David Ogilvy's List of Advertising Rules

I hate rules.

- David Ogilvy

1. Choose a short name like 'TIDE', and not a long one like 'Screaming Yellow Zonkers'.
2. Aim your advertising at special groups of consumers.
3. Concentrate your time, your brains, and your advertising money on your successes. Back your winners, and abandon your losers.
4. Don't dawdle; speed up whole process of marketing.
5. The manufacturer who finds himself up the creek is the shortsighted opportunist who siphons off all his advertising dollars for short-term promotions.
6. The process of pricing decisions is one of guesswork.
7. Regard advertising as part of the product, to be treated as production cost, not a selling cost.
8. Keep your eye to the heavy users. Hey are unlike occasional users in their motivations. Advertising is the cheapest form of selling.
9. The task of advertising is not primarily one of conversion but rather of reinforcement and assurance.
10. When you have to communicate a lot of different points, use 'call-outs'. They are above average in recall tests.
11. Seldom are two-page spreads worth the cost.
12. It pays to make your poster a 'visual scandal'.
13. Capital letters are extremely difficult to read.
14. Reverse type is almost impossible to read.
15. Sanserif fonts are particularly difficult to read.
16. It is a mistake to put a period at the end of headlines.
17. Testimonials are below average in their ability to change brand preference.
18. Commercials with a large content of nostalgia, charm and even sentimentality can be enormously effective.
19. Cartoons can sell things to children, but they are below average in selling to grown-ups.
20. Musical vignettes are on their way out.
21. Use the brand name within the first ten seconds.
22. Show the package.
23. In commercials for food, the more appetizing you make it look, the more you sell. It has been found that food in motion looks particularly appetizing.
24. It is a good thing to use close-ups when your product is the hero of your commercial. The closer you get on the product, the more you make people's mouths water.
25. Grab the viewer's attention in the first frame with a visual surprise.
26. When you have nothing to say, sing it.
27. While music does not add to the selling power of commercial, sound effects can make a positive difference.
28. It is better to have the actors talk on camera. Research shows that it is more difficult to hold your audience if you use voice-over.
29. It pays to reinforce your promise by setting it in type and superimposing it over the video, while your soundtrack speaks the words. But make sure that the words in your supers are exactly the same as your spoken words. Any divergence confuses the viewer.
30. Avoid visual banality. If you want the viewer to pay attention to your commercial, show her something she has never seen before.
31. Changes of scene. On the average, commercials with a plethora of short scenes are below average in changing brand preference.
32. Mnemonics. It can increase brand identification, and remind people of your promise.
33. Show the product in use. It pays to show he product being used, and if possible, the end-result of using it.
34. Everything is possible on TV.
35. Miscomprehension. If you want to avoid your television commercial being misunderstood, you had better make hem crystal clear.

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