Three cheers for the first educational book review of this challenge! This will be brief for the sake of those following this blog primarily for fiction. Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy is a compilation of an advertising genius’s techniques acquired over a very rich life of experience.
Ogilvy, often referred to as “The Father of Advertising”, was an Englishman born in 1911. He started out as a chef at the Hotel Majestic in Paris, then later immigrated to America to join the staff at Princeton. Post World War II, Ogilvy founded the advertising agency Ogilvy, Benson and Mather, which is quite well-known and recognized today.
This book is a bit hard to summarize due to the content, so I’ll sum it up with a few quotes to demonstrate how non-boring of a read it was:
“The consumer isn’t a moron. She’s your wife.”
“When people aren’t having any fun, they seldom produce good work.”
“When Fortune published an article about me and titled it: “is David Ogilvy a Genius?”, I asked my lawyer to sue the editor for the question mark.”
Confessions of an Advertising Man is full of stories and advice on everything from how to create great campaigns, copy and ads, to how to attract and maintain clientele. Although a bit dated in sections, the version I read included a note from Ogilvy drawing the reader’s attention to the outdated and mistaken sections of his book, such as regularly referring to advertising men with no deference towards the women in the field (there were few during his time, and he recognizes that they now make up a large percentage of the field today).
This book is a gem, and although it contains many advertising proverbs those in the field have probably heard before, it’s an enlightening and all-encompassing read that should be a staple for anyone selling anything. Ogilvy was a disciplined and purposeful individual, and his experiences and techniques are inspiring, even fifty years after the first publication.
musings of a reader. 