Book Review: Ogilvy Double Dip – Confessions of an Advertising Man and Ogilvy on Advertising

by Matt on July 28, 2009

Add Ogilvy on Advertising to your shortlist

Add Ogilvy on Advertising to your shortlist

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been reading two David Ogilvy books:  Confessions of an advertising man and Ogilvy on Advertising.

As marketers we spend a lot of time focused on ‘new’ advertising methods – often too much time.   Incredibly, I managed to complete an entire university marketing degree without ever coming face-to-face with the work of Bill Bernbach, Leo Burnett, John Caples or David Ogilvy (among many other giants).

Terry O’Reilly hosts a brilliant 30 minute radio show on the CBC called The Age of Persuasion that often refers to the masterpiece campaigns of the greats.  It wasn’t until years after my degree, while listening to an episode of The Age of Persuasion that I discovered those old campaigns.  Since then, I’ve been clamoring to get my hands on as much of their material as possible.

These books are dated – published in 1963 and 1983 – however the content is not (for the most part).  Because of the large amount of duplicate content, you’d be safe just reading one of the two – Ogilvy on Advertising.  It was written with twenty additional years of Ogilvy wisdom and features color examples of ads to support his arguments.

You will walk away from these books with a bounty of Ogilvy quotes in your back pocket and lots of practical advice.  For me, these are some valuable topics and takeaways:

  • Creativity doesn’t matter – effectiveness does
  • Conduct research and then use your brain to build great campaigns
  • Differentiation is king
  • When you’ve got a winning formula – run it until its dead
  • Don’t be afraid of longer copy
  • Good writing is slavery – edit, revise, repeat
  • Hire people who are better than you are
  • Committees kill great campaigns
  • Over-promotion has a negative long-term affect on sales

These books are a powerful reminder of how important it is to frame our current work in the context of our history – to be humble enough to know that we don’t know very much and wise enough to study the giants of our craft.

If you are a new marketing grad or current marketing student, learn the rules from the greats, abide by their rules and only then learn how to break them.

These are among the most valuable advertising/marketing books I’ve ever read, and for this reason they come with my highest recommendation.

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Marketing With Celebrities and the Power of Micro-local
August 29, 2009 at 1:34 pm

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terryoreilly September 19, 2009 at 12:35 pm

Glad you discovered Ogilvy's books. He was the most articulate adman that ever roamed Madison Avenue. My favourite ad books, by the way, are all from the 40s and 50s. That era was all about “results” and I love that.
Cheers,

Terry O'Reilly
Age of Persuasion

mattscottnelson September 20, 2009 at 8:13 am

Ladies and Gentleman – Terry O'Reilly. If this blog interests you at all, you'll love Terry's radio show on the CBC – The Age of Persuasion. Check it out.

Now if only Terry would publish his list of favorite advertising books?

fozzie September 29, 2009 at 12:27 pm

Sorry to disagree with you on the first conclusion – Creativity MATTERS, creativity is key, but it has to be FOCUSED on selling. Thus creativity becomes linked to effectiveness, not necessarily to humor or coolness… Creativity is the means, while selling is the core of the ad business. After all “if it doesn't sell, it isn't creative.”

So, it's about the amount of intellect spent, not mockery…

terryoreilly October 1, 2009 at 8:00 pm

Those are great books, Matt. I have to say, my favourite ad books are from the 40s and 50s era. So articulate, so results-oriented, and so interesting. I find them all on Amazon. After you've read Ogilvy's books, try these:

“Diary of an Ad Man” by James Webb Young
Madison Avenue USA by Martin Mayer
“Adventures in Advertising” by James Orr Young

You won't be able to put them down.

Thanks for the great Age of Persuasion plug!

Terry O'Reilly

terryoreilly October 1, 2009 at 8:05 pm

Those are great books, Matt. I have to say, my favourite ad books are from the 40s and 50s era. So articulate, so results-oriented, and so interesting. I find them all on Amazon. After you've read Ogilvy's books, try these:

“Diary of an Ad Man” by James Webb Young
Madison Avenue USA by Martin Mayer
“Adventures in Advertising” by James Orr Young

You won't be able to put them down.

Thanks for the great Age of Persuasion plug!

Terry O'Reilly

terryoreilly October 1, 2009 at 8:05 pm

Those are great books, Matt. I have to say, my favourite ad books are from the 40s and 50s era. So articulate, so results-oriented, and so interesting. I find them all on Amazon. After you've read Ogilvy's books, try these:

“Diary of an Ad Man” by James Webb Young
Madison Avenue USA by Martin Mayer
“Adventures in Advertising” by James Orr Young

You won't be able to put them down.

Thanks for the great Age of Persuasion plug!

Terry O'Reilly

mattscottnelson October 9, 2009 at 5:58 am

Thanks Terry! The next three books I review here.

mattscottnelson October 9, 2009 at 10:58 am

Thanks Terry! The next three books I review here.

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