The headline is the 'ticket on the meat.' Use it to flag down readers who are prospects for the kind of product you are advertising.
David OgilvyRead
Experience has taught me that advertisers get the best results when they pay their agency a flat fee. It is unrealistic to expect your agency to be impartial when its vested interest lies wholly in the direction of increasing your commissionable advertising.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Paying a flat fee to advertising agencies promotes impartiality and better results.
David Ogilvy emphasizes that advertisers achieve optimal outcomes when they compensate their agencies with a flat fee. This structure eliminates the conflict of interest that arises when agencies are incentivized to increase commissionable advertising, allowing them to provide more objective and effective strategies for their clients.
Themes
AdvertisingFlat FeeCommissionImpartialityAgency
In practice
Example use cases
A marketing seminar discussing effective agency-client relationships.
More from David Ogilvy
All quotes →Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon.
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Some manufacturers illustrate their advertisements with abstract paintings. I would only do this if I wished to conceal from the reader what I was advertising.
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Much of the messy advertising you see on television today is the product of committees. Committees can criticize advertisements, but they should never be allowed to create them.
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The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.
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The creative process requires more than reason. Most original thinking isn't even verbal. It requires 'a groping experimentation with ideas, governed by intuitive hunches and inspired by the unconscious.' The majority of business men are incapable of original thinking because they are unable to escape from the tyranny of reason. Their imaginations are blocked.
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