David Ogilvy is known as the father of advertising and in his book, Confessions of an Advertising man, he lists out the

principles he followed to take his agency, Ogilvy, Benson and Mather to the peak of advertising industry. In this book, he also offers advice to both the clients and the agencies on the dos and don'ts of the advertising industry. The book is an excellent read which entails how an organization should work, what an employer, how objective he should be, how to maintain high motivation levels in his employees, how to lead by example and how honest you should be with your employees and clients without being nave. For all this, he used real life examples. In short, the book illustrates many aspects of organizational behavior in simple language without the use of many jargons, which David Ogilvy himself hated. About the Author: David Ogilvy was born in 1911 in England. He studied at Fettes College, Edinburgh and Christ Church, Oxford. He, however, did not graduate and instead, moved to Paris to become a chef at the Majestic Hotel. He then became a door-to-door salesman. After that, with the assistance of his brother, Ogilvy joined Mather and Crowther. He soon went to America and started his own agency with mather and crower. Later, crower left and it was just Ogilvy and mather. Gradually, Ogilvy and mather built a respectable clientele, that included Rolls Royce, Hathaway shirts, General Foods, Schweppes among others. Ogilvy was also the head on the agency when it opened in India. David Ogilvy died in 1999. Summary: In the book, Ogilvy blatantly mentions why he wrote the book, particularly to attract new clients, promote shares and to make him better known in the world. The bluntness actually works, as it gives a no fuss approach to the entire book and makes the points and advices he mentions in the book even more crude and worthy of picking up. He doesnt mince words and nowhere in the book is he found cajoling the readers to take up his ideas. He does what he believes in. A good idea should sell on its own without the consumers even knowing it. He emphasizes on keeping his staff happy, and talks of the importance of providing them the ideal place to work. This has been the top most priority of O&M. Ogilvy also talks of treating his staff as human beings, investing an awful lot to help them make the best use of their talents, glorifying hard work, honesty, gentle manners and detesting politics, toadies and ruthlessness. He talks of O&M as an organization where there is no nepotism or any other form of favoritism and the way up the ladder is open to all. Ogilvy also lays down his approach towards clients and gave his one of the most famous quotes: We sell or else. He emphasizes on treating the customer like your wife and to know the fact that you cannot force customers to buy anything but can only interest them.

In the first chapter, Ogilvy talks of inspiring his staff by methods of praise but also emphasizes on keeping it to minimal, as that will enable the employees to appreciate the importance of it. It is also important for the boss to lead by example and Ogilvy himself worked overtime, reviewed every ad multiple times to set an example. Ogilvy also called on annual gatherings of al his staff worldwide to give them reports of the agencys operations, profits and all and then tell them what are his expectations. He went into great details to streamline his expectations of himself and his staff so that there was no prejudice or sense of injustice. In the second chapter, Ogilvy lists out the ways to get Clients. He talks of extensive research used initially to get clients for his agency when he had no credentials. But once the first client is bagged, it all boils down to the consistency and quality of work. It is also very important to listen more to the clients than do the talking as it shows that the listener is actually interested in the problem of the client. It is also important to take only as much as you can eat. Ogilvy never took an account that he thought was too big that he could not afford to lose it. This breeds fear and frightened agencies lose the courage to give candid advice and finally lose everything. Ogilvy himself made it a point to take only those accounts in which he really believed. He himself used most of the clients products and believed that his clients provided the best in their businesses. In chapter 3, Ogilvy advises on how to keep clients. The best way is to provide the clients the best talent and maintain close contact with them at all levels. It is important to see the problem through the eyes of the client. Ogilvy himself bought shares of his clients as he thought it would help him think better as a part of the family. It is also important to admit mistakes and maintain confidentiality at all steps. Similarly, it is also important to resign accounts when the one no more believes in the product or the account is no more profitable to the agency. Chapter 4 advises companies on how to be good clients. It is important to select the right agency, brief the agency well, and let them do their work and not harangue and haggle them over and over. Chapter 5 provides guidelines on how to build great campaigns. As per Ogilvy, the best advertisements are the ones, which sells without drawing attention to itself. In an ad, it is important to know what to say and what not, have a great idea for the campaign and state the facts. The best advise is to never write an advertisement, which you wouldnt want your own family to read. It is also important to keep the brand image of the product in mind at all stages while making the ad. In the subsequent chapters, Ogilvy talks of how to build content for ads, how to make posters and TV commercials etc., all through beautiful examples. One of the best parts in these chapters is where Ogilvy, despite being an advertising man, says he never liked posters on highways. He goes on to add that being a private person; he has a passion for landscape and he has never seen one, which has been improved by a billboard. In the penultimate chapter where he talks about how to rise to the top, the main point is to be ambitious. Nothing is going to be given to anyone, and everyone

has to earn what he or she gets. One should never let disappointments come in their way, aspire, treat client as friends, fight only for the ones worth fighting for, and that experience is the best teacher. Ogilvy then goes on to explain why advertising pays well, and talks about being careful about the decisions you make and to be conscious of how your actions make you look and affect other people. In the final chapter Ogilvy talks of if advertisements should be abolished. He talks of the opinions of various people. Many people believe advertisements lie, create monopoly and pushes an inferior product on the consumer. Ogilvy begs to differ and believes that honesty is the best way to sell. He feels that advertisements can only interest people to buy a product but the ultimate onus lies with the customer. Overall Ogilvy thinks that given the right rules and regulations, advertising can be a powerful tool to help a company succeed in any business. It is a foundation of society, as we know it, and is a principal part of the economic system in which we live in.