B&TB&TB&T
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Technology
  • Regulars
    • Agency Scorecards
    • Best of the Best
    • Campaigns of the Month
    • CMO Power List
    • CMOs to Watch
    • Culture Bites
    • Fast 10
    • New Business Winners
    • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Jobs
  • Awards
    • 30 Under 30
    • B&T Awards
    • Cairns Crocodiles
    • Women In Media
    • Women Leading Tech
Search
Trending topics:
  • Cairns Crocodiles
  • Nine
  • Seven
  • Cannes Lions
  • NRL
  • AFL
  • WPP
  • State of Origin
  • B&T Women in Media
  • Thinkerbell
  • Pinterest
  • imaa
  • Anthony Albanese
  • Meta
  • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • ARN
  • Foxtel
  • TV Ratings
  • Radio Ratings
  • Sports Marketing

  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.
Reading: The Four Principles To A Great Ad By Industry Legend David Ogilvy
Share
B&TB&T
Subscribe
Search
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Technology
  • Regulars
    • Agency Scorecards
    • Best of the Best
    • Campaigns of the Month
    • CMO Power List
    • CMOs to Watch
    • Culture Bites
    • Fast 10
    • New Business Winners
    • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Jobs
  • Awards
    • 30 Under 30
    • B&T Awards
    • Cairns Crocodiles
    • Women In Media
    • Women Leading Tech
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.
B&T > Opinion > The Four Principles To A Great Ad By Industry Legend David Ogilvy
Opinion

The Four Principles To A Great Ad By Industry Legend David Ogilvy

Staff Writers
Published on: 13th October 2016 at 9:49 AM
Staff Writers
Share
9 Min Read
SHARE

David Ogilvy is often regarded as the “father of advertising”. Here, Craig Simpson, author of The advertising Solution, takes a look at Ogilvy’s top four tips to great advertising and why they still resonate in 2016. This article originally appeared on Entrepreneur.com… 

Let’s look at some secrets of creative salesmanship from advertising legend David Ogilvy. He advised promoters to follow these four basic principles in creating their messages:

1. Creative brilliance. Marketers need to come up with brilliant concepts that not only catch their best targets’ attention but also sell them on the product. Ogilvy was a proponent of the “big idea” — an unforgettable concept that cap­tures the imagination of your audience and puts your product (or yourself) on the map.

2. Research. Ogilvy didn’t believe in “blowing smoke.” His copy was meticulously based in fact, and he did careful research to uncover the one amazing fact about a product around which he could build an entire ad campaign.

3. Actual results. Ogilvy was a strong believer in judging the quality of an ad by its success at selling the product. Always test the outcome of an ad, and if it isn’t selling, make whatev­er changes are necessary to make it work. This holds true for print ads, banner ads, job applications, blog posts or whatev­er else it is you’re putting out into the world.

4. Professional discipline. Advertising executives were not to be dabblers in the creative realm. They needed to hone their craft and develop programs to train the next generation of adver­tisers. Similarly, if you want to be successful at promoting something, through any medium, apply yourself to creating the best campaigns possible or you’ll never achieve everything that’s possible for you.

This last point is as true today as it was when it was written. Nobody becomes a phenomenon in any field without putting in the time and discipline. This is especially true when it comes to writing promotions — particularly today, when the field is so much more competitive.

To be a successful copywriter, not only do you have to put in the hours to learn how to write, but you also have to research more than ever to make sure that what you write stands out. If you don’t take deep dives into a product and learn what makes it unique, you’ll never rise above the noise.

Today people talk about commodity versus specialty. A commodity is an ordinary product. A specialty product has something about it that makes it unique and exclusive. A great ad writer can take a commodity product and make it stand out as a specialty product by showing what makes it different and better.

The trick is to find the story in the product, and that takes skill. Maybe you’re selling a fish oil supplement. You can turn it into a specialty item by explaining, for example, that your fish oil comes from a unique kind of fish living deep in Icelandic waters, providing better Omega-3. Researching your product has always been important, but it’s even more important today. With more competition and a more skeptical audience, you need great arguments to back every claim you make.

