David Ogilvy Quotes

Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon.
David Ogilvy

Business, Try, Idiots

If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.
David Ogilvy

Become, Company, Shall

The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.
David Ogilvy

Funny, Best, Thinking

I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.
David Ogilvy

Rather, Support, Research

Develop your eccentricities while you are young. That way, when you get old, people won't think you're going gaga.
David Ogilvy

Young, Old, While

Advertising is a business of words, but advertising agencies are infested with men and women who cannot write. They cannot write advertisements, and they cannot write plans. They are helpless as deaf mutes on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.
David Ogilvy

Women, Men, Business

A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself.
David Ogilvy

Good, Attention, Drawing

Political advertising ought to be stopped. It's the only really dishonest kind of advertising that's left. It's totally dishonest.
David Ogilvy

Political, Left, Dishonest

If it doesn't sell, it isn't creative.
David Ogilvy

Don't bunt. Aim out of the ball park. Aim for the company of immortals.
David Ogilvy

Company, Aim, Ball

First, make yourself a reputation for being a creative genius. Second, surround yourself with partners who are better than you are. Third, leave them to go get on with it.
David Ogilvy

Yourself, Creative, Leave

Advertising is only evil when it advertises evil things.
David Ogilvy

I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information.
David Ogilvy

Art, Regard, Medium

The consumer isn't a moron; she is your wife.
David Ogilvy

Business, Wife, She

Does advertising corrupt editors? Yes it does, but fewer editors than you may suppose... the vast majority of editors are incorruptible.
David Ogilvy

May, Yes, Majority

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.
David Ogilvy

Leave, Aim, Routine

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

Two, Find, Able

Every advertisement should be thought of as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image.
David Ogilvy

Thought, Image, Complex

Advertising reflects the mores of society, but it does not influence them.
David Ogilvy

Society, Influence, Mores

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

Good, Great, Else

In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create.
David Ogilvy

Business, Creative, Create

Leaders grasp nettles.
David Ogilvy

Leadership, Leaders, Grasp

The more informative your advertising, the more persuasive it will be.
David Ogilvy

The pursuit of excellence is less profitable than the pursuit of bigness, but it can be more satisfying.
David Ogilvy

Less, Excellence, Pursuit

The secret of long life is double careers. One to about age sixty, then another for the next thirty years.
David Ogilvy

Life, Age, Long

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Biography

Nationality: English

Type: Businessman

Born: June 23, 1911

Died: July 21, 1999

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Cite this Page: Citation

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