Running an Ad Agency

by David Ogilvy

I believe in the Scottish proverb: "Hard work never killed a man." Men die of boredom, psychological conflict and disease.

The harder our people work, the happier they will be - and the healthier as well.

Make it fun to work at Ogilvy & Mather. When people aren't having any fun, they seldom produce good advertising. Kill grimness with laughter.

Maintain an atmosphere of informality.

Encourage exuberance. Get rid of sad dogs who spread gloom.

Tell the Truth

Always be honest in your dealings with clients. Tell them what you would do if you were in their shoes.

While you are responsible to our clients for sales results, you are also responsible to consumers for the kind of advertising that you bring into their homes. Always tell the truth.

Our offices must be headed by the kind of men and women who command respect. Not phonies or zeros.

Qualifications for the Heads of our offices:

1. High standards of personal ethics.

2. A person without pettiness. Big. A formidable individual.

3. Stable, guts under pressure, resilience in adversity, a deep keel.

4. Brilliant brain - not a safe plodder.

5. Commitment - dedicated, a hard worker.

6. A streak of unorthodoxy - the urge to innovate.

7. The courage to face tough decisions, including firing non-performers.

8. Inspiring enthusiast - with infectious gusto.

9. Decisive - speed in grasping nettles.

10. Ability to hire and promote good people.

If you treat your lieutenants as subordinates, they will be less effective in their jobs; they will come to resent their subordination.

Our Top Management in each country should function like a Round Table, with none of the overt discipline of a military hierarchy and its demeaning pecking order.

An egalitarian structure encourages independence, responsibility and loyalty. It reduces dependence on ONE MAN, who is sometimes absent, often fallible and always mortal.

The Key to Success

The key to your success lies largely in this concept of PARTNERSHIP. Partnership between the Heads of our offices and their colleagues at the Round Table.

Happy partnerships are as difficult to sustain as happy marriages. The challenge can be met if those concerned have clear-cut divisions of responsibility and don't poach on the other fellow's preserves.

"Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"

Superior service to our clients depends on making the most of the men and women on your staff.

Give them challenging opportunities, recognition for achievement, job enrichment. Give them responsibility.

Treat them as grown-ups - and they will grow up.

Help them when they are in difficulty. Be affectionate and human, not cold and impersonal.

Give outstanding performers spectacular rewards. Nothing is too good for our make-or-break individuals.

Encourage communication upward. Senior people have no monopoly on great ideas.

Nor do art directors and copywriters. Some of the best ideas come from clients, account executives, researchers and others.

Don't Be a Hermit

Do not summon people to your office - it frightens them. Instead, go to see them in their offices.

A Chairman who never wanders about his agency becomes a hermit, out of touch with his staff.

Never hire relatives or friends.

Sack incurable politicians.

Crusade against paper warfare. Encourage your people to air their disagreements face-to-face.

Discourage secrecy.

Discourage poaching.

Compose sibling rivalries.

Avoid duplication of function - two people doing a job which one could do.

Ferment and Innovation

Your paramount hiring problem is this: Advertising is one of the most difficult functions in industry, and too few brilliant people want careers in it.

1. Make a conscious effort to avoid recruiting pedestrian hacks.

2. Create an atmosphere of ferment, innovation and freedom. This will attract brilliant recruits.

3. If you ever find somebody who is better than you are - hire him or her. If necessary, pay that person more than you pay yourself.

In recruitment and promotion we are fanatical in our hatred for all forms of prejudice. We have no prejudice for or against Roman Catholics, Protestant, Negroes, aristocracy, women, Jews, agnostics or foreigners.

The Most Important Function

The Creative function is the most important. The Heads of our offices should not relegate their key creative people to positions below the salt.

They should pay them, house them and respect them as indispensable Stars.

We also value our good management Supervisors. They stimulate our service departments to do great work for clients.

Our Management Supervisors are equivalent to the partners in great law firms. They must be stable, courageous, professional and imaginative.

They must work in partnership with our creative people - neither bullying them nor knuckling under to them.

This is not a job for lazy, frightened mediocrities, nor is it for superficial "contact" men.

Integrity in Research

No agency has greater respect for the importance of the research function - particularly research in the creative area.

The most valuable quality in a Research Director is his integrity. A dishonest one can do appalling damage.

It is also important that a Research Director be able to work sympathetically with our creative people. And he should be able to use research fast and cheaply.

In all our departments, our top people must instill a healthy discipline. Due dates must be met. The staff must arrive on time. Telephones must be answered politely. Security must be policed.

It is also the duty of our top people to sustain unremitting pressure on the professional standards of their staffs. They must never tolerate mediocre creative work or sloppy plans.

In our competitive business, it is suicide to settle for second-rate performance.

Fee or Commission?

We offer our clients a choice of fee or commission.

Fees offer four advantages:

1. The advertiser pays for what he gets - no more, no less.

2. Every fee account pays its own way. Unprofitable accounts do not ride on the coattails of profitable accounts.

3. The agency has an incentive to recommend and provide non-commissionable services.

4. Unforeseen cuts in advertising expenditure do not result in temporary personnel layoffs.

Then there is the commission system, and some clients prefer it. Both systems will continue for years to come. We should be open-minded about them.

New Accounts

The most difficult decisions are which new accounts to take and which to reject. The primary considerations should be:

1. Does anyone in our Top Management really want the account? We should never take a new account unless at least one of our key people can approach it with tremendous enthusiasm.

2. Are we convinced that good advertising can sell the product?

3. Would the marriage be a happy one? Unhappy marriages do not fructify - and they do not last.

4. Has the account potential for growth?

The prime responsibility for acquiring new business must lie with the Head of the office. Our Heads should not allow management Supervisors to spend too much of their time in this area; their prime responsibility must always be to our present clients.