David ogilvy's life

1911On June 23rd, Ogilvy was born in the Scottish town of West Hesley. Coincidentally, both his grandfather and father were born on this day. Ogilvy's mother is a beautiful Irishman, but she has a strange temper. She didn't make Ogilvy an heir because Ogilvy could make a lot of money and didn't need the help of her family.

The 50-year-old Ogilvy talked about his father and used almost all the beautiful words in human nature: "My father is a kind, patient, kind, straightforward, selfless and enthusiastic person, and his body is as strong as an ox." He always treats children with appreciation, including their mistakes. At the age of 6, his father made Ogilvy drink a large glass of raw blood every day, and later let him drink beer. In order to strengthen his mind, he also eats calf brain three times a week. Blood, brain and beer are all aristocratic life experiences. Ogilvy's father wants his son to be a strong and intelligent person. Ogilvy inherited his father's two habits-smoking pipe and a sense of humor that he couldn't get rid of when he met the most annoying things.

Ogilvy's great hero is his grandfather. Grandpa/Kloc-dropped out of school at the age of 0/4 and later immigrated to Argentina to run a farm. He took part in the Paraguayan War and became unemployed after his farm failed. In order to support a large family, I went to New Zealand for gold and found nothing. Finally, he returned to London and worked as a clerk in a bank. Four years later, the shepherd with little education became the manager of a bank, and he sent all seven children to private schools and universities.

1929, Ogilvy entered the Christian College of Oxford University. Ogilvy didn't choose Cambridge because his father and brother are very famous in Cambridge. He didn't want to live in the shadow of his father and brother. In fact, Ogilvy & Mather's choice of Oxford is very risky-if you can't get a scholarship, you can't afford Oxford's tuition. However, although his exam results were not satisfactory, he still got a scholarship, because the theory of Christian college is that students who get high marks in the exam are likely to be second-rate talents in society, and scholarships should be awarded to students who will make great progress in the future.

However, Ogilvy's performance in Oxford was disappointing. Asthma kept Ogilvy awake all night. He can play tennis in the morning, ride horses in the afternoon and have dinner with friends every night. But in class during the day, he is always sleepy. As long as he takes the exam, he will fail. He is too eager to live outside school and is not interested in learning. Two years later, Ogilvy dropped out of school. Ogilvy called his time in Oxford an "unhappy time", which made him an active opponent of cramming education in the future.

After leaving Oxford, Ogilvy went to the Royal Hotel in Paris to study cooking. Although her career as a chef in Paris was only a short year, Ogilvy not only learned to enjoy life's cooking, but also became a gourmet and fell in love with France. Even after he went to the United States to conquer the world, he often came to France for summer holidays and traveled around by bike with his wife. 1967 Ogilvy bought Dover Castle in France. After retiring from Olgilvy, he lived in seclusion there until his death. 1932, 2 1 year old, Ogilvy ended his career as a chef and returned to Scotland to start selling general stoves. Ogilvy shuttles between hotels, castles and monasteries every day. With his angry words and superb cooking skills, he is invincible and successful.

Many years later, Ogilvy stumbled upon a marketing plan he wrote 27 years ago. He conveniently extracted a part and attached it to a piece of paper and sent it to the board of directors: "From this article, two things have been proved: first, I was extremely smart when I was 25 years old; Second, I didn't learn anything new in the next 27 years. "

197 1, Fortune magazine mentioned this plan in an article about Ogilvy & Mather, calling it "the best sales brochure ever".

The background of this sales manual is as follows: In view of Ogilvy's outstanding achievements in promoting general brand stoves, the company appointed him to write a manual to guide other sales personnel. Ogilvy & Mather also summed up its own set of marketing "strategies":

There are 6.5438+0.2 million households in Britain, of which 6.5438+0 million households own cars, but only 1 10,000 households own common brand cookers. If a family can afford a car, they can afford an ordinary cooker.

This is the first sentence in the preface of the sales brochure, and it is a wonderful advertising language even now.

The marketing plan is divided into three parts: preface and offensive and defensive, and each chapter lists some detailed rules. For example, attacks are divided into: import; Economic benefits; Stand by and watch at any time; Clean and neat; Cooking art; Complain to the chef; Attractive to men; Appeal to special classes; Special heating and air conditioning equipment for kitchen; Make a wisecrack.

