Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy

These are my notes from Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy. Each one contains a core idea from the book that stood out. The goal of writing my notes this way is that each could be it's own independent idea with the need for the specific context within the book.

Recognizing Big Ideas

Ask yourself 5 questions:

1. Does it make me gasp?
2. Do I wish I had thought of it myself?
3. Is it unique?
4. Does it fit the strategy to perfection?
5. Could it be used for 30 years?

Copying Creates Your Craft

In school we are taught that copying is unacceptable. It's a behavior that is looked down upon. To learn a craft, people often take on the role of an apprentice copying their elders. When you're just starting any skill to make something as good as it can be you must copy (at least until you have a better idea). David Ogilvy copied Bob Gage for 5 years, down to the spacing between his lines. Bob started out by copying Paul Rand, and Paul copied Tschichold. Copying from the greats that came before you is a rite of passage to establishing your foothold on the craft you're engaged in. Eventually you'll have enough of the foundations to begin adding in your own taste that developed over that time.

The Big Idea: Unlocking Your Creative Unconscious

David Ogilvy, the father of modern advertising, knew the secret to success: big ideas. In his wisdom, he shares that while diligence is crucial, it's the groundbreaking concepts that truly captivate consumers. Ogilvy reveals that these game-changing ideas often emerge from our unconscious mind, but with a catch – it must be well-informed. He advises us to "stuff your conscious mind with information, then unhook your rational thought process." Whether it's a leisurely walk, a relaxing bath, or a glass of wine, the key is to create space for inspiration to strike. When the connection to your unconscious is open, that's when the magic happens – a big idea bubbles up, ready to revolutionize your work and capture the world's attention.

Hiring to Become a Company That Stands Among Giants

Hiring someone that's better than you are is difficult. They're hard to find and even harder to stomach. Anyone that became the head of an office at Ogilvy & Mather received a Matryoshka doll. In the smallest one was a note that read "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 wanted to remind each of them that the company was built by people with a well-furnished mind, exceptionally curious about everything (from history, languages, economics, etc.), a great sense of humor, and a dedication to their craft. These were the giants they needed to hire and the people that would go on to train others to do the same.

Criteria of a Crowned Prince

Royal Dutch Shell found the most reliable criteria to spot up and comers were:

1. The power of analysis
2. Imagination
3. A sense of reality
4. The "helicopter quality" — the ability to look at facts and problems from an overall view point

The rarest qualities to find are 2 & 4. Most people left their imagination behind years ago and are too involved to look at situations from a objective 3rd person view.

Great Leadership Requires Unconventional Wisdom

The best leaders don't fit the molds. They have unconventional backgrounds, experiences, and stories. This creates the opportunities for them to relate to a broader spectrum of people. It develops an unorthodox character in them. At 38 years old, David Ogilvy started his advertising agency. When he did so, he hadn't risen through the ranks at another agency, wasn't a university graduate, much less have the proper exposure needed to lead anyone in advertising, much less one of the largest in the world. An unconventional background symbolizes growth. Any innovative company needs growth at the core of what they do. These people can often be described as curiously complicated, yet they satisfy the psychological needs of their followers.

The Sweeping Radar: Repeat Your Winners

When you find a play that works keep running that system. The best plays get shelved to quickly. Advertisements do not decline when they are ran multiple times. The average reader will read the same advertisements 4 times. Business is like a sweeping radar, constantly hitting new prospects as they come into the growing market. When Henry Ford asked if they had to keep running the same ad forever, he was met with the response from a copywriter that the campaign had not yet appeared. Just like a stock the best returns compound over time. If you have a system that's working keep investing more into it over time.

The Writer's Paradox

Most writers exist at one end of the spectrum: a poet or an academic. They're either too clever or too clear. Being a poet doesn’t get the message across. People get lost in the words or confused on their meaning. Academics are boring. The only people that read their writing are other people in their field. It's too clear and lacks empathy. William Maynard said, "Most good copywriters fall into two categories. Poets. And killers. Poets see an ad as the end. Killers as a means to an end." The writers that exists as the paradoxes, blurring the lines between black & white are the ones that get rich.

Do Your Homework

It's the people that know the most that have the big ideas. David Ogilvy spent 3 weeks reading about Rolls-Royce when he came across a line that would lead to one of his best advertisements; "at sixty miles an hour the loudest noise comes from the electric clock." He sent a team to the Mercedes headquarters that interviewed the engineers for 3 weeks. This would lead to a campaign that 4x'd their sales. His most successful ideas came from studying the products and writing factual advertisements that worked. They all used the depth of knowledge, frame of competition, and consumer research to find the best promise that drove people to buy the brands.

3-Step Path to Positioning

David Ogilvy defines positioning as "what the product does, and who it is for." Most marketers don't have a clear idea on what it means. Before you decide how you want to position your product follow these steps:

1. Study the product. The more you know the better your ideas. If you dig deep into all aspects of the product you'll be primed to sell it.
2. Study the competition. Find out how they're advertising their product. Understand their success in reaching the audience. Use this to get a baseline of the overall market.
3. Research with consumers. Find out how they think. Gain an intimate understanding of the language they use when thinking about your subject. Find out what's important to them and what promise they need to hear.

What Is Brand Image?

Brand image is an infusion of personality. Your image makes or breaks your product in the market place. Give people a sip of Old Crow but tell them it's Jack Daniel's and they'll love the brand image. The personality of a product is a combination of all aspects that touch it. Every part contributes to the brand image. You must consistently project the same brand image in every interaction. It pays to have a brand image associated with quality. Different images will appeal to different people. For commodities consumers don't choose the products they buy based on images. A brand image is 90% of what you have to sell.

Collect Your Success Factors

Each year $297 billion are spent on advertising. Textbooks will give you factors that have been overused but work. Very few people analyze the results of their campaigns to find an edge in what works through experience. For 35 years David Ogilvy collected factors that continuously worked without many exceptions. One day Stanley Resor told Ogilvy they asked 4 people at his firm to identify the factors that worked. In 2 years they had come up with 12 factors. Ogilvy said “I was too polite to tell him that I had ninety-six.” There are factors of success you can only learn by codifying your own experiences. This provides the edge against your competition.

Develop a Becoming Style

A brand image is just as important as the hard sell. Before there was a term for the personality of your product advertisers still understood the importance of it. Claude Hopkins was known for advising for hard selling above all else yet he still said "try to give each advertiser a becoming style. To create the right individuality is a supreme accomplishment." A becoming style pulls the consumer in tapping their personality to give them a reflection in your brand. The brand becomes a mirror to their deep desires.

Be Concerned With the Unchanging Man

Human nature never changes. It's rare if it does. For the last billion years it has been consistent and for the next billion it will remain the same. Evolution is an incredibly slow process. The superficial has changed. It's popular to talk about what's changing for the future. Where you want to focus on is what remains unchanging hidden by the quicker evolution of language. These are compulsions and instincts. They drive consumer behavior. If you understand what really motivates someone you can touch them at the core of their being. A creative person armed with this knowledge will succeed in moving people without fail.

Reading Suggestions

These books were mentioned in Ogilvy on Advertising:

1. Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins
2. Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy
3. Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples
4. How to Advertise by Kenneth Roman and Jane Maas
5. The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard
6. The Image by Daniel J. Boorstin