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The Father of Advertising: The Early Years of David Ogilvy
Article Overview: In 1975, he was called by Time Magazine “the most sought-after wizard in the advertising industry.” David Ogilvy wasn’t always the advertising wizard he later became. From serving in the army as a British Intelligence officer, to being a traveling salesman, to working as a hotel chef, Ogilvy took the long road to success.
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The Father of Advertising: The Early Years of David Ogilvy
In 1975, he was called by Time Magazine “the most sought-after wizard in the advertising industry.” David Ogilvy wasn’t always the advertising wizard he later became. From serving in the army as a British Intelligence officer, to being a traveling salesman, to working as a hotel chef, Ogilvy took the long road to success.
That road began on June 23, 1911, when David Mackenzie Ogilvy was born in Surrey, England, to a financial broker and classics scholar. He studied at Fettes College in Edinburgh, Scotland, after which time he won a scholarship to study history at Christ Church College in Oxford, England. The scholarship was badly needed, since his father’s business was suffering the effects of the depression.
However, Ogilvy would never graduate from Christ Church, and in 1931, he left Oxford for Paris, where he became an apprentice chef at the Majestic Hotel. Although he admits to learning discipline and management working as a chef, Ogilvy says of the experience, “If I stayed at the Majestic I would have faced years of slave wages, fiendish pressure, and perpetual exhaustion.”
After one year in Paris, Ogilvy knew it was time to move on. With that, he returned to England, where he was hired by AGA to sell their cooking stoves door-to-door. For the first time, Ogilvy began to shine. His success in selling AGA stoves to everyone from nuns to drunkards made his employer take notice; Ogilvy was asked to write an instruction manual for other AGA salesmen. “The Theory and Practice of Selling the AGA cooker” is still hailed by Fortune magazine as “probably the best sales manual ever written.”
At the time the manual was published, Ogilvy’s brother, Francis Ogilvy, was working for the London-based advertising agency Mather & Crowther. Francis showed the manual to his bosses, who promptly hired Ogilvy as one of their account executives. In 1938, Ogilvy persuaded the firm to send him to the U.S. for a year; he would wind up staying much longer.
Ogilvy immigrated to New Jersey, where he went to work for George Gallup’s Audience Research Institute. He would spend the next three years traveling the world on behalf of Gallup’s clients. It was during this time that Ogilvy claims to have learned the importance of meticulous research methods and an adherence to reality.
Ogilvy’s career was climbing. But, at the onset of World War II, Ogilvy left Gallup to work with the Intelligence Service at the British Embassy in Washington. Again, Ogilvy excelled in the position, using his knowledge of human behaviour and “applying the Gallup technique to fields of secret intelligence.”
Following the war, Ogilvy purchased a farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where he and his wife lived among the Amish. He enjoyed the atmosphere of “serenity, abundance, and contentment,” but after a few years of admittedly limited success as a farmer, Ogilvy moved back to New York. He had worked as a researcher, a chef, a salesman, and a farmer, and he was now ready to try something new. New York would prove to be the perfect setting for Ogilvy to flourish in.
Mastering the Message: Ogilvy Becomes the Most Wanted Man in Advertising
Lesson #4: Never Underestimate the Power of Research
The Message Behind the Man: How Ogilvy Achieved Success
Lesson #3: Promote the Principle of Professional Discipline
Lesson #2: Rewards Are In the Results for Clients
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Top 19 Copywriting books
- 1. Ogilvy on Advertising. David Ogilvy. Wiley.
2. Positioning: The Battle for your Mind. Al Ries and Jack Trout. Warner.
3. The New Positioning. Jack Trout. McGraw-Hill.
4. Tested Advertising Methods. John Caples. Prentice-Hall.
5. How to Make your Advertising Make Money. John Caples. Prentice-Hall.
6. Guerrilla Advertising. Jay Conrad Levinson. Houghton Mifflin.
7. Direct Mail Copy that Sells. Herschell Gordon Lewis. Prentice-Hall.
8. Sales Letters that Sizzle. Herschell Gordon Lewis. NTC Business Books.
9. Herschell Gordon Lewis on the Art of Writing Copy. Herschell Gordon Lewis. Prentice-Hall.
10. Romancing the Brand. David Martin. American Management Association.
11. The Art of Writing Advertising: Conversations with William Bernbach, Leo Burnett, George Gribbin, David Ogilvy, Rosser Reeves. NTC Business Books.
12. Confessions of an Advertising Man. David Ogilvy. NTC Business Books.
13. My Life in Advertising. Claude Hopkins. NTC Business Books.
14. Scientific Advertising. Claude Hopkins. NTC Business Books.
15. How to Become an Advertising Man. James Webb Young. NTC Business Books.
16. The Lasker Story as He Told It. NTC Business Books.
17. Advertising Concept and Copy. George Felton. Prentice Hall.
18. The Copy WorkShop Workbook. Bruce Bendinger. The Copy Workshop.
19. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads. Luke Sullivan. Wiley.
This should keep you busy for at least a year.
Enjoy!
Joke of the Day
- Here's one I received via email recently, I trust no one finds it offensive, if you do please be sure to let me know!
MY DAD IS A FATHER
A little boy got on the bus, sat next to a man reading a book, and noticed he had his collar on backwards. The little boy asked why he wore his collar that way.
The man, who was a priest, said, "I am a Father."
The little boy replied, "My daddy doesn't wear his collar like that."
The priest looked up from his book and answered, "I am the Father of many."
The boy said, "My dad has 4 boys, 4 girls and two grandchildren and he doesn't wear his collar that way."
The priest, getting impatient, said, "I am the Father of hundreds," and went back to reading his book.
The little boy sat quietly thinking for a while, then leaned over and said, "Maybe you should wear your pants backwards instead of your collar."
Happy New Years!
- Happy Belated New Years!
Out of curiosity what are your new years resolutions for your business? Did anyone manage to honour their past resolutions?
My Holiday
- I'm taking a trip to India for 3.5wks. haven't seen my grandma in 15years and there's also going to be a wedding. Can't wait.
Oh and I'll be spending New Years in Goa... Anyone been there? That's the place my grandparents are from but I've never visited as they moved to Mumbai a while ago.
Does anyone have recommendations of Hotels they've been to?
Will be checking out TripAdvisor...
Ideas for developing my business
- Advertising is the life-blood of any magazine. Get some advertisers and you're set. You've got your target market, now start working on the "buzz" around the mag.
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