Advertising Management

Prof M.M. Anand

Book Review

Confessions of an Advertising Man

Submitted By:

Amit Tyagi

MBA | F-12

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 Every book has a purpose behind it, so I was tempted to ask, what was David
Mackenzie Ogilvy’s purpose behind writing this book. Well the answer was clear to me
once I was done reading the book.

Mr. Ogilvy has clearly written this book with the following objectives in his mind

A. Promote himself
B. Promote his agency
C. Promote his business/trade/industry i.e. advertising

And strictly in that order too. For example he has launched in to this unabashed
campaign wherein he has linked everything good that his organization has done to him
and his teachings. Be it the part where he says "Through maddening repetition, some
of my obiter dicta have been woven into our culture"

Then he goes on to extol the virtues of his organization, where he talks about how
clients retain them across borders, or how they have created successful campaigns for
clients over years. Or the way he talks about organizations whose main emphasis
according to him is to garner accolades for themselves rather than help sell the clients'
products, something which he says his agency has never done and would never do.

And then last but not the least, he realizes the kind of threats that are faced by the
advertising industry as a whole, be it from clients who try to haggle with their agency
for the fee, or the kind of campaign they want, or from the type who would prefer
running a price-off campaign than pay their agency for advertising.

He has accepted as much saying the book was meant to boost his image in the
industry, to help his company's prospect with the upcoming rights issue and also to
get new clients to his agency.

However another interesting fact comes out after reading Ogilvy's book; it or rather he
sets a pretty different picture of advertising as a profession than what is normally
assumed by people outside. He has clearly shown his preference for going with the
rules, be it with regards to not setting copies in reverse or with the size of the brand's
logo. From an elementary reading of the book it appears as if Mr. Ogilvy was a stickler
for rules and would never have deviated from them. But this is where one needs to
consider his background, or rather how he started his career in advertising, he started
as an assistant to Dr. Gallup and therefore has a very research oriented approach to
advertising, and not one adopted by others in the business whom he dubs as 'mincing
pansies'.

Though the book has been divided in the form of chapters, but I am of the opinion that
the book should have been divided by Mr. Ogilvy in three parts
a) Me
b) My Agency
c) My Industry

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In order to understand this little red book better, let’s look at the book, chapter by
chapter and see what is it that this stove seller from Scotland has to say about
advertising.

How to manage an advertising agency??

In this chapter he speaks about the ideal (nothing that he has to say can be less than
ideal) ways to manage an advertising agency. He draws from his experience as a chef
in France and how his boss functioned to illustrate how to manage creative (but
eccentric people).

He emphasizes the point that with creativity comes eccentricity and one has to learn to
deal with the eccentricity of creative people to best learn how to manage them.

He illustrates things like giving the right kind of atmosphere for creative people to
bring out their true genius, giving rare praise to his staff for work well done, the idea
of delivering what has been promised, or even if it is about things as trivial as keeping
the workplace clean (though I must admit that drawing this parallel from a kitchen to
an advertising agency looks like a bit of a stretch), or about the boss leading by
example when it came to hard work. What really stands out in the reading of this
chapter or probably the whole of this book is the generous use of the word I, (although
Mr. Ogilvy has taken the pains to mention in the opening chapter that he has done this
against the popular culture of the times when he wrote the book) because the views
expressed are his own and therefore he himself needs to be responsible for them)

There is a point in the chapter when Mr. Ogilvy writes that though advertising as a
profession is about writing and therefore people in the profession need to be well read
but sadly people like that seemed to be missing in the profession and then in the same
chapter goes on to talk about Lord Rutherford and the Cavendish Laboratory, uses the
example of Winston Churchill to illustrate the eccentricities associated with creativity.

How to get Clients

If there is any part of the book that best describes the maverick spirit of David Ogilvy
it is without doubt where he describes how he set about getting the best of clients for
his young and greenhorn agency. And also his unique approach to describe the
lifestyle of an agency which he used to confront prospective clients with.

