Week Two: David Ogilvy

 

This week and class we delved further into the world of advertising campaigns and the people that created them.  Specifically, we focused on David Ogilvy who is best known for his creation of countless ad campaigns for major companies.  One of the most important points Ogilvy made was that brand image is everything.  Without a positive brand image, no one will want to buy your product.  In order to improve a brand's image, Ogilvy stressed the concept of telling your customers the truth while making the truth sound fascinating. 

The most prominent use of this tactic by Ogilvy is the "The Man in the Hathaway Shirt" campaign.  Ogilvy was able to take something as common and dull as a dress shirt and make it exciting simply by using the right character.  Each ad for Hathaway Shirts featured the same man in a common situation.  The appeal to these ads was that in each ad, the man was wearing an eye patch.  Immediately upon seeing the ad, I wondered why the man was wearing an eye patch and it made me want to know more.  This ads to the intrigue of the ad and makes the customers want to know more, all while improving brand image.  In my opinion, Ogilvy's campaign would not have been nearly as successful if he had used a model without an eye patch because it lacks intrigue and is simply ordinary. 

Currently, I can think of countless companies that have a poor image, yet aren't doing anything to fix it.  In my own opinion, I view pretty much any insurance company negatively because of the horrible ads they create (I'm looking at you, Geico and Progressive).  Although, I do have to give them credit for trying to turn something as boring as insurance into something interesting by using different commercials.  However, it is the commercials themselves and the ad campaigns they are coming from that make me hate these companies because the campaigns are so over the top.  Honestly, I wouldn't even consider using Geico for insurance simply because of the Gecko and I would never use Progressive because of Flo and her obnoxious antics.  This just goes to show that your brand image can make or break your brand, and in my own mind, both Geico and Progressive are broken brands to me.