David Ogilvy

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David Ogilvy

David Mackenzie Ogilvy (born June 23, 1911 in West Horsley , England , † July 21, 1999 at Touffou Castle , France ) was a British copywriter.

A large number of texts, slogans and headlines (for Guinness , Dove , Schweppes and many more) that have become classics today go back to him. His most famous headline is probably that for Rolls Royce: " At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock" ( poked by Howard Luck Gossage for Land-Rover: " At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Land-Rover comes from the roar of the engine ").

Life

After Ogilvy had tried his hand at being more or less successful as a cook, sales representative, diplomat and farmer, he started a new career at the age of 37 - as a recruiter. In 1948 he founded the advertising agency Hewitt, Ogilvy, Benson & Mather in New York , which soon became one of the most important international agencies as Ogilvy & Mather . His cult status in the advertising industry, he also owes two books under advertisers in general and copywriters be read today in particular, the 1963 published Confessions of an Advertising Man (dt. Confessions of an advertising man ) and later, the ideas evolving Ogilvy on Advertising (Eng. Ogilvy on advertising , 1983).

In 1973 David Ogilvy retired from day-to-day business and retired to his Touffou castle near Bonnes (France), at least temporarily. Four years later he was inducted into the American Advertising Hall of Fame . In 1980 he was brought back and he took over the executive chair of the Indian branch of Ogilvy & Mather and then - for a short time - the chairmanship of the German Ogilvy office in Frankfurt.

In 1989 the international agency network WPP bought the Ogilvy Group, David Ogilvy remained honorary chairman ( non-executive chairman ) for three years .

Awards

  • MA Honorary Degree (Colby Board)
  • Dr. hc ("Doctor of Letters" -Adelphi University New York)
  • Commander of the British Empire 1967 (by Queen Elizabeth II, London, UK)

Quotes

Some of his sayings are still part of the standard repertoire of many advertisers.

We sell or else.
Only first class business, and that in a first class way.
We prefer the discipline of knowledge to the anarchy of ignorance. We pursue knowledge the way a pig pursues truffles.
The consumer is not a moron but your wife.
In our pursuit of creativity, we must never lose sight of the fact that the purpose of most advertising is to make the cash register ring.
Never run an advertisement you would not want your own family to see.
Unless your advertising contains a Big Idea, it will pass like a ship in the night.
You cannot bore somebody into buying.
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.
Any fool can write a bad advertisement, but it takes a genius to keep his hands off a good one.
People don't buy clowns.
Any damn fool can put on a price reduction, but it takes brains and perseverance to create a brand.
Direct Marketing was always my first love and later on my secret weapon.
You aren't advertising to a standing army; you are advertising to a moving parade.

Works

  • An autobiography , Wiley, New York 1997, ISBN 0-471-18002-5
  • Confessions of an advertising man , Econ, Munich 2000 (first around 1964), ISBN 3-430-17275-6 ('Confessions of an advertising man')
  • Ogilvy on advertising , Econ, Düsseldorf 1984, ISBN 3-430-17272-1 ('Ogilvy on advertising')
  • What is important to me. Provocative views of an advertising man , Econ, Düsseldorf, 1988, ISBN 3-430-17273-X (Engl. 'The unpublished David Ogilvy')

literature

  • Philippe Lorin: 5 giants of advertising. David Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, Marcel Bleustein-Blanche, Albert Lasker, Bill Bernbach. Assouline, Paris 2001. ISBN 978-2-84323-249-7
  • Kenneth Roman: The King of Madison Avenue: David Ogilvy and the Making of Modern Advertising. ISBN 978-1-4039-7895-0
  • Kenneth Roman: David Ogilvy - A Life for Advertising. Translated from the English by Birgit Schöbitz and Dzifa Vode, Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt / a. M. u. a. 2010, ISBN 978-3-593-39234-9

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c David Ogilvy. To Autobiography (Trailblazer Biographies), John Wiley and Sons, Feb 13, 1997.
personal data
SURNAME Ogilvy, David
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ogilvy, David Mackenzie (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British copywriter
DATE OF BIRTH June 23, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH West Horsley , England
DATE OF DEATH July 21, 1999
Place of death at Touffou Castle , France