Ogilvy on Advertising
Today i will review the first 30 pages of “Ogilvy on Advertising.” The book begins with explaining how to produce advertising that sells. He says “You don’t know a thinkers change at producing successful advertising unless you start by doing your homework” He says that the more you know about the product, the more likely you are to come up with a big idea that will sell it. He then shows an example of a successful Rolls Royce campaign ad in which the headline reads “at 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in the new rolls Royce comes from the electric clock” He would have never figured that out if first, he didn’t do his research.
He then states the next step is to find out what your competitors have been doing for similar products, and figure out what was successful. “This will give you bearings” Ogilvy states. After you do your research, then you do research about your consumers. This is how you can find out about your product, what language they use when speaking on the subject and what is the most important feature when using the product. This research will help you figure out what drives them to buy your brand vs the competitors, or if your product is a useful one.
The next step is positioning. When positioning your brand many marketers will disagree with advertisers on what this means. Ogilvy’s definition is “what the product does and who is is for” He positioned dove to be a gentle cleaner for woman when he could have just as easily positioned it to be a grungy soup for dirty men, but the positioning he chose is what made dove such a successful brad 25 years later, and a positioning statement that still works.
Brand image is essentially the personality that you give your brand. This can be seen in the name, the packaging, price, customer service, and nature of the product itself. It is important to give your brand image something that can be consistent year after year which is very difficult to achieve. This is sometimes done by having people buy into an idea or belief. If you look at the way that Jack Daniels positions itself amount other whiskeys, you will see that their packaging and brand image stands out because of the way that it looks. People buy what stands out to them. Their positioning is that it is made from charcoal, conveying homespun honesty, and because it’s more expensive consumers believe that it’s superior.
The most successful campaigns and brands have a big idea. The 5 points to consider, Ogilvy argues are these:
- Did it make me gasp when i first saw it?
2. Do i wish i would have thought of it myself?
3. Is it unique?
4. Does it fit the strategy of perfection?
5. Could it be used for 30 years?
Ads and campaigns that run for 5 years are rare, and for that they are considered superstars.
It is also important to make the product the hero. As often times as possible, the product should be the main focus of the ad. Anything else that looks artistic is not actually selling the product, and the most successful campaigns are the ones that make the product the hero because it is what makes the consumer want to buy it. Artistic designs that don’t sell anything aren’t creative, Ogilvy argues.
Ogilvy also argues you don’t always have to try to convince the consumer that your product is better than all of the others in ads, just that it’s good by itself. If you do so in a clearer, more honest, more informative way of saying it, you’re doing it right. If you’re lucky enough to write a good advertisement, Ogilvy says to repeat it until it stops selling because different people will always end up seeing it no matter what.
Lastly, Ogilvy argues that direct response campaigns almost always to better than general ones. The commercials that run during the Superbowl aren’t possible to track the conversion rate, but ones that run late at night, email campaigns, and more are more successful. He states as many companies as possible should be running direct advertising campaigns so that they can learn from their mistakes, have solid research, and figure out more about their product. Anything else is a waste of time and money.