In the "promotion principle", Ogilvy has formulated a series of principles-

Visiting principles: clean, plain clothes, no dome, and going in and out through the back door (most salesmen use the front door by hook or by crook, which housewives and servants hate most);

Principle of speaking: the person who opens the door forward will explain the purpose of the visit frankly and briefly. Under no circumstances should you make up false excuses to enter a client's house. When introducing products, the language should be accurate and honest, avoiding exaggerated tone and making people wary;

Time principle: noon is taboo time, and it is easier to succeed after meals;

Principle of self-confidence: Unless you know something about cooking, which shows that you know more than you actually know, you don't want to sell a set of ordinary brands of cookers.

Ogilvy & Mather has worked out solutions to almost every conceivable detail, situation and difficulty. Its thoroughness and meticulousness show Ogilvy's sales skills, and anecdotes abound:

Ogilvy sold an ordinary stove to St Andrew and David MacDonald, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Edinburgh. A week after the stove was installed, the Saint came to Olgilvy, hoping that he could visit all the monasteries in other parishes. In the next three months, Olgilvy drove all over Scotland and knocked on the doors of all monasteries. The nuns in charge of the monasteries are waiting for Ogilvy's visit, with pens in their hands, ready to sign the purchase contract.

1935, Ogilvy sent a sales brochure to Messer-crowther advertising company in London, claiming that he "never wrote any advertising copy", but hoped to make a career in advertising. Unexpectedly, he was really hired, still doing sales promotion, but changed to advertising promotion.

65438-0938, Ogilvy was appointed by the company to study advertising business in the United States. When the skyscrapers in Manhattan appeared in front of him, he couldn't help crying with joy. Eager for a new life, he quickly moved to America.

His first job in the United States was to conduct a public opinion survey for Hollywood producers at the Dr. Gallup Audience Institute in Princeton, to investigate the popularity of movie stars, to predict the attraction of story lines, to predict the future direction of movies and so on. Although Ogilvy's weekly salary is only $40, he says he is willing to pay for Dr. Gallup's tuition because he has learned a lot from this job.

From 65438 to 0944, Ogilvy served as the Second Secretary of the British Embassy in the United States. Ogilvy's daily job is to send a telegram to the foreign minister or prime minister. 1June, 945, Ogilvy sent a telegram to London and Chongqing:

China War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression has entered its eighth year, bringing misfortune and poverty to most Japanese people. More than 3 million people were killed in China, and it is said that 50 million civilians were homeless. The Republic of China, a big country with a quarter of the world's population, should embark on the road of post-war revival as soon as possible, which is in line with your majesty's political interests.

Late that night, Ogilvy received a phone call from the embassy accusing him of sending a telegram to Chongqing without using a password, which was intercepted by the China authorities. British officials rarely express this pro-China stance. Ogilvy & Mather thought that China must have thought that they deliberately didn't use the password to please.

At the age of 67, Ogilvy commented that "the stupidest bad habit is not to bother to avoid some unpleasant things, such as a society that is not suitable for me".

After World War II, Ogilvy and his wife came to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and came to Amish to live a farming life. In fact, Ogilvy fell in love with Amish life when he was working in Gallup. At that time, he and his wife often stayed here for a few days on weekends.

Amish immigrated here from Germany in the middle of18th century, seeking religious freedom. They live an isolated life, far away from the changes in the world, and every detail of life is strictly in accordance with the canon. Growing tobacco is their main source of income. Some people describe it as "a vast country monastery".

A few years later, Ogilvy became more and more aware of the fact that he could never make a living by farming: he was not strong enough to do farm work, such as pinching tobacco tips, which was so boring that he couldn't stand it. Heavy rain or light rain in summer always worried him. Later, an idea revived Ogilvy's passion-my grandfather changed from a failed farmer to a successful businessman. Why don't I follow his example and set up an advertising company? 1949, Ogilvy left his beloved Amish and went to new york. In his later years, Ogilvy recalled his days in Lancaster, calling those years "the most precious time" in his life. Ogilvy, 38, founded Ogilvy Advertising Company on Madison Avenue in new york. On the opening day, he announced:

The company has just been established and strives to survive. For a while, all of us had to work overtime, and our wages were below average.

