Book SummaryOgilvy On Advertising, by David Ogilvy

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Ogilvy On Advertising

After years of working as a salesman, copywriter, and adman, in 1949, David Ogilvy (1911-1999) started his own advertising agency. It became one of the most successful agencies in the world and in 1985, Ogilvy compiled his decades’ worth of experience into Ogilvy on Advertising, in which he covers marketing, crafting good advertisements, and an overview of the industry.

Marketing and Product Development

The ultimate goal of advertising is to sell products, but in fact, the best way to increase sales isn’t to advertise effectively—it’s to supply good products. To create good new products, or improve the products you already have:

• Use research. Research can predict which kinds of products will do well; what smells, colors, flavors, and recipes will be most popular; what features consumers think are most important; what package designs are most attention-grabbing; and what types of products people are no longer interested in.
• Improve product quality. If your research tells you consumers prefer your competitors’ products, you can ask your R&D to improve yours. Especially for food products, improving quality improves sales.
• Balance convention and novelty. Products can fail both because they’re too similar to something that already exists or because they’re too outside-the-box, and no one knows what to do with them. Products that are different versions of something that consumers are already familiar with tend to do well, such as disposable diapers or diet soda.
• Give the product a good name. People’s names (Ford) or descriptive names (Band-Aid) are effective. Make sure names aren’t hard to pronounce, hard to remember, or similar to other names.
• Choose an appropriate price and use promotions. People judge products by their price and think more expensive products are of better quality.
• Put your resources towards your successes. It’s better to spend your time and money on the products that do well, rather than trying to save flops.
• Put a lot of effort into the launch. According to an advertising expert at the London Business School, consumers alternate buying four or five different brands of a particular product. To get a new product into someone’s repertory, you need to convince her to buy it within a year of its launch.

The Craft of Advertising

The primary goal of advertising is to increase profit, which you can do either by attracting new customers or encouraging existing customers to buy your product more often. Effective advertising can be very effective—one copywriter found that a good ad sold almost 20 times as much as a bad one. Even if products sell well on their own, good advertising can increase profit.

• For example, Listerine sold perfectly well for 40 years. But when it was advertised as a cure for bad breath, sales exploded.

There are some steps to creating good ads regardless of the medium:

1. Learn about the product. It’ll be easier to make associations and come up with potential benefits when you have a solid knowledge base.

2. Study your competitor’s ads. When you come across effective ads, study and copy the techniques used. Particularly study direct-response ads (ads that encourage consumers to contact a company directly to make a purchase) because there’s a clear relationship between advertising and sales—the only factor that affected someone’s decision to buy a product was the ad, so the variables have been tested.

3. Engage in research. Use research to find out what customers think of your company and how much money you need to put into advertising to increase sales. Additionally, use research to find out what product promise will most appeal to consumers who might be your target audience, what promotions or premiums people might be interested in, and what media will get you the most response.

Later, once you’ve released some ads into the world, continue to use research to inform your next campaign. Study whether your existing ads are confusing, how many people read or view them, and at what point people get tired of the message and a new campaign is necessary.

4. Choose a brand image. “Image” is the personality of a product, which stems from its inherent qualities as well as marketing variables such as price, packaging, and advertising style.

• For example, Jack Daniel’s whiskey projects an image of quality because it’s expensive.

5. Come up with big, timeless ideas. Big ideas will hook consumers and make your competitors jealous. Induce ideas by doing your research and then letting your mind unconsciously connect ideas as you go for a walk, drink, or take a bath.

6. Spotlight the product and make it the star. If there’s nothing different or unique about your product compared to your competitors’ (for example, you sell table salt), make the advertising itself unique, or be extra clear and convincing.

7. Avoid working in committees. Committees tend to overcomplicate things and require compromise, and as a result, the final ad tends to say nothing of importance. Committees also slow down creation.

