MAVERICK'S MONTHLY MARKETING BOOK CLUB

October 1, 2026

Ogilvy on Advertising

Today, we’re reviewing and discussing Ogilvy on Advertising.

David Ogilvy is considered by many people to be the father of modern advertising. He published this book back in the 1980s, but he got his start in the 1940s, a little after World War II, during a period when advertising was beginning to move from print toward television.

Ogilvy got his start in door-to-door sales, and he began writing literature for some of the products he was selling. Some very prominent advertising executives saw his work, appreciated his talent, and eventually pulled him into the advertising industry.

He ended up partnering with Mather and building Ogilvy & Mather, an agency that is still around today.

The story actually reminds me a little bit of Mad Men. Cooper and Roger Sterling had the credibility with the big brands, but Don Draper became the creative force everybody knew.

Ogilvy was similar.

Nobody knew who Ogilvy was until he started writing. Then his talent, his ability, and his persuasive power eventually overshadowed not only the other people at the agency, but much of the advertising industry itself.

There are a lot of lessons in this book that are still incredibly relevant today. Some need a modern update, but many of the underlying principles haven’t changed at all.

Research Before You Write

One of the biggest things Ogilvy believed in was research.

Before you sit down to write an ad, do the research.

Back then, that meant heading to the library. Today, head to the computer and get all the information you can about the product, the target market, and the competition before you start writing the advertisement itself.

Too many people wing it.

Too many people look at what their competitors are doing and copy it.

I think they miss a massive opportunity to stand out and differentiate themselves from the competition.

You should know what you’re selling. You should know who you’re selling it to. And you should understand the marketplace before you ever start writing the ad. Pasted text

What You Say Matters

Ogilvy believed that what you say in an ad is more important than how you say it.

I think today that principle needs a slight update.

I would say: cater the message to the medium you’re putting it on.

You’re not going to take the same long-form content you put on YouTube and necessarily drop it onto Instagram or TikTok in exactly the same way.

Different people are in different places mentally.

I’ve always thought about this as hunting and gathering in advertising.

Sometimes people go online in a hunter mindset. They’re looking for something specific. They’re chasing down information or solving a very specific problem.

You generally don’t want to disrupt that person.

Other times, people are in more of a gathering mindset. They’re scrolling Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or another platform and essentially saying, “Show me.”

Show me what my friends and family are doing.

Show me products and services I might be interested in.

Show me something entertaining.

Show me something educational.

They’re not hunting for one specific thing. They’re open to being shown something.

That’s where advertising can prevail. Pasted text

The Big Idea

Another thing Ogilvy talked about was the need for a big idea.

He essentially said that if an ad doesn’t contain a big idea, it’s going to fail.

That’s pretty Draconian. I wouldn’t take it too literally.

What does a big idea mean?

Think Marlboro positioning itself as the cowboy brand—the rugged cigarette for rugged men.

That was a big idea.

Believe it or not, Marlboro had originally been positioned toward women. It took advertising people and positioning people to move that brand in a completely different direction.

But here’s the part I think is more important.

Ogilvy said he only came up with about twenty big ideas over the span of his entire career.

Twenty.

We’re talking about probably one of the greatest copywriters who ever lived, and he thought he had about twenty genuinely big ideas.

So if you come up with one—or maybe none—don’t panic.

There are plenty of other advertising principles you can follow and still be successful.

The important thing is to look for that central idea that gives the campaign something strong to revolve around. Pasted text

Facts Sell

Another major rule Ogilvy talked about was using facts in advertising.

People love sales mumbo jumbo, but facts go a lot further.

Whenever you can use numbers, quantitative facts, evidence, or third-party proof to sell something, use them.

If you’re selling brake pads, give people facts.

If you’re selling wine, show that the wine won a competition.

If you’re advertising a music school, show the research around how learning an instrument can contribute to better outcomes for children intellectually, socially, and developmentally.

When you can prove things with facts, you’re letting the numbers do some of the work of the copywriting itself.

The facts become persuasive.

