flâneur

Founders: #169 David Ogilvy (The King of Madison Avenue)

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What I learned from reading The King of Madison Avenue: David Ogilvy and the Making of Modern Advertising by Kenneth Roman. ---- One characteristic of geniuses, said Einstein, is they are passionately curious. Ogilvy’s great secret was an inquiring mind.In conversation, he never pontificated; he interrogated. There were piles of books all over his house, most about successful leaders in business and government. He was interested in how they used their leadership. How they made their money. He was interested in people — people who had accomplished remarkable things. Reading Ogilvy’s short autobiography is like having dinner with a charming raconteur. His Scottish grandfather is portrayed as cold — hearted, formidable, and successful — and his hero. When you write a book about advertising, you’re competing with midgets. When you write an autobiography, you’re competing with giants. He took the occasion to remind everyone that he was not a big shot at school. I wasn’t a scholar. I detested the philistines who ruled the roost. I was an irreconcilable rebel — a misfit. In short, I was a dud. Fellow duds, take heart! There is no correlation between success at school and success in life.

[00:00:00] He was 52 and famous. I was 33 and a junior account executive. Early on, he wrote a letter to one of my clients. After listing eight reasons why some ads prepared by their company's design department would not be effective, he delivered his ultimate argument. The only thing that can be said in favor of the layouts is that they are different. You could make a cow look different by removing the udder, but that cow would not produce results. So began my David file. Almost everyone who worked at the agency kept one. Almost everyone who brushed up against the man has a David story.…

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