Print Advertising

Print advertising refers to ads that are placed on posters, in magazines, or in newspapers. There are five elements to consider when creating print ads:

1. Headline. The headline is the most important part of a print ad because 80% of people read only the headline, not the ad’s copy. Effective headlines name the product and brand, offer a benefit, offer information, contain news, use buzzwords, target the audience, are specific, appear in quotes, and mention the name of a city if advertising in a local paper.

• For example, the headline “How to take out stains: Use Rinso and follow these easy directions” was effective because it named the product and brand, and gave information (instructions on how to remove stains).

2. Imagery. Effective images make the reader curious or tell a story. They should...

Ogilvy On Advertising Summary Part 1: Marketing and Research | Chapter 1: Marketing

After years of working as a salesman, copywriter, and adman, in 1949, David Ogilvy (1911-1999) started his own advertising agency. It became one of the most successful agencies in the world and in 1985, Ogilvy compiled his decades’ worth of experience into Ogilvy on Advertising.

In this summary, we’ll cover:

• Marketing and research
• Guidelines for creating effective print, TV, and radio advertisements
• An overview of the advertising industry
• Top advertisers

(Shortform note: Ogilvy on Advertising was originally written in 20 chapters. We’ve rearranged and combined chapters for concision and clarity.)

Selling Products

The ultimate goal of advertising is to sell products, but in fact, the best way to sell products isn’t to advertise them effectively—it’s to supply good products. In this part, we’ll look at how to set up products for success using marketing and research. In the next part, we’ll look at how to use this research to create effective advertising.

There are three considerations when it comes to marketing:

Product Considerations

Consideration #1: Quality. Improving the quality of your products (especially food products) will...

Ogilvy On Advertising Summary Chapter 2: Research

Now that we know the basics of marketing, we’ll look at using research to check if we’ve successfully applied them. We’ll also use this research to inform our advertising in Part 2.

Factors to Research

There are two things research can’t tell you, so you’ll have to use your judgment:

1. How to price your product. (At the time of writing, marketers just picked numbers and hoped they worked.)
2. Which campaigns will be most effective in the long term.

However, when it comes to other factors, research can tell you a lot:

Product Factors

Factor #1: Product development. Studying your competitors’ test markets, profit margin, and cost of goods can tell you what kinds of products do well.

Factor #2: Early consumer feedback. Research can tell you what people think of a product before you manufacture it. If there’s little interest, you can abandon the project before investing too much money into it.

Factor #3: Product quality. Once your product is available for sale, research can tell you what consumers think of it compared to the competitor’s products. If they don’t like your product best, you can ask your R&D to improve it.

**Factor #4: Important...

Ogilvy On Advertising Summary Part 2: The Craft of Advertising | Chapter 3: Creating Good Ads

In the previous part, we looked at how to make advertising easier for ourselves by producing a good product and doing research. In this part, we’ll look at how to create good ads. In this chapter, we’ll look at some general guidelines, and in subsequent chapters, we’ll look at instructions for specific media and specific types of products.

Increasing Profit

While advertising has many benefits, such as reminding the public of your company name and helping you get distribution, the primary goal of advertising is to increase profit. Effective advertising can be very effective—one copywriter found that a good ad sold almost 20 times as much as a bad one. (In contrast, bad advertising can be so ineffective it actually harms sales—for example, when Ford advertised in every second issue of Reader’s Digest, the people who had seen the ads bought fewer vehicles than those who hadn’t.)

To increase profit, ads must promise the consumer a benefit, and ads that don’t do this, regardless of how attractive or creative they are, will fail.

• For example, one agency that won an advertising industry Clio award for creativity went out of business, and another winner lost...

Ogilvy On Advertising Summary Chapter 4: Print Advertising

Print advertising refers to ads that are placed on posters, in magazines, or in newspapers. At the time of the book’s writing, print advertising had some advantages over other mediums:

• Cost-effectiveness. To reach one customer via print advertising, it cost 17 cents. (To reach one customer through a salesperson’s call, it cost $178.)
• Less competition. At the time of writing, TV advertising was becoming more popular and glamorous than print advertising. This meant that there was a shortage of people who really understood print advertising, so even if you only learned the basics, you could outcompete.
• Universality. Some companies, such as cigarette manufacturers, weren’t allowed to advertise on TV, but anything was permitted in print.