And that can sell a lot more product. Pasted text

Don’t Be a Clown

Ogilvy also warned advertisers not to be clowns.

That doesn’t mean you can’t be funny.

You can be goofy. You can entertain people. You can have personality.

But there’s a difference between being entertaining and becoming somebody people can’t take seriously.

There’s a law firm around here called TopDog Law. The owner appears in a lot of the advertising himself. He’s entertaining. He’s funny.

But I wouldn’t call him a clown.

You still know he’s an attorney.

You still believe that when it’s time to put the gloves on and get into the ring, he can fight for you.

Being a clown happens when the audience can’t distinguish between the silly side of you and the serious side of you.

That can destroy credibility.

Be Contemporary

Another Ogilvy principle was to be as contemporary as possible in your advertising.

There are brands that can use nostalgia very effectively.

Pepperidge Farm can do it.

Coca-Cola can show Santa Claus.

But most brands don’t have that luxury.

If you’re a plumber, for example, you may be tempted to build your advertising around the idea that your service is like it used to be “in the old days.”

I don’t think that’s usually what customers want.

People care about speed, price, selection, reliability, and innovation.

They want you to keep your promises.

They don’t want you cursing in front of their children.

They don’t want outdated tools and methods.

They want modern training.

They want state-of-the-art equipment.

And they want it for the lowest reasonable price.

Old-fashioned values can work.

Outdated capabilities generally don’t.

That’s why nostalgia can be a dangerous place to go unless you’re selling something that is naturally nostalgic. Pasted text

Committees Can’t Write Ads

Ogilvy also said committees can’t write advertising.

I’ve seen this too many times, especially with law firms.

Everybody wants to get their fingers, hands, and toes into the advertisement.

One person changes it.

Then another person changes it.

Then somebody massages the wording.

Then somebody else wants a sentence added.

And eventually the result is a bunch of gobbledygook.

Don’t do it.

An advertisement needs a point of view.

One person needs to own the idea and write the ad. Pasted text

Don’t Kill a Winning Ad

Another major Ogilvy rule was: don’t stop using an advertisement until it stops pulling.

Little Caesars is a great example.

They had the “Pizza! Pizza!” slogan, which was incredibly effective in the 1980s and 1990s.

The executives eventually got bored with it.

That’s the problem.

The executives got bored.

The public didn’t necessarily get bored.

Little Caesars went from being number two in pizza down to number four. Eventually they brought the concept back and bounced back somewhat.

But they had already lost some of the attention and recognition they had built with the audience.

If something is working, don’t kill it simply because you’re tired of seeing it.

Brand Image Matters

Ogilvy also talked extensively about brand image.

One of the great examples is Dove.

He helped position Dove specifically as a women’s soap.

The product could have gone in any direction. It could have been soap for construction workers, police officers, men, women, anybody.

They made a choice.

There’s a great print advertisement he wrote involving a woman in a bathtub talking on the telephone. The line plays on the phrase “head to toe in Dove.”

It reinforces the product and the identity of the brand at the same time.

That’s brand image.

Every advertisement isn’t just selling the product.

It’s also teaching people what the brand means. Pasted text

Headlines Should Tell People What They’re Getting

Ogilvy spent a lot of time talking about headlines.

He essentially said the headline should be like a label on a package of meat.

Tell people exactly what they’re getting.

Get to the point.

People are selfish and self-interested.

That’s useful information for marketers because you can build around it.

Don’t spend the headline talking about yourself, your accomplishments, your history, and everything wonderful about your company.

Write about the customer.

What hurts?

What keeps them up at night?

What benefit can you provide that improves their condition?

Ogilvy also said headlines should often read almost like newspaper headlines.

They should grab attention quickly.

That’s even more important today with social media.

He pointed out that many more people read the headline than read the body copy.

If they don’t find the headline useful, they’re probably never going to read the body content.

I always say marketing is about getting people to know, like, and trust you—and find you useful.

But usefulness comes first.

I see headlines that essentially say, “You can trust us because of X, Y, and Z.”

