ogilvy confessions of an advertising man

He draws his insights for successful advertising from all sorts of sources and arranges them all in a compact how-to advertising guide. It is full of David Ogilvys wisdom and the experiences he made throughout his live.

“Confessions of an Advertising Man” is a book jam-packed with witty anecdotes, mantras and insights into the business and advertising world of the 1950s and 60s. He wrote “Confessions of an Advertising Man” already in 1962 to prime the market for an offering of their agency’s shares and to attract more clients. After a short retirement phase starting in 1973 he continued to work and to influence the Ogilvy Group returning in the 1980s until his final year in 1999. Starting out in 1948 David shaped the work of his agency Ogilvy, Benson & Mather heavily throughout the years. With a resume at least equally impressive as some of his greatest advertising campaigns, David went from Oxford student to chef in Paris to door-to-door salesman to Pennsylvanian farmer to founder of one of the most famous and successful advertising agencies of the last century! Also known as the “Father of Advertising” he became one of the most dazzling figures in the advertising industry of his time.

The book “Confessions of an Advertising Man” is written by David Mackenzie Ogilvy a Scotsman born in 1911. As with my first review I have done for March, I’ve also structured the April review into three parts, first a short introduction of the author, secondly a quick summary of the books content and thirdly a conclusion on what I most liked / disliked about the book, as well as a rating. Writing this second review feels somehow even more challenging than the first and in part I think, because I believe this is a book that has to be read and questioned multiple times before one can do it justice. For whatever reason it took me quite some time last month before I started reading the book, but once I went over the first few paragraphs it was quite a page turner. Coming into April I put up a short poll with three book options for this review and “Confessions of an Advertising Man” came out on top.

Ogilvy confessions of an advertising man