David Ogilvy

“I did not feel 'evil' when I wrote advertisements for Puerto Rico. They helped attract industry and tourists to a country which had been living on the edge of starvation for 400 years.”

“The relationship between a manufacturer and his advertising agency is almost as intimate as the relationship between a patient and his doctor. Make sure that you can life happily with your prospective client before you accept his account.”

“Does advertising corrupt editors? Yes it does, but fewer editors than you may suppose... the vast majority of editors are incorruptible.”

“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.”

“It strikes me as bad manners for a magazine to accept one of my advertisements and then attack it editorially - like inviting a man to dinner then spitting in his eye.”

“The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.”

“Advertising is a business of words, but advertising agencies are infested with men and women who cannot write. They cannot write advertisements, and they cannot write plans. They are helpless as deaf mutes on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.”

“The more informative your advertising, the more persuasive it will be.”

“Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.”

“What you say in advertising is more important than how you say it.”

“The consumer isn't a moron; she is your wife.”

“If you ever have the good fortune to create a great advertising campaign, you will soon see another agency steal it. This is irritating, but don't let it worry you; nobody has ever built a brand by imitating somebody else's advertising.”

“Many manufacturers secretly question whether advertising really sells their product, but are vaguely afraid that their competitors might steal a march on them if they stopped.”

“Ninety-nine percent of advertising doesn't sell much of anything.”

“The most important word in the vocabulary of advertising is TEST. If you pretest your product with consumers, and pretest your advertising, you will do well in the marketplace.”