Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Honesty and Humour in Advertising

I came across a few choice quotes today from advertising legend David Ogilvy (1911-1999). Although at least one now appears quite dated in tone, I think the message is important, so I have left it intact, in all its mid-60s glory.

How to sell: "A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself."

The need for sales: "In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative original thinker unless you can also sell what you create. Management cannot be expected to recognize a good idea unless it is presented to them by a good salesman."

Honesty in advertising: "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."

The use of humor: "The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible."

1 comment:

POS Pat said...

I am curious which quote(s) you thought were antiquated in tone. I'm guessing it's the honesty in advertising one, because it mentions not wanting to create an ad that one couldn't show to one's own family (which would seems somewhat dated, due to our modern era of more uncenswored media outlets) and "A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself.", which makes sense due to how extreme advertising has become since the sixties.

Either way, cool post.

-Pat