Although it would be too much to expect Mr. Ogilvy to accept his shortcoming and
accept the success of others to a task he didn’t succeed at, still he was gracious
enough to accept that sometimes it’s not just creative genius and 'fire in the belly'
which helps secure clients, it has something to do with the right connections and
making those decisions to hire the best people to do it as he did in the case of Andy
Hewitt.

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But here another thing that Mr. Ogilvy has succeeded at is, establishing the connect
between the prospects of an agency to the reputation enjoyed by its head man. To
this end he has used the example of his speeches, his direct mailer and his networking
with the related men in the industry to landing of key accounts by his agency.

However he has taken care not to underestimate the importance of hard work and
diligence in all this. Be it citing the example of Helena Rubinstein or that of Standard
Oil, in both these cases he has taken the pain to point out that in the end it’s the hard
work that is put in by the agency which counts. However again this would go pole
opposite to what he did in the case of KLM Dutch airlines. To do what he did in their
case would take a lot of courage, more so for a fledgling agency, but it’s probably
because of these unconventional measures that Ogilvy became the man that he was.

However while going through this part of the book one can’t help but realize that more
than being about how to get a client, its more about David Ogilvy's understanding of
the human nature, be it the part where he talks about how listening helped him get
some of his biggest clients, or how his perseverance with the chairman of Shell helped
him bag that account, or the part where he extolled the virtue of Scottish men and in
the end, impresses an influential advertising manager and succeeds in securing that
account.

But something about this chapter which personally really caught my eye was how he
has spoken about the editorial publicity he got for his ‘Visit USA’ campaign. Those
were times when people hadn’t probably heard about the term buzz marketing, or
probably the term itself had not been coined, but Mr. Ogilvy had realized that the best
kind of marketing is one when your product or service is spoken of by the editors of
magazines, because people listen to them and that is why one of his instructions in the
first part of the book is to advertise like an editor of a magazine

And then he actually amazes people when he lists down ten qualities that he looks for
in a client before he takes them up. Conventional wisdom dictates that agencies would
be clamoring for clients, bending head over heels to get themselves appointed, but
sorry not the agency which bears the name of Mr. David Ogilvy. And one is really
intrigued to find out why exactly is he doing this, probably it is to create a mystique
around his agency wherein people want to hire him, no matter what the cost, expect
the greatest advertiser in the world to sell his agency well. And the best part is he has
put all the things there, just randomly (or that is how they appear to the untrained
eye). After quite a flourish of the typewriter appear the words "the ideal solution is to
build a waiting list of would be clients and to admit them one by one at times of our
own choosing".

How to keep Clients

But as much as he goes on to say that he has been selective in taking the clients that
he has taken, he has accepted that even he is concerned with the impact that a
leaving client has on an agency. And again like all the previous chapters this one also

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has less to do with advertising but more to do with the nature of human being in
general. Be it about not pursuing new clients at the cost of old ones, developing good
communication with clients at all levels, always presenting the client with something
innovative and fresh, never letting the client feel that he is less important for you or
some other account is more important than his, learning to be discreet in
communication etc. And here very subtly he has also exemplified this by saying that
all the products that he uses are those of his clients. Even though he starts this
particular paragraph by saying that this is not toadyism, but in my opinion what needs
to draw our attention is the last line of the paragraph,

'Are these not the finest goods and services on earth? I think they are, and that is why
I advertise them'

And possibly the biggest learning from the entire chapter is his recounting of the Rinso
episode with Jerry Babb at Lever Brothers. David Ogilvy has no qualms in accepting
that he wrote a silly copy, however he builds up a whole background to justify why he
had to do what he had to do.

And certainly throwing around a few famous names as clients cannot be bad for
business nor for personal reputation. If anything it will just help to boost business for
Mr. Ogilvy and his eponymous firm.

Here he also talks about the greatest complain that honchos often have against
advertising, they don’t understand it, they can’t quantify it and as a result they don’t
like it.

