David Ogilvy

Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.

The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.

I always said that mega-mergers were for megalomaniacs.

Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.

What you say in advertising is more important than how you say it.

If you ever have the good fortune to create a great advertising campaign, you will soon see another agency steal it. This is irritating, but don’t let it worry you; nobody has ever built a brand by imitating somebody else’s advertising.

Fairs and public displays are the best means we have yet found of showing large numbers of people the real methods of industry.

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

Ridiculous yachts and private planes and big limousines won’t make people enjoy life more, and it sends out terrible messages to the people who work for them. It would be so much better if that money was spent in Africa – and it’s about getting a balance.

I never made any public statements, at least I tried never to make any public statements. I know I don’t do it well, I become very nervous, I forget what it is that I mean to say, I can’t really convey my logic and my thought to the journalists, so I decided this is not my thing, I really shouldn’t be doing it.

A well-run restaurant is like a winning baseball team. It makes the most of every crew member’s talent and takes advantage of every split-second opportunity to speed up service.

Your business, and your brand, must first let people know what you care about, and that you care about them.

It is the service we are not obliged to give that people value most.

I must have had a dozen jobs and I got fired from all of them.

Nations are great as they are prosperous as they are industrious as they are just.

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

A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.

A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.

We’ve created a recognisable brand that has the ability to be the Louis Vuitton of our era.

I was the most productive when I was in a flex situation. Do not check for me for needless meetings.

The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.