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
There is no need for advertisements to look like advertisements. If you make them look like editorial pages, you will attract about 50 per cent more readers.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Advertisements should resemble content rather than traditional marketing to engage more readers.
David Ogilvy's quote emphasizes the importance of blending advertisements into the fabric of traditional content, making them less obtrusive and more appealing to readers. By adopting an editorial style, advertisers can significantly increase engagement and connection with their audience, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.
Themes
AdvertisingMarketingContentReader EngagementEditorial
In practice
Example use cases
A marketing class discussing advertising strategies could use this quote to illustrate effective advertisement design.
More from David Ogilvy
All quotes βOur business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon.
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.
David OgilvyRead
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.
David OgilvyRead
The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.
David OgilvyRead
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.
David OgilvyRead
Similar quotes
People can see themselves in a story much easier than they can see themselves in a hypothetical situation that a brand might present to them. So telling stories to build a relationship with your audience is usually far more effective than other methods of marketing or publicity.
Lewis HowesRead
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.
William BernbachRead
People rarely buy what they need. They buy what they want.
Seth GodinRead
People don't buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.
Zig ZiglarRead
Too many ads that try not to go over the reader's head end up beneath his notice.
Leo BurnettRead
Brand is not what you say it is. Itβs what they say it is.
Marty NeumeierRead