David Ogilvy
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David MacKenzie Ogilvy (June 23, 1911–July 21, 1999), was a notable advertising executive. He has often been called “The Father of Advertising.” In 1975, Time called him “the most sought-after wizard in the advertising industry.”[citation needed] He was known for a career of expanding the bounds of both creativity and morality.
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[edit] Early life (1911–1938)
David Mackenzie Ogilvy was born on June 23, 1911 at West Horsley, Surrey, the son of a classics scholar and financial broker. At the age of 13 he attended Fettes College, in Edinburgh, and won a scholarship in history to Christ Church College, Oxford six years later in 1929. Without the scholarship he would have been unable to attend university because his father’s business was badly hit by the depression of the mid-twenties. In the event, his studies were unsuccessful and he left Oxford for Paris in 1931 without graduating. He became an apprentice chef in the Majestic Hotel. After a year in Paris he returned to England and started selling Aga cooking stoves door-to-door. His success at this marked him out to his employer, who asked him to write an instruction manual, "The Theory and Practice of Selling the AGA cooker," for the other salesmen. Thirty years later this manual was still read by Fortune magazine editors. They called it the finest sales instruction manual ever written. His older brother Francis Ogilvy, who was working for the London advertising agency Mather & Crowther, showed this manual to the agency management, who offered Ogilvy a position as an account executive. In 1938 he persuaded the agency to send him to the United States for a year.
[edit] When Ogilvy Tasted Blood
Just after his few months in advertising Ogilvy did something that changed advertising forever. A man walked into Ogilvy's London agency wanting to advertise the opening of his hotel. Since he just had $1000 he was turned to the novice- Ogilvy. Young Ogilvy bought $1000 worth of postcards and sent an invite to everybody he found in the local telephone directory. The hotel opened with a full house. "I had tasted blood," says Ogilvy in his 'Confessions'.
[edit] At Gallup (1938–1948)
In 1938 Ogilvy went to America. David took up with research giant George Gallup, in 1939, and spent 3 years criss-crossing the globe on behalf of Gallup's Hollywood clients. After 3 years with Gallup, David joined the war effort as British Intelligence. In 1948, after a disastrous effort as a Pennsylvanian tobacco farmer, Ogilvy moved with wife and son to New York City, finally intending to start his own agency.
[edit] The O&M Years (1949–1973)
After working as a chef, researcher and farmer Ogilvy started his agency along with two other partners Mather and Crowther. It was named Ogilvy, Mather & Crowther. After the exit of Crowther it was named Ogilvy & Mather. Ogilvy had just $6000 in his account when he started the agency. He writes in his book Confessions of an Advertising Man that initially he had to struggle to get clients.
But his belief was strong. He made best of whatever came his way. His entry into the company of giants started with several (to use the phrase du jour) iconic campaigns.
“The man in the Hathaway shirt” with his aristocratic eye patch.
“The man from Schweppes is here” introduced Commander Whitehead, the elegant bearded Brit, bringing Schweppes (and “Schweppervesence”) to the U.S.
Perhaps the most famous headline in the car business – “At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock”.
“Pablo Casals is coming home – to Puerto Rico”. Ogilvy said this campaign, which helped change the image of a country, was his proudest achievement.
Perhaps his greatest sales success (for which he is less recognized) – “Only Dove is one-quarter cleansing cream”. With this positioning, still being used 50 years later, Dove now outsells every soap in the U.S. and around the world.
He believed that the best way to get new clients is to do great work for existing clients. And he was right. Success of his early campaigns helped him to get big clients like Rolls-Royce and Shell.
He created an avalanche of new clients. O&M was an instant success.
He retired in 1973.
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[edit] Life with WPP and afterwards (1989–1999)
In 1989 The Ogilvy Group was bought by WPP Group, a British holding company, for just US$864 million. This is the only known hostile takeover in the history of advertising business, which was possible as O&M was one of the first ad agencies (and not a holding company) that had gone public and in the past, David Ogilvy talked publicly of the virtues of the stock market. The takeover catapulted WPP, which also owned the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson and a number of other companies, into the top three largest marketing services groups in the world. Ogilvy was personally offended by the takeover of his agency and attacked the WPP chairman, Sir Martin Sorrell, in public, using profanities and racial abuse (eg 'odious little shit')—for which he later apologised in a private letter. It is said to be the only time Ogilvy ever offered an apology, which now hangs in the office of Sorrell. Although Ogilvy went into retirement, on official records he served as WPP’s non-executive chairman for three years.
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[edit] Works
In his book Ogilvy on Advertising he mentions a series of three ads produced in 1981 by a French advertising agency. The first ad showed a beautiful woman in a bathing suit and the caption said “On September 2, I will take off my top.” On September 2nd a second ad showed the same woman wearing only the thong from her bathing suit and the caption said “On September 4, I will take off the bottom.” By September 4th the buzz was intense. Every man was eager to see if she would keep her promise. She did (but she also turned around, with her back now to the camera). (If you wish to see the three ads they are in Ogilvy, D 1983: page 26-27).
His book Ogilvy on Advertising is a commentary on advertising, and not all the ads shown in the book are his. In early 2004, Adweek magazine asked people in the business “Which individuals—alive or dead—made you consider pursuing a career in advertising?” Ogilvy topped the list. And the same result came when students of advertising were surveyed. His best-selling book Confessions of an Advertising Man is one of the most popular and famous books on advertising.
Ogilvy’s advertising mantra followed these four basic principles.
- Research—Coming, as he did, from a background in research, he never underestimated its importance in advertising. In fact, in 1952, when he opened his own agency, he billed himself as Research Director.
- Professional discipline—“I prefer the discipline of knowledge to the chaos of ignorance.” He codified knowledge into slide and film presentations he called Magic Lanterns. He also institued several training programs for young advertising professionals.
- Creative brilliance—A strong emphasis on the “BIG IDEA.”
- Results for clients—“In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create” is one of his more famous quotes that might be apt here.
[edit] References
- Ogilvy, D. (1983), Ogilvy on Advertising, John Wiley and Sons, Toronto, 1983 ISBN 0-517-55075-X (and Pan Books, London, 1983 ISBN 0-330-26985-2).
- Ogilvy, D. (1985), Confessions of an Advertising Man, Atheneum, Revised edition, 1988, ISBN 0-689-70800-9
- Terry, Dan'l (1994), “David Ogilvy” in The Ad Men & Women, Edd Applegate, ed., Greenwood, Westport, CT, 1994 ISBN 0-313-27801-6
[edit] External links
- A website with some of Ogilvy’s best ads
- Article by marketer Steve Gibson—contains lengthy excerpt from a speech by Ogilvy
