David Ogilvy

I always said that mega-mergers were for megalomaniacs.

There are very few men of genius in advertising agencies. But we need all we can find. Almost without exception they are disagreeable. Don’t destroy them. They lay golden eggs.

On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.

I have a theory that the best advertisements come from personal experience. Some of the good ones I have done have really come out of the real experience of my life, and somehow this has come over as true and valid and persuasive.

Advertising reflects the mores of society, but it does not influence them.

The relationship between a manufacturer and his advertising agency is almost as intimate as the relationship between a patient and his doctor. Make sure that you can life happily with your prospective client before you accept his account.

I think a simple rule of business is, if you do the things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress.

I actually do think you’re seeing this trend towards organizations just caring more about their brand and engaging. And so I think Home Depot will want to humanize itself. I think that’s a lot of why companies are starting blogs, are just giving more insight into what’s going on with them.

America is not a land of money but of wealth-not a land of rich people, but of successful workers.

Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.

Without a customer, you don’t have a business, all you have is a hobby.

The advertisers who believe in the selling power of jingles have never had to sell anything.

I just think people have a lot of fiction. But, you know, I mean, the real story of Facebook is just that we’ve worked so hard for all this time. I mean, the real story is actually probably pretty boring, right? I mean, we just sat at our computers for six years and coded.

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

The well-satisfied customer will bring the repeat sale that counts.

Only one thing makes prosperity, and that is work.

Well, I think that there’s a very thin dividing line between success and failure. And I think if you start a business without financial backing, you’re likely to go the wrong side of that dividing line.

On Beverly Hills we paid too much. One hundred per cent, we did over-pay. We didn’t do our research properly.

Should I give up my career at this point in my life… and put all my marbles in Laura’s [Nyro] basket?

The opportunity for an entrepreneur to start a company from scratch today is abysmal.

The Model T blazed the way for the motor industry and started the movement for good roads everywhere. It is still the pioneer car in many parts of the world which are just beginning to be motorized.