David Ogilvy

1911–1999 · British advertising executive, founder of Ogilvy & Mather

David Mackenzie Ogilvy founded his advertising agency in New York in 1948 with $6,000 and financial backing from his brother Francis, then managing director of the London agency Mather & Crowther. By 1963 Ogilvy, Benson & Mather billed $55m across 19 clients, Rolls-Royce among them. Time called him “the most sought-after wizard in today’s advertising industry” in 1962, and he is widely called the father of advertising.

Traced to source

2 quotes we’ve traced to David Ogilvy

“If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants”

Verified

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

Attributed

Not actually David Ogilvy

Often misattributed to David Ogilvy

Famous lines widely pinned on David Ogilvy that we’ve traced to someone else.

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half”

actually John Wanamaker

“No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public”

actually H. L. Mencken

“People use statistics as a drunk uses a lamppost — for support rather than illumination”

actually A. E. Housman

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