This document provides timeless marketing advice from David Ogilvy, the Father of Advertising. It shares several of his insightful quotes on topics like writing advertising copy in plain language, testing advertisements, hiring the best people, and aiming for remarkable work. The quotes encourage marketers to write honestly and persuasively, use consumer research, continuously improve through testing, and hire people who are more talented than themselves.

1. imeless Marketing
Wisdom From
David Ogilvy
T

2. When the Father of
Advertising speaks,
we listen.

3. it’s still relevant to
marketers today.
50YEARS OLD,
Though his advice is

4. Here’s what he has to say.

5. “I don’t know the rules of
grammar … If you’re trying to
persuade people to do
something, or buy something,
it seems to me you should
use their language, the
language they use every day,
the language in which they
think. We try to write in the
vernacular.”

6. “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.”

7. “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.”

8. “Do not address your readers as though they were gathered together
in a stadium. When people read your copy, they are alone. Pretend
you are writing to each of them a letter on behalf of your client.”

9. “Consumers [decide] to buy or not to buy [based on]
the content of your advertising, not its form.”

10. “On the average, five times
as many people read the
headline as read the body
copy. When you have
written your headline,
you have spent eighty
cents out of your dollar.”

11. “The best ideas come as jokes.
Make your thinking as funny as possible.”

12. “Advertising people who ignore research
are as dangerous as generals who ignore
decodes of enemy signals.”

13. “Never stop testing,
and your advertising
will never stop
improving.”

14. “Why should a manufacturer bet his money, perhaps
the future of his company, on your instinct?”

15. “Good copy
can’t be written
with tongue in
cheek, written
just for a living.
You’ve got to
believe in the
product.”

16. “Hire people who are better
than you are, then leave
them to get on with it.
Look for people who will
aim for the remarkable,
who will not settle
for the routine.”

17. “Training should not be confined to trainees. It
should be a continuous process, and should
include the entire professional staff of the
agency. The more our people learn, the more
useful they can be to our clients.”

18. “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.”

19. “Don’t bunt. Aim
out of the ball
park. Aim for
the company of
immortals.”

20. Want more marketing inspiration?
Download 101 Awesome
Marketing Quotes From
Industry Thought Leaders:
http://bit.ly/101MarketingQuotes

21. By Ginny Soskey.
@gsosk