The effectiveness of print advertising is measured by how many people read and remember the ads.

There are five elements to consider when creating print ads:

Element #1: Headline

The headline is the most important part of a print ad because 80% of people read only the headline, not the ad’s copy. Headlines that don’t name the product or what it will do are recalled 20% less often than the average recall....

Shortform Exercise: Write an Effective Headline

Because 80% of people read only the headline of advertisements, not the copy, the headline must communicate well.

Think of a product you’re about to start advertising (if nothing comes to mind, imagine you’re advertising a Volkswagen Beetle). What benefit could this product offer the consumer?

Shortform Exercise: Assess Ads

There are some universal guidelines for producing good ads.

What does the ad below do well? Why? (Consider the headline, imagery, copy, and layout.)

Ogilvy On Advertising Summary Chapter 5: TV and Radio Advertising

Like print, TV and radio ads are effective for advertising to both consumers and businesses. (Many businesspeople watch sports and news.)

There are two specific things to keep in mind when advertising to businesses on TV:

1. If the product is too complicated to explain in 30 seconds, make a longer commercial and air it less frequently.
   • For example, one IBM computer ad was three minutes long.
2. Inexpensive commercials can be just as effective as expensive ones.

TV Advertising

In this section, we’ll first look at some effective and ineffective types of commercials before moving on to tips. There are two ways to measure effectiveness—Ogilvy uses the first because it’s more accurate:

1. Changes in brand preference (which brand someone chooses to buy). Ads that make people change their brand preference increase sales three times more than those that don’t.

2. Recall (how well someone remembers an ad). Most advertisers test for recall, but this measure has several flaws:

• Recall doesn’t affect brand preference or sales—people can remember ads but still choose not to buy a product.
• Copywriters can influence recall scores. For example, showing...

Shortform Exercise: Brainstorm an Effective TV Ad

Some types of commercials are more effective than others.

Think of a product you’re about to start advertising (if nothing comes to mind, imagine you’re selling a Volkswagen Beetle). What type of commercial (for example, talking heads or a celebrity testimonial) would you use? Why?

Shortform Exercise: Assess Ads Again

There are some universal guidelines for producing good TV ads.

What does this Federal Express commercial do well? Why? (Consider the format, imagery, use of supers, and so on.)

Ogilvy On Advertising Summary Chapter 6: Specific Types of Advertising

In the previous chapters, we looked at some general guidelines for advertising in different media. Now, we’ll look at advertising some types of products, services, and companies that require a special touch.

Type #1: Corporate Advertising

Corporate advertising is advertising a company separately from its products or services. This type of advertising can help companies:

• Increase employee morale. People like it when other people have heard of the company they work for.
• Improve public opinion. People who know more about companies are likely to have better opinions of them.
• Recruit top talent. People need to know your company exists to want to work for it.
• Win takeover bids. Companies with good images are more likely to be chosen.
• Impress investors. For example, a Northwestern University study found that on average, corporate advertising improved stock prices by 2%.

Getting these benefits requires a long-term commitment.

• Example #1: When public opinion of Texaco dropped because someone accused them of selling to Nazis, they ran radio ads that told people they sponsored the Metropolitan Opera. It took a long time to change...

Shortform Exercise: Influence Legislation

Corporate ads can change public opinion on issues, which creates pressure on legislators.

Think of an issue that affects your company (if nothing comes to mind, imagine you’d like the government to provide all companies with a free lunch once a year). How could you simplify this issue?

Ogilvy On Advertising Summary Chapter 7: Direct-Response Advertising

Now that you know the basics of creating good ads, how can you check if you’ve successfully applied them? And where and when should you display the ads?