That’s fine.

But the customer is thinking: what can you do for me?

Your headline should answer that question.

If the headline isn’t useful, most people aren’t going any farther. Pasted text

Use the Language of the Common Man

Ogilvy hated meaningless, tricky language.

One of his most famous Rolls-Royce advertisements made the point that the loudest noise inside the car was the ticking of the clock.

That communicated how quiet the automobile was without burying the customer in technical language.

It differentiated the product in terms of quality, innovation, convenience, and comfort.

Ogilvy believed strongly in using the language of the common man.

I see professionals violate this constantly.

Law firms want to sound sophisticated.

Consultants want to sound esoteric.

People deliberately learn giant words because they think the words make them sound intelligent.

To me, there’s nothing smarter than somebody who can take something incredibly complex and explain it to a fourth grader.

What could be smarter than that?

Throwing around fifty-cent words doesn’t impress me.

If somebody has to reach for a dictionary to understand your advertising, I don’t think that’s good communication.

Neither did Ogilvy. Pasted text

Advertising Is About Selling, Not Winning Awards

Ogilvy believed advertising was persuasion.

He didn’t believe its primary purpose was entertainment.

He also hated the obsession advertising agencies had with winning awards.

Back then, agencies cared enormously about awards because awards could help bring in large clients.

Ogilvy didn’t like that fishbowl.

The purpose of advertising is selling products.

Not winning awards.

That’s a distinction marketers still need to remember today.

You can make a beautiful advertisement.

You can make something clever.

You can make something everybody in your industry admires.

But did it sell anything?

That’s the question.

Get to the Point

The same rule applies to body copy.

Don’t beat around the bush.

Get to the point.

I’m constantly getting on our copywriters about this.

I often tell them, “Delete the first sentence or two.”

A lot of the time, the first few sentences are a complete waste of time.

Writers are warming themselves up.

The customer doesn’t care.

Get directly to what the advertisement is about, how it helps people, and how it improves their condition.

Don’t be pretentious.

Don’t boast.

Use common language.

Communicate. Pasted text

Hiring People Better Than You

There’s also a surprising amount in the book about running a company.

Ogilvy talked about culture, discipline, motivation, research, work ethic, and hiring people better than yourself.

One of his famous lessons involved giving executives a Russian nesting doll.

The principle was simple.

If everybody continually hires people smaller than themselves, eventually you end up with a company filled with smaller and smaller people.

If you hire people better than yourself, you build something much bigger.

That lesson goes far beyond advertising.

Be Careful With Negative Headlines

One final principle that still comes up with our team is negative wording in headlines.

Avoid headlines that constantly begin with things like:

“Stop doing this.”

“Don’t do this.”

“Never do that.”

You generally want language that moves people forward.

Think of something like Paul Revere’s “The British are coming.”

It creates movement.

It creates urgency.

It gets people moving.

A lot of negative language does the opposite.

It introduces friction.

And in advertising, you want the message pulling somebody forward rather than immediately telling them to stop.

There are obviously exceptions, and I’ve used negative headlines myself.

But the underlying principle is still useful: pay attention to the direction your language is moving the reader. Pasted text

The Bottom Line

That is Ogilvy on Advertising.

It’s one of my favorite marketing books, and I think it deserves a place on the shelf.

You don’t necessarily need to sit down and read every single page. You can skim it. You can study the advertisements. You can pull the lessons that matter to your business.

But this was one of the greatest copywriters who ever lived, and this book is essentially his handbook.

There are lessons about research, headlines, facts, branding, writing, positioning, company culture, hiring, discipline, and selling.

Some of the examples are obviously from another era.

The underlying psychology isn’t.

Understand the customer.

Do the research.

Get to the point.

Use facts.

Use ordinary language.

Protect the brand.

And remember that advertising exists to sell.

I’m Maverick, the marketing consultant—your marketing consultant.

I hope you enjoyed this month’s installment of Maverick’s Monthly Marketing Book Club.

I’ll see you back here next month.

To your success !