Ogilvy on Advertising

Everybody reads Confessions of an Advertising Man. This is the better book because the actual ads are in it and he tells you what each one did.

Ogilvy's position is that advertising exists to sell, not to win awards, and he is unpleasant about it in a way I enjoy. He wrote long copy when everybody said short copy, because long copy tested better. He put the headline under the photograph because that tested better. Everything he believed, he believed because it produced a number.

The chapter on research is the one that cost me something. He is scathing about people who trust their own taste, and the point is that your taste is a sample of one and you are not the customer. Our viral reach is men 25 to 44 across the country. Our actual buyer is a two-guest, three-night couple at about $1,800, and the $7,000 family trip everybody on my team pictures is under half a percent of bookings. My taste said build for the family.