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
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.
Interpretation
Advertising should be clear and direct, not obscured by artistic elements.
David Ogilvy suggests that using abstract art in advertisements can mislead consumers about the product being promoted. He believes that clarity and transparency are paramount in advertising, and that any attempt to use art to obscure the actual message is counterproductive.
In practice
This quote can be used in a marketing workshop to emphasize the importance of clear messaging.
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.
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.
The creative process requires more than reason. Most original thinking isn't even verbal. It requires 'a groping experimentation with ideas, governed by intuitive hunches and inspired by the unconscious.' The majority of business men are incapable of original thinking because they are unable to escape from the tyranny of reason. Their imaginations are blocked.
People rarely buy what they need. They buy what they want.
Kodak sells film, but they don't advertise film; they advertise memories.
The best advertising is done by satisfied customers.
A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stores and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer's decision to choose one product or service over another.
If a brand wants to build social communities, capital and influence, it must become the chief celebrant of its community, not its celebrity. This simple shift in approach unlocks enormous transformative potential for brands.
You can say the right thing about a product and nobody will listen. Youβve got to say it in such a way that people will feel it in their gut. Because if they donβt feel it, nothing will happen.
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