The most famous headline in advertising history

Ogilvy wrote many famous ads during his career, but the one that’s said to have been the most famous headline in advertising history was the one he created for Rolls-Royce. The headline read:

At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.

This groundbreaking ad illustrates all the principles that made Ogilvy’s work stand out. The headline itself was a wonderful example of the “big idea.” No one had ever seen a headline like that before. It intrigued people and pulled them in to read the rest of the ad.

The body of the ad was made up of 13 interesting facts that clearly explained why the Rolls-Royce was unique and why it was worth its sky-high price. And of course Ogilvy tested the ad in a number of venues before launching the nationwide campaign that ended up earning a place in advertising history.

You might think marketers just sit around waiting for inspiration, but that’s not the way it actually works. In describing the process he used to write the Rolls-Royce ad, Ogilvy said he started out, as he always did, by doing his homework. He claimed this was a tedious but necessary process. Ogilvy said that as a marketer, you had to study the product and find out as much about it as you can. The more you know about a product, the more likely you are to come up with the big idea.

When he got the Rolls-Royce account, he spent three weeks reading about the car. In the process, he came upon this statement from a Rolls-Royce engineer: “At 60 miles an hour, the loudest noise comes from the electric clock.” That became the headline, which was followed by 607 words of factual copy. In a sense, Ogilvy didn’t even write the world’s most famous headline; he took it from a company report. But his genius was in recognizing the power of the statement to work as the lead-in to the ad. Of course, the rest of the ad pulled its weight too: 13 carefully crafted points that each raised and answered a question the reader might have. It even addressed the issue of price in a clever way, stating that the Bentley, manufactured by the same company, was exactly the same machine except for the grille and a much-reduced price. People could buy a Bentley if they “feel diffident about driving a Rolls-Royce.” This would subtly appeal to Rolls-Royce buyers, who would never see themselves as being diffident about anything.

Lessons for today’s promoters

I think Ogilvy brought a modern touch to advertising that really made his work stand out — and also made it tremendously effective. Many of the copywriters I work with do just as he said: they spend as much time as necessary researching before they ever start writing.

Very often the facts themselves lead to the big idea that will really sell the product. It’s the perspiration of research that gives rise to the creative inspiration. Smart advertisers put this into practice. One company I know hires entry-level copywriters to spend the first year or two only doing research. They don’t write one word of copy until after they master researching the subject area they’re going to be working on. Ogilvy understood the value of this, and once again, he was ahead of his time.

We should also remember to always deal in facts. Especially today, consumers are wary of empty claims that seem to have nothing to back them up. In promoting your product or service or yourself, be sure to provide fact after fact that explains why you’re the best.

And of course, Ogilvy was a pioneer in claiming that testing is everything. That’s the only way to arrive at the best ad, sales piece, website copy or Facebook post that will get you the best results.

 

Join more than 30,000 advertising industry experts
Get all the latest advertising and media news direct to your inbox from B&T.

No related posts.

TAGGED: Designworks, Rupert Murdoch
Share
Staff Writers
By Staff Writers
Follow:
Staff Writers represent B&T's team of award-winning reporters. Here, you'll find articles crafted with industry experience spanning over 50 years. Our team of specialists brings together a wealth of knowledge and a commitment to delivering insightful, topical, and breaking news. With a deep understanding of advertising and media, our Staff Writers are dedicated to providing industry-leading analysis and reporting, both shaping the conversation and setting the benchmark for excellence.

Latest News

Equality Media + Marketing Wins Gold At 2025 Melbourne Design Awards For Queenstown Precinct
10/07/2025
Megan Moloney.
Shout Digital Pinches We Lysn’s Megan Moloney As Chief Customer Officer
10/07/2025
Mark Bouris.
NOVA Entertainment Partners With Mark Bouris’ Mentored Studios Podcast Platform
10/07/2025
Samsung Mobile Unveils New Galaxy Z & Watch8 Series In National Campaign
10/07/2025
//

B&T is Australia’s leading news publication magazine for the advertising, marketing, media and PR industries.

 

B&T is owned by parent company The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.

About B&T

  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise

Top Categories

  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Opinion
  • Technology
  • TV Ratings

Sign Up for Our Newsletter



B&TB&T
Follow US
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Register Lost your password?