David Ogilvy Quotes

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 most important word in the vocabulary of advertising is TEST. If you pre-test your product with consumers, and pre-test your advertising, you will do well in the marketplace.

Talent ... is most likely to be found among non-conformists, dissenters, and rebels.

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.

To advertisers: Do not compete with your agency in the creative area. Why keep a dog and bark yourself?

What you say in advertising is more important than how you say it.

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.

I always said that mega-mergers were for megalomaniacs.

I know of a brewer who sells more of his beer to the people who never see his advertising than to the people who see it every week. Bad advertising can unsell a product.

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