David Ogilvy

Hire people who are better than you are, then leave them to get on with it. Look for people who will aim for the remarkable, who will not settle for the routine.

Never write an advertisement which you wouldn’t want your family to read. You wouldn’t tell lies to your own wife. Don’t tell them to mine.

The consumer isn’t a moron. She is your wife.

I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.

Every advertisement should be thought of as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image.

Good copy can’t be written with tongue in cheek, written just for a living. You’ve got to believe in the product.

A monopoly of jobs in this country is just as bad as a monopoly of bread!

Do not primarily train men to work. Train them to serve willingly and intelligently.

Edison, to a greater extent than has ever been recognized, is the father of American industrial methods.

Reduce the layers of management. They put distance between the top of an organization and the customers.

Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman – not the attitude of the prospect.

A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it.

If you find out what men want and give them that, you are pleasing them. If you find out what is good for them and give them that, you are performing a service. That’s what we are trying to do.

It’s all too easy to miss out on the important moments in life because you’re too busy staring at your phone.

Getting permanent value out of a job means purpose and fitting means to ends.

Does advertising corrupt editors? Yes it does, but fewer editors than you may suppose… the vast majority of editors are incorruptible.

A brand is two words: the ‘Promise’ you telegraph, and the ‘Experience’ you deliver.

No company can afford not to move forward. It may be at the top of the heap today but at the bottom of the heap tomorrow, if it doesn’t.

I have no Napoleonic dream. I’m just hard-working and pragmatic.

The five separate fingers are five independent units. Close them and the fist multiplies strength. This is organization.

Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No.1.