That is a quote from David Ogilvy, founder & former CEO, Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide (Ogilvy).
The same idea also appeared in The American Advertising Federation’s e-newsletter called SmartBrief.
A credit union talking to a target audience is not the most effective form of advertising – it’s a conversation with a good friend. Your friends are witty, opinionated, smart, happy or unhappy, warm and inconsistent. You love them for all they are. And they reciprocate.
So why can’t your ads be a conversation between perfectly imperfect friends?
- Why can’t we use “we” instead of “XYZ Credit Union?”
- Why don’t we end our offer with flip phrases, like “Sweet” or whatever catch phrases we use with friends?
- Why don’t we use “like,” instead of “such as?”
- Why don’t we dangle our participles in front of the world, including crotchety old Ms. Stickler, our high school English teacher?
According to American Advertising Federation, “Creativity, research, humor and honesty were the elements that served as the foundation of Ogilvy’s approach. He once said, ‘I learned to sell, which means listening more than you talk, knowing your product inside out, having a sense of humor and telling the truth.’”
Why does so much advertising try to bore people into buying?
