For many years I’ve been a big fan of David Ogilvy, the father of advertising, a “pioneering adman and one of the founding fathers of our modern consumer society.” I recently read Ogilvy’s book “Confessions of an Advertising Man” for the second time, and for the second time I was absolutely impressed with it. I can only recommend it.

It is indeed a little unusual for a PR person to be fascinated with a book on advertising (you know, the ‘constant war’ between PR and advertising…), but it is the understanding of consumers and businesses and the practical tips that Ogilvy shares in his book that I enjoyed so much.

As Sir Alan Parker said, the confessions is “a blueprint for good practice in business” because “it’s not just about advertising, it’s also about how people think and behave at the sharp end of business.”

Understanding how consumers, media, business owners and other stakeholders think and what they need is as essential in PR as it is in any other marketing discipline.

While reading the “Confessions” I noted down everything that intrigued me.

Below are my 25 favourite quotes from Ogilvy’s book:

“Where people aren’t having any fun, they seldom produce good work.”

“Pay people peanuts and you get monkeys.”

“The consumer is not a moron. She is your wife. Don’t insult her intelligence.”

“The key to success is to promise the consumer a benefit.”

“Don’t let men write advertising for products which are bought by women.”

“In the best establishments, promises are always kept, whatever it may cost in agony and overtime.”

“The top man has one principal responsibility: to provide an atmosphere in which creative mavericks can do useful work.”

“I admire people who work hard, who bite the bullet. I dislike passengers who don’t pull their weight in the boat.”

“I admire people with first-class brains… But brains are not enough unless they are combined with intellectual honesty.”

“I admire people with gentle manners who treat other people as human beings. I abhor quarrelsome people. I abhor people who wage paper-warfare.”

“In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative, original thinker, unless you can also sell what you create. Management cannot be expected to recognize a good idea unless it is presented to them by a good salesman.”

“Few of the great creators have bland personalities. They are cantankerous egotists, the kind of men who are unwelcome in the modern corporation.”

“The agencies which are most successful in new business are those whose spokesmen show the most sensitive insight into the psychological make-up of the prospective client. Rigidity and salesmanship do not combine. There is one stratagem which seems to work in almost every case: get the prospect to do most of the talking. The more you listen, the wiser he thinks you are.”

“But I regard the hunt for new clients as a sport… If you play it grimly, you will die of ulcers. If you play it with lighthearted gusto, you will survive your failure without losing sleep. Play to win, but enjoy the fun.”

“The proof of the pudding is in the eating.”

“Professional detachment doesn’t work in advertising. Some measure of personal commitment is required before a copywriter can sell a product.”

“If you aspire to manage an agency, you must accept the fact that you are always going to be traveling on the edge of a precipice.”

“I envy my friends who are doctors. They have so many patients that the defection of one cannot ruin them. Nor is the defection reported in the newspapers for all their other patients to read. I also envy lawyers. They can go on their vacations, safe in the knowledge that other lawyers are not making love to their clients.”

“I never tell one client that I cannot attend his sales convention because I have a previous engagement with another client; successful polygamy depends upon pretending to each spouse that she is the only pebble on your beach.”

“Once a client loses confidence in your discretion, you've had it.”

“The most dangerous thing that can happen to an agency is to depend on a single personal tie with a client company... Only when the agency is wired in at every level can you hope for tenure.”

“If you get into the habit of seeing clients when the weather is calm, you will establish an easy relationship which may save your life when a storm blows up.”

“It is flagrantly dishonest for an advertising agent to urge consumers to buy a product which he would not allow his own wife to buy. “

“Bad advertising can unsell a product.”

“The relationship between client and agency has to be an intimate one, and it can be hell if the personal chemistry is sour.”

“Concentrate your time, your brains, and your advertising money on your success. Recognize success when it comes, and pour on the advertising. Back your winners, and abandon your losers.”

“My observation has been that mediocre men recognize genius, resent it, and feel compelled to destroy it.”

"A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself. It should rivet the reader's attention on the product. Instead of saying, "What a clever advertisement," the reader says, "I never knew that before. I must try this product."

“The consumer isn't a moron; she is your wife. You insult her intelligence if you assume that a mere slogan and a few vapid adjectives will persuade her to buy anything. She wants all the information you can give her.”

“Imitation may be the "sincerest form of plagiarism," but it is also the mark of an inferior person.”

“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. If you haven't done some selling in your headline, you have wasted 80 per cent of your client's money.”

“The headline is the "ticket on the meat."

“The two most powerful words you can use in a headline are FREE and NEW. You can seldom use FREE, but you can almost always use NEW - if you try hard enough.”

“People are more likely to read your body copy if your headline arouses their curiosity; so you should end your headline with a lure to read on. “

“Your headline must telegraph what you want to say, and it must telegraph it in plain language. Don't play games with the reader.”

“Avoid superlatives, generalizations, and platitudes. Be specific and factual. Be enthusiastic, friendly, and memorable. Don't be a bore. Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating.”

“The subject of your illustration is more important than its technique... As in all areas of advertising, substance is more important than form.”

“The public is more interested in personalities than in corporations.“

“There is no need for advertisements to look like advertisements. If you make them look like editorial pages, you will attract about 50 per cent more readers.”

“Never write an advertisement which you wouldn’t want your own family to read.”

An overall conclusion that I would make after reading the book is that you should never underestimate the importance of performing research in order to make informed decisions and find truly effective solutions.

I’ve only got two questions: How do you become such a genius as Ogilvy? Or are you just born one?