individuals is great companies.
Ogilvy believed the only standard is - excellence and excellence only.
“What you’ve shown me does not live up to your highest standard. Please take another crack at it.”
Mediocre is the majority. We have an innate bias to the majority. Awareness of this is key.
Detailed principals that Daivd Oglivy ensured were in every piece of advertising :
Don’t busy the mind. Focus on promising one benefit.
Facts over everything. Your consumer is your wife. Don’t offend your wife with catchy slogans and a few strong adjectives.
Scrutinize headlines ruthlessly.
5x as many people read the headline compared to the copy.
Headlines must include a promise of a benefit.
Headlines longer than 10 words sold more than those shorter.
Oglivy’s famous headline for Rolls Royce: “At 60 MPH the loudest noise in he new Rolls Royce is the electric clock.
Always include customer testimonials.
First paragraph has an 11 word maximum. Make it easy for readers to start.
Repeat your company name over and over. It must stick in their mind.
