Ogilvy on Advertising

Your headline should telegraph what you want to say.

They go to great pains to communicate the brand name, verbally and visually. Most of their names are short and simple. They appear within the first ten seconds of the commercial, and an average of three times thereafter.

He did, however, leave behind an aphorism which appeals to the present generation at Young & Rubicam: resist the usual. Or, as his copy chief Roy Whittier put it, ‘In advertising, the beginning of greatness is to be different, and the beginning of failure is to be the same.’

Body copy is seldom read by more than 10 per cent of the readers of a publication. But that 10 per cent consists of prospects – people interested enough in what you are selling to take the trouble to read about it. What you say to them determines the success of your advertisement.

My own definition is ‘what the product does, and who it is for.’

to the incalculable benefit of their clients.

If you have to set very long copy, there are some typographical devices which increase its readership: 1 A subhead of two lines, between your headline and your body copy, heightens the reader’s appetite for the feast to come. 2 If you start your body copy with a drop-initial, you increase readership by an average of 13 per cent. 3 Limit your openin

research among consumers. Find out how they think about your kind of product, what language they use when they discuss the subject, what attributes are important to them, and what promise would be most likely to make them buy your brand.

If you can scrape up the money, use space advertising as well, but don’t start it unless you mean to do it consistently. Young & Rubicam advertised in every issue of Fortune for 40 years.

‘If you and your competitors all make excellent products, don’t try to imply that your product is better. Just say what’s good about your product – and do a clearer, more honest, more informative job of saying it.