CONFESSIONS OF AN ADVERTISING MAN

"You're Our Ogilvy."

​I first picked up David Ogilvy’s Confessions of an Advertising Man after binge-watching AMC’s Mad Men. The TV series’ protagonist, an adulterous New York ad man named Don Draper, certainly wasn't the happiest of guys, but I was attracted to his confidence, poise, and good-isn't-good-enough work ethic. Draper’s reserved demeanor was legendary within his creative department; he instilled both fear and a desire to impress, and his candor with his subordinates’ work and his own meant long nights and weekends going the extra mile. Best of all, Draper often faced off against clients often seducing them with his superior vision for their product.

“You're our David Ogilvy,” Roger Sterling says to Draper in Season 2, trying to woo the Creative Director with partner status. Competing firms had begun trying to poach him, and Don was  growing restless in a firm too small for his work. In fact, he'd previously rejected a contract offer. But who was this David Ogilvy mentioned? Was he like Don Draper, only real?

Based off this Mad Men association and his provocatively-titled book, I imagined Ogilvy’s story of creating an ad agency from six grand into one that boasted billings of 55 million dollars to be rife with conflict: affairs, office politics, lawsuits... But in fact, the biggest confession from 'The Father of Advertising' is the practical value of honesty in business and life. 

The difference between Ogilvy and Draper is the difference between the truth and a lie; greatness and the appearance of greatness. Ogilvy is the true, original Mad Man. {JG}
​

HONESTY IN HIRING: THE MATRYOSKA DOLL

Ogilvy damned much of the petty power-lusting in the business world and hired only who he called “Gentlemen with Brains”. Each of these gentlemen was expected to adopt his strategy. Ogilvy began this (re)education by giving each new-hire a Matryoshka doll, the ones that open up to reveal a smaller version inside of it, and a smaller one inside of that, and so on. But inside the smallest, Ogilvy placed a note for the new-hires to find: 

​If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are,
we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people
who are bigger than we are, Ogilvy & Mather will become a company of giants.

From another passage in Confessions, Ogilvy goes on to extoll his company's culture's "tolerat[ion] of genius" and emphasis on objective self-assessment and assessment of others, when he writes: "I admire people who hire subordinates who are good enough to succeed them. I pity people who are so insecure that they feel compelled to hire inferiors as their subordinates."
​

RESPECTING THE CONSUMER

{ * } "You wouldn't tell lies to your own wife. Don’t tell them to mine…If you tell lies about a product you will be found out – either by the Government which will prosecute you, or by the consumer, who will punish you by not buying the product for a second time. Good products can be sold by honest advertising. If you don’t think the product is good, you have no business advertising it."

{ * } From the beginning, Ogilvy built his “shoestring” agency by advertising products he believed to be most valuable. In 1948, on the second day of business, he listed the five clients he wanted most: General Foods, Bristol-Meyers, Campbell Soup Company, Lever Brothers, and Shell. "To pick such blue-chip clients was an act of mad presumption, but all five of them are now clients of Ogilvy, Benson & Mather. Why these five? Are these not the finest goods and services on earth? I think they are, and that is why I advertise them."

{ * } "In a great kitchen, one must always honor what one has promised on the menu."

SPEAKING HONESTLY TO CLIENTS

{ * } "When Henry VIII was dying, it was believed that any man who dared to tell him the awful truth would be decapitated. But reasons of state required that a volunteer should be found, and Henry Denny stepped forward. King Henry was so grateful to Denny for his courage that he gave him a pair of gloves and a knighthood. Sir Henry Denny was my ancestor. His example inspires me to tell you that your advertising is very bad."

{ * } "When an antique dealer draws my attention to flaws in a piece of furniture, he wins my confidence."
​

HONESTY ABOUT ONE'S WORK

{ * } "When I write an advertisement, I don't want you to tell me that you find it 'creative'. I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product…When Aeschines spoke, they said, 'How well he speaks.' But when Demosthenes spoke, they said, 'Let us march against Philip.’ I’m for Demosthenes.

"Search all your parks in all the cities.
​You'll find no statues of committees."
— David Ogilvy

​YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

{ * } Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, Paco Underhill {My Rec}

{ * } Made To Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, Chip and Dan Heath {My Rec}

{ * } Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini {My Rec} ​
​