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"Secret Weapon" of the Greatest Ad Man

David Ogilvy was considered to be one of the greatest advertising minds in history. His U.S. firm of Ogilvy and Mather launched numerous successful advertising campaigns for companies such as Schweppes, Dove, Rolls Royce and Shell just to name a few. Ogilvy is also considered by many to be the “father of advertising.” He also had a “secret weapon” he used for advertising.

Here’s a 7-minute video from Mr. Ogilvy himself, it’s well worth your time to watch (1,381 Likes / 8 Dislikes):

The Ogilvy Way on Advertising and Marketing

What made Ogilvy truly unique in the advertising field was his focus on results-oriented advertising. Ogilvy’s advertising philosophy – and one that thrives today – is rooted in direct response marketing. In its simplest form, direct response marketing correlates the money you spend on advertising with a direct return on investment or ROI. This was done in a time without the Internet! That means, today it’s never been easier to track your return on advertising spend!

You should always be measuring advertising effectiveness. It’s fascinating to me that so many advertising agencies and graphic designers recognize Ogilvy’s greatness, yet ignore his most basic and powerful advertising philosophies.

Ogilvy was not impressed by creativity. It didn’t matter how good an advertisement looked the only thing that mattered is if it sold anything. Yet, Ogilvy’s ads were well-designed. Too many of today’s advertisers are creativity driven. They are more concerned about creating a visually stunning advertisement and rarely consider the ads ability to sell. This is a colossal mistake.

If you’re an event organizer, marketer or promoter, I strongly suggest that you embrace David Ogilvy’s advertising philosophies. Any imagery or design was used to support the content of the ad. Ogilvy also believed in the power of long copy.

David Ogilvy’s "Secret Weapon"

In his book, Ogilvy on Advertising, he divulges some of his greatest marketing and advertising secrets. He had very straightforward thoughts.

“I do not regard advertising as an entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information. When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to tell me that you find it creative. I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product.” - Ogilvy, David. Ogilvy on Advertising. New York: Crown, 1983. Print.

The best course of action is to treat your advertising and marketing as an investment. If you do that, you should always expect a return on that investment. If an advertisement is not working, you change it or stop using it.

Ogilvy’s “secret weapon” was DIRECT RESPONSE!

Here’s my Ogilvy question for you: Do you want to be known as the event with beautiful, award winning advertising or do you want to be known as the event with record revenues and attendance?

Here's some additional Ogilvy "approved" event promotion advice:

 

Posted at 07:02 in Copywriting |

Tags: advertising, copywriting, event promotion