If you tell lies about a product, you will be found out - either by the Government, which will prosecute you, or by the consumer, who will punish you by not buying your product a second time. (David Ogilvy)
If you ever have the good fortune to create a great advertising campaign, you will soon see another agency steal it. This is irritating, but don't let it worry you; nobody has ever built a brand by imitating somebody else's advertising. (David Ogilvy)
It has taken more than a hundred scientists two years to find out how to make the product in question I have been given thirty days to create its personality and plan its launching. If I do my job well, I shall contribute as much as the hundred scientists to the success of this product. (David Ogilvy)
Experience has taught me that advertisers get the best results when they pay their agency a flat fee. It is unrealistic to expect your agency to be impartial when its vested interest lies wholly in the direction of increasing your commissionable advertising. (David Ogilvy)
Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals. (David Ogilvy)
I once used the word OBSOLETE in a headline, only to discover that 43 per cent of housewives had no idea what it meant. In another headline, I used the word INEFFABLE, only to discover that I didn't know what it meant myself. (David Ogilvy)
I did not feel 'evil' when I wrote advertisements for Puerto Rico. They helped attract industry and tourists to a country which had been living on the edge of starvation for 400 years. (David Ogilvy)
A well-run restaurant is like a winning baseball team. It makes the most of every crew member's talent and takes advantage of every split-second opportunity to speed up service. (David Ogilvy)
H. L. Mencken once said that nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public. That is not true. I have come to believe that it pays to make all your layouts project a feeling of good taste, provided that you do it unobtrusively. An ugly layout suggests an ugly product. There are very few products which do not benefit from being given a first class ticket through life. (David Ogilvy)
Many people - and I think I am one of them - are more productive when they've had a little to drink. I find if I drink two or three brandies, I'm far better able to write. (David Ogilvy)
The pursuit of excellence is less profitable than the pursuit of bigness, but it can be more satisfying. (David Ogilvy)
Political advertising ought to be stopped. It's the only really dishonest kind of advertising that's left. It's totally dishonest. (David Ogilvy)
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. (David Ogilvy)
What you say in advertising is more important than how you say it. (David Ogilvy)
The secret of long life is double careers. One to about age sixty, then another for the next thirty years. (David Ogilvy)