Confessions of an Advertising Man

Reviewing this book is sort of like reviewing Mt. Rushmore, or the battle of Gettysburg or George Washington. Because it's monumental.

It literally changed the way the public thought about advertising. And it actually changed the way people inside advertising thought about themselves. It definitely changed the kind of people who would do advertising. And it even got Roger Sterling to write his own book.

Written in short bursts - shorter often than the copy he preferred to run in print ads - David Ogilvy's "Confessions of an Advertising Man" doesn't really have an arc or direction. Sure, the text is divided into chapters, each with a heading that is as provocative and compelling as a good copywriter could make it: "How to Get Clients" "How to Keep Clients" "How to be a Good Client", and my favorite "Should Advertising Be Abolished?" They're headlines written by a man who new the value of headlines, who, as a former door-to-door salesman knew how important a good attention-getting sentence was.

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This book is great and has tons of practical knowledge for business in general, not just advertising. As far as advertising ideas are concerned this book is amazing with very easy to understand guidelines laid out for people who want to make it in the business.
The basis for his book are the "old way of doing business", because thats when it was written, but still very applicable today. As I read this book I considered what it said in light of what is now in the media and I would much rather see his style of advertising than the stuff I see today. Here are a few things that stuck out to me:
Never use cartoons in a product advertisiment (advertising a service is different).
The more details and words you give the more you will sell.
Vagueness never sells anything.
Never work with a board (a group of people, not a presentation board).
Dont advertise for something you dont believe in yourself.
Only let one person develop the advertising campaign.
Never settle for anything below the best.
The most dangerous thing that an agency can do is depend on one single personal tie to the client.
Be honest in your dealings.
Dont base your whole business on one client.
There are many more things that I could put down but I dont want to spoil it for you. A great book for anyone interested in business and advertising.

Many good tips in this book to improve your sales and marketing acumen. A quick read and contains such statements as "The headline is the most important element in most advertisements. It is the telegram which decides the reader whether to read the copy. On average, 5 times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents of your dollar....Every headline should appeal to the reader's self interest...Always try to inject news into your headlines, because the consumer is always on the lookout for new products, or new ways to use an old product, or new improvements in an old product....The two most powerful words you can use in a headline are FREE and NEW."

It may have been written in 1963 when newspaper and magazines ruled, but the axioms mentioned in the book are still pertinent in today's Broadband/WI-FI age.

It is rare to find the combination of educating and entertaining without it coming across preachy or cheap. His experience as a chef in Paris to running an agency deliver context, and humanity to his story. The experiences he shares allow us to see what a full career looks like when you step back and look at it. Great read not only for those who want to get into advertising, but for those who ARE in Advertising. Same goes for the Marketing Directors and Freelancers of the world.

His insights on gathering clients, keeping them, being a "good client" are outstanding. I changed my entire process after reading, rereading and rereading yet again his insights on copywriting, campaign building and more. I seriously needed it. Once you get a copy, read it, rinse and repeat. You'll discover how badly you needed it too!

In the Internet age, it is tempting to think that a book written almost 50 years ago is obsolete..., and you would be making a big mistake. Today's top Internet marketers are leaning on the foundations laid by people like Ogilvy, often without letting the cat out of the bag.

Legendary advertiser and marketer David Ogilvy shares his insights on what makes for good advertising and marketing. Most importantly that your advertising has a purpose, to make sales.

Ogilvy for example takes "Creatives" to task by making the point that most ads that win awards, don't necessarily make any money for the client.

For marketers, chapters 5, 6 and 7 are must reads.

5. How To Build Great Campaigns
6. How To Write Potent Copy
7. How To Illustrate Advertisments and Posters

The book is cheap and will save you hundreds or thousands off of expensive seminars.

Highly Recommended.

David Ogilvy's witty charm and retro cool oozes from everything he writes, and it's nowhere near as evident than in the pages of "Confessions." Here, Ogilvy is at the peak of his career. He is fifty-one years old, and has been at the helm of his mega-agency for over a decade. Confessions shows Ogilvy's true colors: he is a hard-nosed copywriter who favors facts backed by research over snake oil persuasion and art house appeal. Ogilvy's definition of a good ad differs from his contemporaries. A good ad is one which "sells the product without drawing attention to itself."