However this is where I have my first disagreement with Mr. Ogilvy, according to him
in a presentation, 'As you read aloud, never depart from your printed text by a single
word'. His logic being that the combination of sight and sound help to deliver a strong
message which leaves a deep imprint in the minds of the target audience. However in
years to follow and with the advent of technology it has been established that it’s
better to set pointers through sight and establish the main message through words.

How to be a Good Client

The title of this chapter sounds like as if he is trying to preach to his clients as to how
not to poke their nose into creative stuff which they don’t get a hang of, or rather just
not meddle with the work of an agency. This is more than illustrated in the line
'Clients get the advertising they deserve'

However the list of 15 ways in which he promises to treat his agency if he ever were to
become a client, almost smacks of a wish list that he wants an ideal client to be. Be it
the part where he says don’t meddle with the creative affairs, or don’t haggle with the
agency, or tolerate genius or don’t underpay, all of this seems to be more of a wish list
of how he would like all his clients to behave with him and his agency

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How to build great campaign

It is interesting to read about the interaction that new recruits at Ogilvy and Mather
have with the man himself. He just speaks about the research oriented approach that
he has chosen over others.

After this he has tried to give a few specific pointers on how to write forceful copies for
newspaper advertisement and also how to illustrate them. Keeping with his research
background and no-nonsense attitude, he has outlined what he has said are effective
ways to send across the message to the target customer.

Though television advertising was in its infancy when Mr. Ogilvy wrote this book, still
his insights on television advertising have some interesting pieces. For example the
part where he talks about how he holds a prejudice against using jingles in TV
advertising and accepts that there is no research to back this prejudice of his, and how
his partners in his absence chose to overlook this.

How to make Good campaigns for food products, tourist destinations and
proprietary medicines

After this Mr. Ogilvy has given his insights on how to advertise for food products as
they present an altogether different challenge. However what really is eye-catching in
this chapter is his views on how to advertise for tourist destinations as he is
responsible for creating some of the most remarkable tourism campaign, be it the one
he created for Puerto Rico or his 'Visit USA' campaign or the ' Come to Britain'
campaign he created for British Travel & Holidays Association

How to rise to the Top of the Tree- Advice to the Young

Personally speaking this was the chapter which aroused my attention as I believed this
would be almost like getting personal tuitions from the master himself as to how to do
well in the trade.

And here again he has not disappointed in the way he has shared his wisdom and
insights, what he has said may sound too simple and commonplace, but what should
not be forgotten is that it is these simple things which people forget to do and what
eventually leads to their downfall. After all this comes from a guy who is credited with
writing a masterpiece on how to sell stoves.

What comes out again is his love for gentlemanly manners, possibly something that
the Highlander in him has found missing in the ambitious lot of the American youth. It
is here that his contempt for 'Corporate Type' generalists is visible again, in the way
he advises young people to gather specialization in a particular field. His message is
simple again, work hard, be diligent, research to no end, don’t lose heart at failure, be
a good presenter and most importantly have age on your side.

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Should Advertising be abolished

For David Ogilvy to be writing a chapter on "Should Advertising Be abolished?' is akin

to the Pope asking 'Should Christianity be Abolished’? But he has done what only he
can do and with good reason. Though viewing from one perspective one can say that
he has used this part of the book to blunt the criticism that has been leveled against
the advertising industry as a whole and has done an awesome job of it. He has quoted
Statesmen like Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in support of advertising as to
how it has helped in raising the standard of living of the masses.

Though when it comes to more specific criticism by the economists that it’s not
informative advertising which they are against, he has tried taking the high ground by
saying that advertisers would be better off by turning to the kind of advertising that he
has produced for his various clients like Rolls-Royce, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and
Shell. But when it comes to Combative advertising, it seems that he has tried
sidestepping the question when he simply states that combative advertising is not as
profitable for the advertising industry as it is made out to be.

He has also tried answering the question whether advertising actually raises the prices
of the product for the consumers by quoting Industry stalwarts like Lord Heyworth
(former head of Unilever) and Howard Morgens (president of Procter & Gamble) that it
is because of advertising that producers have been able to lower the prices of products
aided by mass consumption of products and faster turnover of stock.

