Friday, February 4, 2011

Quotes from "Father of Advertising"

David Ogilvy is considered by many as the "Father of Advertising." He created one of the largest and most successful advertising (and now marketing and public relations) agencies, Ogilvy & Mather, and is rumored to be the inspiration behind Don Draper's character in the popular TV series Mad Men. He is famous for making high-end products, like Rolls Royce, seem like a 'sensible' use of one's money by appealing to the consumer's refined taste and class status.

Here are 10 quotes from David Ogilvy that ProBlogger.net thinks could revolutionize blogging:
  1. “The consumer isn’t a moron; she is your wife.”
  2. “The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.”
  3. “Don’t bunt. Aim out of the ball park. Aim for the company of immortals.”
  4. “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.”
  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. “Good copy can’t be written with tongue in cheek, written just for a living. You’ve got to believe in the product.”
  7. “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.”
  8. “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.”
  9. “Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.”
  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."

To find out how these quotes relate to blogging, read the full article by Darren Rowse on ProBlogger.net here.

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