To answer all of these questions, consider experimenting with direct-response advertising (ads that encourage consumers to contact a company directly to make a purchase) because there’s a clear relationship between advertising and sales—the only factor that affected someone’s decision to buy a product was the ad. (Companies that advertise in multiple media and sell products via wholesalers and retailers don’t know if people are buying their products because the advertising is good, or if it’s for some other reason.)

Experimenting With Variables

Direct-response advertising allows you to individually test advertising and product variables. The most important variables are positioning, premiums, pricing, terms of payment, and format (for example, a page and a reply card, versus simply a page).

• For example, one magazine created three ads, each offering different payment terms for subscriptions. The ad that offered $29.95 for 29 issues received more response than higher numbers of issues for higher prices,...

Ogilvy On Advertising Summary Part 3: Industry Overview | Chapter 8: Advertising Jobs

In the previous part, we looked at the craft of advertising. Now we’ll zoom out and look at the domestic advertising industry as a whole from the point of view of employees, heads of agencies, clients, and the public. Then, we’ll look at international advertising.

At the time of the book’s writing, fewer than 100,000 people worked in advertising in the U.S. and 15,000 in Britain, but the industry wasn’t as unstable as newspapers would have you believe—papers reported only on accounts that moved, not the ones that stayed. Only 4% of accounts changed agencies per year, and of the 25 biggest agencies in 1972, 24 were still the biggest agencies in 1983.

Employees

First: If you’re not passionate about advertising, go do something else. Advertising pays well, but so do plenty of other professions that are easier and don’t require as much passion.

If you’re sure you want to work in advertising, it’s important to consider education, employers, positions, how to properly apply for a job, and how to keep it once you have it.

Education

At the time of the book’s writing, 87 U.S. universities offered undergraduate courses in advertising and some offered degree programs....

Ogilvy On Advertising Summary Chapter 9: Starting or Managing an Agency

In the previous chapter, we looked at how to get a job with an advertising agency. Now, we’ll look at how to run one.

To successfully start or manage an agency, you need to develop CEO skills, consider human resources, and manage your money.

CEO Skills

Agencies are run by the CEO, which is the most difficult and stressful position in an agency (one study found that senior advertising executives are more likely to die from stress-related causes than executives in other fields). To be a successful CEO, you need:

• Leadership skills, especially when it comes to stressed, anxious people
• Oration skills. If you struggle to write good speeches, hire speechwriters and take public speaking lessons.
• Business acumen
• Ability to delegate (the more leaders your agency has, the more powerful it will be)
• Ability to attract new clients (if you don’t do this well, your staff will lose faith in you)
• Ability to work long hours
• Ability to retain morale
• Ability to make the workplace fun and safe (people do their best work when they’re comfortable)
• Ability to listen
• Ability to learn (most agencies represent clients in different fields, and you have to...

Ogilvy On Advertising Summary Chapter 10: Finding Clients

In the previous chapter, we looked at some basics of how to manage an agency. Now, we’ll look at how to make the agency successful by finding new clients. You used to be able to get clients by bringing them along when you left your job to start a new agency. At the time of writing, however, this was no longer possible because you would get sued.

Now, to get clients, you have to find new ones.

How Clients Look for Agencies

At the time of publishing, companies were starting to change how they looked for agencies. This was their process:

• Send a long questionnaire to the agencies they’re interested in.
• Short-list agencies based on the questionnaire.
• Visit the agencies and ask about the commission.
• Invite the agencies to make a commercial for them.
• Compare the commercials and choose the agency that makes the best one.

This process is flawed for several reasons:

• The questionnaires ask irrelevant questions. For example, one asked how many people worked in the print production department.
• Commission shouldn’t be given so much weight—an agency’s competence is more important.
• The process doesn’t consider past work or track record.
• Skilled...

Ogilvy On Advertising Summary Chapter 11: Clients and the Public

The previous two chapters looked at the advertising industry from the points of view of employees and managers. Now, we’ll look at the industry from the point of view of clients and the public.

