Treat your customers as your WIFE. Find out how this principle influenced the work of this advertising executive!
Let’s welcome another work week with motivation from today’s “Marketing Marvel.” Every Monday, we feature these kinds of people and discuss their outstanding work, insights, and experiences. In this article, we’ll talk about one of the legendary marketers of all time. His successful advertising campaigns show industry professionals how to effectively persuade and influence prospects while creating memorable, evergreen content. Know more about today’s Marvel by reading the article below. We hope this person’s contributions will inspire you as you brainstorm various strategies to market your brand.
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Treat your customers as your WIFE. Find out how this principle influenced the work of this advertising executive! David Ogilvy: Founder of the Ogilvy & Mather Company “In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create.” As an advertising executive and copywriter, Ogilvy (June 23, 1911 – July 21, 1999) was known for creating some of the world’s most successful and iconic marketing campaigns. He created these ads for large corporations like:
He was also a pioneer of the information-rich, “soft sell” ads that piqued the curiosity and interest of his prospects. Fun Fact: Did you know that in 1962, Time Magazine acknowledged Ogilvy as “The most sought-after wizard in today’s advertising industry”? Some industry professionals even believe that he was the inspiration for the character of Don Draper, the main protagonist in the hit TV series, “Mad Men.” Before we further proceed with this marketer’s contributions in the industry, let’s first take a quick look at his humble beginnings…
Ogilvy was born on June 23, 1911 in West Horsley, Surrey in England. His mother was a daughter of a civil servant from Ireland and his father was a stockbroker. As a child, Ogilvy went to St. Cyprian’s School on reduced fees because his father’s business was badly hit by the Depression during the middle of the 1920s. At age 13, he received a scholarship to Fettes College in Edinburgh. By 1929, Ogilvy received another scholarship to Christ Church in Oxford. However, he didn’t graduate because he left Oxford for Paris in 1931 and became an apprentice chef at the Hotel Majestic, a historic luxury hotel in France. A year after, he returned to England and sold AGA cooking stoves from door to door. He became such a successful salesman, and this got the attention of his employer who then asked him to write an instructional manual for other AGA salesmen. This was Ogilvy’s first exposure to the world of sales and copywriting… 30 years later, editors from the Fortune Magazine read Ogilvy’s written manual. They were amazed at how well-done the piece was and called it “the finest sales instruction manual ever written.” Good job, Ogilvy! His older brother, Francis Ogilvy, also read the manual. Seeing that it was actually well-done, his brother showed it to the management team at London advertising agency Mather & Crowther—the place where Francis was working. The managers at the firm saw David Ogilvy’s potential and offered him a position as account executive. The Birth of a Legendary Ad Agency After gaining a few years of experience and expertise as account executive, Ogilvy established his own agency with the backing of Mather & Crowther. He named it Ogilvy & Mather.
The new agency was founded on Ogilvy’s principles—particularly, that the function of advertising is to sell and that successful advertising is based on information about consumers. He also believed that customers should be treated as intelligent people. This was where he coined the phrase, “The customer is not a moron, she’s your wife.” What Ogilvy meant by this was marketers shouldn’t treat customers as ignorant people who cannot identify whether a marketing message is realistic or not. For example: He said it’s inappropriate to advertise a shampoo brand by saying it can help grow a person’s hair in just a week. Why? Aside from the fact that the hair grows only ½ inch per month on average, he stated there weren’t any shampoo brands yet that were able to deliver on that promise. For Ogilvy, advertising in that format without actually delivering real and good results will only disappoint customers… and when they’re disappointed, they will likely lose trust in a particular brand—similar to trust that’s given by a wife to her husband. So… having worked his way from being a chef, to copywriter, to an advertising executive, and to a business owner, what are some of Ogilvy’s “Advertising Commandments” that you can apply in your own career?
That’s it—Ogilvy’s “Advertising Commandments” that you should take note of! Who would’ve thought that a middle-aged man starting an advertising career with no advertising background or college degree would later establish a multinational ad agency that still creates timeless marketing campaigns to this day? Ogilvy’s story shows that with passion, dedication, creativity, and willingness to work, you’ll achieve your goals and make waves in your field of expertise. … and for that, we thank Ogilvy for serving as one of our role models in the business and marketing industries. *Applause* We hope you gained a lot of interesting tips and insights from today’s “Marvel!” Remember: Treat consumers as your “wife” and your marketing strategies and efforts will effectively “sell what you create!” Hope you’ve found this week’s insights interesting and helpful. Follow us on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for next Monday’s Marketing Marvels! “In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create.” Learn more about David Ogilvy on next week’s Marketing Marvels! |