He has gone to answer other criticism like 'Does advertising sell inferior product to
customers' or 'Does advertising encourage monopoly' and others like 'Does advertising
make people buy products they don’t need?

However what I personally liked was 'Should Advertising be used in politics?' and his
response to it 'In 1952 my old friend Rosser Reeves advertised General Eisenhower as
if he were a tube of toothpaste' It would have been interesting to note what his
viewpoint on the campaign of Barrack Obama would have been.

And then comes the part where he has illustrated the nonprofit activities of the
advertising industry and tried to portray it in a positive light. And I am not sure if it's
just me or did Mr. Ogilvy actually spares a moment to introspect where Madison
Avenue is headed and actually sounds a bit concerned for its future when he says ' I
have an interest in the survival of Madison Avenue, and I doubt whether it can survive
without drastic reform.'

I would like to end this review with a minute observation of mine. Mr. Ogilvy definitely
practices what he preaches. For example in the chapter ' How to write Potent Copy' he
says and I quote 'Headline is the most important element in most advertisements. It
is the telegram which decides the reader whether to read the copy' and can see that
being followed throughout the book in the way the chapters are named.

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No artistic flair, just straight forward what is it about, be it 'How to be a Good Client',
How to make Good Television Commercials, or How to rise to the top of the tree-
advice to the young and then Should Advertising be abolished.

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About the Author

David Mackenzie Ogilvy was born in West Horsley, England, on June 23, 1911. He was
educated at Fettes College in Edinburgh and at Christ Church, Oxford (although he didn't
graduate). After Oxford, Ogilvy went to Paris, where he worked in the kitchen of the Hotel
Majestic. He returned to England to sell cooking stoves, door-to-door.In 1935 he wrote a
guide for Aga salesmen (Fortune magazine called it "probably the best sales manual ever
written"). In 1938, Ogilvy emigrated to the United States, where he went to work for
George Gallup's Audience Research Institute in New Jersey. During World War II, Ogilvy
worked with the Intelligence Service at the British Embassy in Washington. The atmosphere
of "serenity, abundance, and contentment" kept Ogilvy and his wife in Pennsylvania for
several years, but eventually he admitted his limitations as a farmer and moved to New
York. In 1948, he founded the New York-based ad agency Hewitt, Ogilvy, Benson & Mather
(which eventually became Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide), with the financial backing of London
agency Mather & Crowther. In his agency's first twenty years, Ogilvy won assignments from
Lever Brothers, General Foods and American Express. Shell gave him their entire account in
North America. Sears hired him for their first national advertising campaign. In 1965,
Ogilvy merged the agency with Mather & Crowther, his London backers, to form a new
international company. One year later the company went public - one of the first advertising
firms to do so. Soon Ogilvy & Mather had expanded around the world and was firmly in
place as one of the top agencies in all regions. In 1973 Ogilvy retired as Chairman of Ogilvy
& Mather and moved to Touffou, his estate in France. Ogilvy came out of retirement in the
1980s to serve as chairman of Ogilvy & Mather in India. He also spent a year acting as
temporary chairman of the agency's German office, commuting daily between Touffou and
Frankfurt. When, in 1989, the Ogilvy Group was bought by WPP, two events occurred
simultaneously: WPP became the largest marketing communications firm in the world, and
David Ogilvy was named the company's non-executive chairman (a position he held for
three years). David Ogilvy was made a commander of the British Empire in 1967. He was
elected to the US Advertising Hall of Fame in 1977 and to France's "Order of Arts and
Letters" in 1990. He chaired the Public Participation Committee for Lincoln Center. He was
appointed Chairman of the United Negro College Fund in 1968, and trustee on the Executive
Council of the World Wildlife Fund in 1975. David Ogilvy died on July 21, 1999 at his home
in Touffou, France. Ogilvy remains one of the most famous names in advertising and one of
the handful of thinkers (Raymond Rubicam, Leo Burnett, William Bernbach, Ted Bates) who
shaped the business after the 1920s.

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References:

Ogilvy Website – Biography of Mr. David Mackenzie Ogilvy

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