Three Brand Building Lessons from David Ogilvy

I keep copies of David Ogilvy’s books close at hand in my office. I usually have one on my desk and one in the bookcase next to my chair. Having books close by is like having a genius friend you can text and ask for help whenever you need them. If work is going poorly, if you’re uninspired, if you can’t figure out a problem - pick up a book. Sometimes, it doesn’t even matter if the book’s subject matches what you’re working on. Just stepping away from the problem and peering into someone else’s thoughts can be helpful enough to get you through.

But I like to keep David Ogilvy within arm’s reach. Outside of his books, I know very little about the man. I’ve always found his books to be so interesting within themselves that I haven’t seen a need to search for more about him. His books seem to offer something every time I pick them up, and I’m always amazed by the different subjects he wrote on, and the quality of his wisdom on whatever he is writing about.

This morning I was flipping through The Unpublished David Ogilvy and I found three quotes about building a brand and positioning yourself in a marketplace that I thought were great. To me, these quotes are timeless - and even though most people haven’t read Ogilvy, you can see some of his wisdom at play in the modern marketplace. 

On disparaging your competition:

“On no account sling mud - it can carry very little weight, coming from you, and it will make the prospect distrust your integrity and dislike you.”

-The Unpublished David Ogilvy, pg. 13

I love this quote, and I try to follow it in my personal life as much as I can. (Unfortunately it’s easy to forget when you’re agitated.) This is Ogilvy’s version of your mom saying “if you can’t say anything nice, say nothing”.

Ogilvy’s quote, in my opinion, is more powerful than the motherly admonition because it highlights the real costs to you when you sling mud and try to make other people look bad. Sure, when you talk trash you have a chance to hurt the reputation of your target. But you are also hurting yourself. Especially when you talk trash about your competition in front of a potential customer. You may get away with it here and there, but do it enough, and you’ll end up looking like a petty whiner who would rather play games than honestly compete for your customer’s time and money. 

Making disparaging comments may feel good in the moment, and it’s easy to trick yourself into thinking they will help you get ahead. But the reality is that if you do this enough, you may even convince people to stay away from you and your business. 

So what’s the best way to handle competition? Do everything you can to make sure your offer is better, and leave it at that. If you are working hard to be better than everyone who could compete with you, you have the best chance of winning your customer’s attention and trust, and you’ll never need to comment on your competition.

On building brands that last:

“In our agency we take a long view of our creative responsibilities. We plan ten years ahead, on the assumption that our clients are not out for a fast buck, but intend to stay in business forever. We try to create sharply defined personalities for our brands. And we stick to those personalities, year after year.”

-The Unpublished David Ogilvy, pg. 90

This quote resonates with me because I love the idea of intentionally crafting a personality for a brand. I think some of the best modern examples of this concept are on YouTube. Have you ever noticed how great a lot of YouTubers are at creating brands with personality? If you watch a few Casey Neistat videos, or a few Marques Brownlee videos, you can soon start to pick them out against the other videos on YouTube, right? If you are intentional, you can build a personality into what you make and soon people will recognize you and your work. You’ll stick out in the crowd.

But the personality doesn’t necessarily have to be your personality, as is often the case with YouTube. Ogilvy was great at taking little drops of personality from his clients and turning them into larger than life characters that made people interested in their brand. Google “Commander Whitehead Schweppes” to see some of Ogilvy’s handiwork in this arena.

And Ogilvy points out in this quote that if you want to make your brand last, it has to have a personality. When you build a personality into a brand it begins to feel like a person you know. I think I’ve had Kool-Aid three times in my life - but I smile when thinking about the Kool-Aid Man because I imagine this monstrous personality crashing through my office wall. And, of course, that’s not even a real person! But the Kool-Aid Man feels real to me, and that’s enough.

Another great thing about this quote is the concept of building a brand that lasts. In today’s world, how many people have this goal? Most of us fantasize about building a business large enough to get consumed by a bigger competitor so we can cash out and drink mimosas on the beach. But not Ogilvy - he knew that building a brand that lasts a decade, a lifetime, was something worthwhile and he made it his goal to accomplish that for his clients.

On the patience required to build a brand:

“Any damn fool can put on a deal, but it takes genius, faith, and perseverance to create a brand. The financial rewards do not always come in next quarter’s earnings per share, but come they do.”

-The Unpublished David Ogilvy, pg. 120

This quote is similar to the last one but I think it’s worth including because patience is so hard to build. It’s easy to focus on little things that don’t last. And it’s really tough to focus on the important things that do last, because they take time and perseverance. “Faith” is an important word in this quote, as well - to build something that will last, to have the ability to keep going through the ups and downs, you have to have faith in yourself and your work. 

In the modern world, delaying gratification is incredibly tough. Most of the software we use on our phones, TVs, gaming consoles, etc., is designed to keep us coming back by giving instant gratification. We spend too much time on social media and Netflix because it feels good. 

Ogilvy reminds us here that building something worthwhile, something that will be valuable in the future, often does not feel good. It takes commitment and a willingness to endure pain while sticking with your vision. And you are not rewarded for your effort in a timely manner. You have to remember that the rewards for your effort will come - just not as soon as you think they should. Don’t be the damn fool who does one deal and tries to milk it for all its worth - keep your head down and keep building.