The headline is the 'ticket on the meat.' Use it to flag down readers who are prospects for the kind of product you are advertising.
David OgilvyRead
I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information.
Interpretation
Ogilvy views advertising primarily as a source of information rather than as a form of entertainment or art.
In this quote, David Ogilvy emphasizes the functional purpose of advertising, considering it as a medium that conveys important information to consumers rather than simply serving to entertain or showcase creativity. This perspective challenges the traditional artistic view of advertising, suggesting that its primary value lies in its ability to inform and educate the audience about products and services.
In practice
In a business meeting when discussing marketing strategies.
The headline is the 'ticket on the meat.' Use it to flag down readers who are prospects for the kind of product you are advertising.
Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon.
Some manufacturers illustrate their advertisements with abstract paintings. I would only do this if I wished to conceal from the reader what I was advertising.
Much of the messy advertising you see on television today is the product of committees. Committees can criticize advertisements, but they should never be allowed to create them.
The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.
Experience has taught me that advertisers get the best results when they pay their agency a flat fee. It is unrealistic to expect your agency to be impartial when its vested interest lies wholly in the direction of increasing your commissionable advertising.
Advertising nourishes the consuming power of men.
Every reader of your ad is interested, else he would not be a reader. You are dealing with someone willing to listen. Then do your level best. That reader, if you lose him now, May never again be a reader
Virality is not an accident. It is engineered. And that's why growth hackers beat traditional marketers.
Content is king, but marketing is queen, and runs the household.
Between two products equal in price, function and quality, the one with the most attractive exterior will win.
You cannot sell a man who isn't listening; word of mouth is the best medium of all; and dullness won't sell your product, but neither will irrelevant brilliance.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.