Clients

If you are the leader of a company seeking an ad agency, follow these 10 steps:

1. Conduct the search yourself. Choosing an agency should not be delegated to a committee.
2. Look through magazines. When you see ads you envy, find out what agencies produced them and start a list.
3. Watch TV for three nights. When you see commercials you like, find out what agencies produced them, and add them to your list.
4. Narrow down your list by striking off anyone who works for your competitors. They can’t take you on because it would be a conflict of interest.
5. Meet with the heads and creative directors of the remaining agencies. If you lack chemistry or rapport, strike them from the list.
6. Don’t meet with people who will be working on your account. You won’t be working with them directly, and you won’t be able to judge their competence, so you risk meeting someone you dislike and striking a good agency off the list. For example, a client once passed...

Ogilvy On Advertising Summary Chapter 12: International Advertising

In the previous chapter, we looked at domestic advertising—at the time of writing, approximately half of the world’s advertising was in the U.S., and the best agencies in many countries were American. Things were starting to change, however—foreign advertising was starting to compete with and in some cases surpass America’s.

In this chapter, we’ll look at some of the trends, laws, and conditions surrounding advertising in a variety of regions at the time of writing:

• Britain. British commercials rarely used slice-of-life and talking heads and were usually less brash than American commercials. They also tended to be more entertaining and low-key. No one treated buying a product like a life-or-death decision, so advertisers had more freedom to make trendy or funny commercials. According to Bill Taylor, Ogilvy’s partner, Britain produced the best advertising in the world. As a result, British copywriters were valuable in the U.S.
• France. French advertising tended to be enchanting, smart, and beautifully illustrated. French advertisers didn’t use research, so they could create work that appealed to the upper classes rather than the general public.
• Germany....

Ogilvy On Advertising Summary Part 4: The Greats | Chapter 13: Procter & Gamble

In previous parts, we looked at how to be successful in the advertising industry. Now, we’ll look at some examples of companies and individuals who were successful in the industry and made fortunes.

In this chapter, we’ll look at Procter & Gamble (P&G). At the time of the book’s writing, P&G had huge market shares in many home products, a $700 million advertising budget, an expert marketing team, and $12 billion worth of sales.

P&G was successful because:

• Most importantly, they made better products than anyone else.
• They believed that the primary purpose of advertising was to communicate.
• They were strategic about what market categories they entered—they didn’t enter anything small and unlikely to grow, and they aimed to dominate everything they did enter. This domination allowed them to access large-volume manufacturing deals, which in turn allowed them to either sell their products at a lower price or have a higher profit margin.
• They sometimes had more than one product in a particular category.
• They advertised new brands aggressively.
• They had large budgets for existing brands.
  • For example, Crest’s budget was $29...

Ogilvy On Advertising Summary Chapter 14: Six Pioneers

In the previous chapter, we looked at a powerful company. Now, we’ll look at biographies of six advertising pioneers.

Bio #1: Albert Lasker (1880-1952)

Albert Lasker entered the workforce as a reporter for Galveston Morning News. When he was 18, he got a job with the Lord & Thomas agency, which at the time was the third biggest agency in the U.S. but only had one part-time copywriter. Lasker bought the agency when he was 20.

Lasker felt that all an agency had to do was write copy good enough to sell a product. He thought research was a waste of time and resisted using images in ads. This saved him a lot of money in researcher and art director salaries, and his agency made a 7% profit (1% was impressive at the time of writing). He amassed a greater fortune than anyone in the business.

While Lasker was successful, he wasn’t always easy to work with. He was a dictator and wasn’t interested in anyone else’s opinion. He could also be ruthless—during the Depression, he cut everyone’s salary by a quarter and fired 50 people at once, even though his own salary was $3 million a year. He hated committees and talking on the phone, he never joined an advertising...

Ogilvy On Advertising Summary Appendix: Predictions About Advertising

In this chapter, Ogilvy predicts 13 trends in advertising from his vantage point in 1985.

1. Research capabilities will improve and advertisers will more effectively be able to generate sales.
2. Print advertising will come back into fashion.
3. Advertising will become more factual.
4. Billboards will go extinct.
5. Someone will...