In his book, Ogilvy on Advertising, David Ogilvy divulges some of his most significant marketing and advertising secrets. He also had very blunt thoughts on the subject of advertising.
As Ogilvy put it ...
"I do not regard advertising as an entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information. When I write an advertisement, I don't want you to tell me that you find it creative. I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product."
Ogilvy's friend, Rosser Reeves, the guy who coined the phrase "Unique Selling Proposition (or USP) unapologetically drives home Ogilvy's point:
"I'm not saying that charming, witty and warm copy won't sell. I'm just saying that I've seen thousands of charming, witty campaigns that didn't. Let's say you are a manufacturer. Your advertising isn't working and your sales are going down and everything depends on it. Your future depends on it. Your family's future depends on it. Other people's families depend on it, and you walk in this office and talk to me, and sit in that chair. Now what do you want from me? Fine writing? Do you want masterpieces? Do you want glowing things that can be framed by copywriters, or do you want to see the god damn sales curve stop moving down and start moving up?"
Both Reeves and Ogilvy are considered by many to be some of the most successful advertisers in human history. Not because of their great looking advertisements, but because of their results. Even more impressive was Ogilvy's ability to track every ad dollar spent to client bank accounts, all before the Internet!
Your event advertising should be anything but an expenditure. The best course of action is to treat your advertising and marketing as an investment. If you do that, you should always expect a return on that investment.
In today's day and age, it is nearly impossible not to be able to track your advertising effectiveness. If an advertisement is not working, you change it or stop using it.
Here's my Ogilvy question for you:
Do you want to be known as the event with beautiful, award-winning advertising, or do you want to be known as the air show with record revenues and attendance?
David Ogilvy's advertising philosophies should carry with any advertising agencies or marketing vendors you might hire. Let a prospective firm know upfront to track the effectiveness of all your event advertising campaigns.
Want to get more event promotion info? Check out the links below:
- Advertising and Marketing that Sells
- A "Must Follow" Event Advertising Strategy
- Get Your Audience Involved Through Their Emotions
- Web Copy Argument: Short or Long?
- Promotional Headlines for Your Event Marketing
- Is Your Text the Right Color?
- Two Amazingly Powerful Event Survey Questions
- Proofing your Work On Paper