Ogilvy's greatest asset is his infinite fountain of knowledge, cultivated by decades of hard-to-read book consumption. The entirety of his larger-than-life persona and wiseass appeal are best portrayed in the following passage containing the exchange between himself and a potential client:

"Not long ago I received a touching tribute to one of my billboards, in the form of a letter from the pastor of an Ethiopian Baptist Church in California:

'Dear Mr. Ogilvy:
I am the head of a small church group which is spreading the Lord's word on the highways of California. We use a lot of billboard advertising and run into many problems due to high art costs. I saw the billboard for Schweppes, the one with the bearded man who has his arms stretched out. What I would like to know is, can you send that photograph along to me when you are done with it? We would have JESUS SAVES printed on it, and put it up on the highways of Cali-fornia, spreading the Lord's word.'

If my client's face could become identified with the Son of God, we would never have to spend another penny on advertising, and the whole Baptist world would be converted to Schweppes. My imagination boggled. Only fear of losing my commissions persuaded me to tell the pastor that Commander Whitehead was not worthy of this holy role."

While in Uptown on the Northside of Chicago I found this amazing book at a used book store. What David shares with his listening audience is very inspirational. Besides giving you an amazing foundation David teaches you the following:

How to manage an advertising agency (admire people who work hard)
How to get clients
How to keep clients
How to be a good client
How to Build great campaigns
How to write potent copy
How to illustrate advertisements and posters
How to make good television commercials
How to make good campaigns for food products, Tourist destinations and proprietary medicines
How to rise to the top of the tree--advise to the young

Well these are only a few of the very powerful items that David Ogilvy shares. If you would like to know more just remember you will when you buy this book. It's just a wonderful resource that's well put together. When you read it you will agree. This book needs one more very important person....YOU.

These are a few main key concepts that attracted me to this book.

Gotta love everything David Ogilvy. There are some fun stories here with some interesting lessons, but the focus is more on acquiring clients and pitching campaigns than it is about the creative side. Industry professionals will likely find this book more entertaining than the average Joe. Check out Ogilvy on Advertising if you want to see the creative side at work.

Dubbed "the King of advertising" by Advertising Age, David Ogilvy shared his thoughts and stories on being successful in the adverting industry in this book. His ideas are often overflowing with self-confidence, but for a man who reached his level of success, he's definitely earned the right.

Originally published in 1963, in part as promotion of himself and his agency, this book is broken down into ten "How to" chapters plus an opening and closing commentary on the state of advertising. No example ads or illustrations in this book, just straightforward advice and colorful anecdotes on topics ranging from managing an agency to writing potent copy.

The stories are enjoyable, and Ogilvy's advice is enlightening. David Ogilvy led an amazing life, and his insights on advertising, business and human behavior are timeless. Overall, this is an inspiring book that I recommend to anyone involved in advertising.

While not as detailed or colorfully illustrated as his later work "Ogilvy on Advertsing," this is still a classic fillld with great information. The book is clearly a precursor to "Ogilvy on Advertising," as many of the same elements can be found in it.
Ogilvy has a wonderfully casual, yet occassionally pompous, style to his writing, but he clearly knows and understands advertising. He manages that rare combination of managing to teach while entertaining. Sometimes his ego and pride come across too strongly, but given the man's accomplishments, I'll cut him slack. And you may wonder why he starts off discussing his days as a chef in Paris, but he does a great job of analogizing that experience to his experiences with running an ad agency.
Highly recommended for anyone involved in advertising, particularly copywriters. Ogilvy was a copywriter and he clearly has a special admiration for those who write copy for a living. He also has great advice to share for anyone in advertising.

Ogilvy's clear concise writing makes it a quick easy read. In fact, parts of the book itself sound like an advertisement for the advertising industry. His bulleted set of mantras are for the most part, intuitive. It is very interesting especially for a person in the 21st century reading the advertising zeitgeist in 1960s.

The last chapter "Should Advertising be Abolished?" is a must-read. The author seems to be feel guilty enough to admit that the industry needs to be "reformed" and stricter controls and regimens need to be adopted.

I wish the book had lot more concrete examples of ads and copies that have run in the papers, so Ogilvy's observations can be more credible. Nevertheless the author's writing is quite compeling.

This book was recommended to me when I was studying copywriting. If I could only cite one book on the subject, it'd be this one.

Frank, forthright and funny, Ogilvy pulls no punches as he imparts precious truths on ads, agencies, clients, art directors and writers.

It's as much a ripping yarn is a textbook on how to prosper in advertising.

Even if you've no interest in this field, you may well find it fascinating. Do yourself a favour and check it out! :)

I am a freshmen marketing mojor at Johnson & Wales University and let me just say that this book is outstanding. There are concepts in this book that no marketing professor will ever teach you! David Ogilvy is an advertising genius! If your looking for a great book that will give you a tremendous leap forward in the marketing/advertising industry, this is the book to pick up. I checked this book out at the local library, but i loved it so much that i am planning on picking up my own copy of the book!