Our company pays attention to recruiting energetic young people. I don't need a flatterer who is used to flattery. I am looking for smart and educated people. The size of the company depends on the effort. When the company was first established, the funds were not abundant, but before 1960, we will develop it into a big company.

The next day, Ogilvy wrote a list of five customers he wanted to win most: General Foods, Bristol-Meyer Pharmaceutical Factory, Herbalife Soup, Oliver Brothers and Shell Oil Company. At that time, Ogilvy faced as many as 3,000 competitors, and winning these five famous enterprises with Ogilvy's family fortune of $6,000 seemed like a pipe dream to outsiders.

But Ogilvy is full of confidence in his goal. First of all, he thinks he has a deep understanding of advertising and has accumulated rich experience and methods in Dr. Gallup's office. He read all the books on advertising that had been published at that time, and got a taste of the ideological essence of advertising pioneers such as Hopkins, Cabos and Lambert. As long as he applies this knowledge and experience to action, plus his imagination, he firmly believes that he can create a series of advertising activities. The development law of the advertising industry will also provide him with opportunities for success-every few years, large companies will age, their creative fire will be extinguished and become an extinct volcano, and it will begin to hand over customers to new companies that are alive, diligent and rising. But he also knows that if he runs his own company formally, it may take 20 years to achieve his goal. He is eager for success and has no time to wait.

In the early days, the advertising genius used some tricks: he gave a speech, commented on various problems in the advertising industry, and made as much commotion as possible on Madison Avenue; He cooperated with the media and constantly exposed Ogilvy's actions to the target readers. Give full play to his diplomatic skills and make use of his social relations to create social prestige for him; He often sends the company's progress report to 600 people of his choice-leaders of various industries of target customers.

At that time, on Madison Avenue, only two people spoke with British accents, and Madison Avenue regarded English advertisements as a ridiculous thing. In order to cater to secular prejudice, Ogilvy hired American Anderson Hewitt as the boss from the advertising giant Zhiwei Thomson Company. Anderson and Ogilvy are the first two employees of Ogilvy. At that time, they could take any customers, and they had planned businesses such as toy turtle factory and patent brush factory. They spend a lot of energy on product research for those promising target customers and come up with advertising plans to bid. Standard Oil Company of New Jersey and Helena Rubinstein won in this way.

Ogilvy works six days a week, from dawn to late at night every day. Later, Ogilvy summed up his shortcomings at the request of his subordinates, and listed too many advertisements as one of his shortcomings when he was a creative director in new york.

As the most famous advertising writer in the world, Ogilvy's classic works have been told by advertisers from generation to generation:

At 60 miles per hour, the loudest noise on this new Rolls-Royce car comes from its electronic clock. -Rolls-Royce

Dove soap can not only deeply clean the skin, but also protect and moisturize the skin, which is particularly comfortable when taking a bath. -Dove soap

And that famous Hathaway shirt advertisement has also become a unique example in the advertising industry-with the fastest speed and the lowest advertising budget, 1 16 has been unknown to Hathaway clothing factory overnight. Hathaway's shirt advertising budget is only $30,000. Ogilvy & Mather made a design of 18 for Hathaway's shirt. "Let the model wear an eye mask" was originally the last proposal rejected by everyone, but on the way to the studio, he suddenly got into the pharmacy and bought an eye mask for $65,438 +0.5. Even Ogilvy himself didn't understand why he was so successful.

Many large advertising companies often suggest merging Ogilvy & Mather at the beginning of their business. 1955, Harper of Huzhong Company tried to bid $500,000 for Ogilvy & Mather and merged Ogilvy & Mather into its subsidiary. Zhiwei Thomson also tried to buy Ogilvy twice; Leo Bona wants to turn Ogilvy into a branch of Leo Bona new york.

It is not easy for Ogilvy & Mather to refuse offers from all directions. For example, Bao Charlie, president of BBDO Company, said to Ogilvy & Mather, "You can take my place when you come to BBDO." BBDO is five times bigger than Ogilvy. Ogilvy can't help but be moved by the opportunity to run a big company.

Ogilvy wears Hathaway's shirt with a man wearing an eye patch, which shows that the clothes are different and unique.

In retrospect, Ogilvy said, "The most fundamental reason is that I love Ogilvy too much. I think Ogilvy is a very good company. I like the atmosphere here and don't want to see others get involved. I believe it will gradually evolve into the most outstanding advertising company in history. "