Ads Should Sell

“We sell… or else.”

David Ogilvy said that.

He built the biggest advertising agency on the planet.

The man had a philosophy about ads.

Basically:

Ads should sell product.

You run a business. I run a business. To us, this makes total sense.

Not to most advertising people though.

Have you seen perfume ads?

Johnny Depp drives into desert.

Plays guitar for a prairie wolf.

Buries guitar.

Walks off.

It’s like an LSD fuelled fever dream.

Have you seen that horrendous Jaguar ad?

Not a car in sight.

Just a bunch of colourfully dressed very weird looking people standing in an elevator.

Truly bizarre.

The fact is - most advertising people haven’t sold a thing in their life and couldn’t sell anything to save their life either.

They’ll tell you that you should just "put your name out there" or you should "build brand awareness".

Don’t fall for that nonsense.

Every ad should sell.

• Sell your message.

• Sell your service.

• Sell your product.

• Sell your company.

I don’t particularly care which one you pick…

…but it should sell SOMETHING.

When we start working with clients this is one of the first things we go over.

Look at what you're doing, find ads that don’t sell… and fix them.

If you’re going to invest money, might as well give yourself the best chance of getting money back, right?

Anyway, might be a good thing to look at in your business.

"We sell… or else."

Pritesh Chauhan

P.S. Another quote I like:

“It takes a big idea to attract the attention of consumers and get them to buy your product. Unless your advertising contains a big idea - it will pass like a ship in the night.”

David Ogilvy was the man.

P.P.S. Would be pretty bad if after all that, I didn’t sell in this post. So if you want us to look at the marketing for your business, fill out the form here!