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Ogilvy on Advertising 2.0
Why David Ogilvy’s advertising bible is getting a modern update.
Years ago, when anyone was seriously considering a career in advertising and marketing or had joined a course on marketing and advertising, Ogilvy on Advertising was a must-read. Today, it would seem to have become outdated – simply because of the digital revolution, the emergence of social media, and the total fragmentation of media.
Back then, a TV commercial reached 80 per cent of people five times a week. However, all that has changed. There was no Amazon, Facebook, Google or a total fragmentation of media. Now 34 years after Ogilvy’s advertising bible was published, former Ogilvy chairman and CEO Miles Young has written an updated version – Ogilvy on Advertising in the Digital Age - aiming to apply the principles outlined in Ogilvy’s original to the modern era. He adds a cautionary note: do not think that digital work and 2017 audiences require dismissing traditional advertising insights.
Ogilvy’s original book was written as a reaction to what he felt was a disturbing trend in the business at that time of putting technique above the idea. Young sees that as still one of advertisers’ biggest challenges.