The Ogilvy & Mather years (1949–1973)
Having worked as a chef, researcher, and farmer, Ogilvy then started his own advertising agency with the backing of Mather and Crowther, the London agency being run by his elder brother, Francis, which later acquired another London agency, S.H. Benson. The new agency in New York was called Ogilvy, Benson, and Mather. David Ogilvy had just $6,000 ($59,726.72 in 2016 dollars) in his account when he started the agency. In Confessions of an Advertising Man, he writes that he initially struggled to get clients. Ogilvy also admitted (referring to the pioneer of British advertising Bobby Bevan, the chairman of Benson): "I was in awe of him but Bevan never took notice of me!" They would meet later, however.[12]
Ogilvy & Mather was built on David Ogilvy's principles; in particular, that the function of advertising is to sell and that successful advertising for any product is based on information about its consumer. He disliked advertisements with loud, patronizing voices and believed a customer should be treated as intelligent. In 1955, he coined the phrase, "The customer is not a moron, she's your wife" based on these values.[13]
His entry into the company of giants started with several iconic advertising campaigns. Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt did a commercial for Good Luck Margarine in 1959.[14] In his autobiography, Ogilvy on Advertising,[15] he said it had been a mistake to persuade her to do the ad – not because it was undignified, but because he had grown to realize that putting celebrities in ads was a mistake.[16]
Ogilvy & Mather instead created celebrities in several campaigns, such as its work for Hathaway shirt, which used George Wrangell as "the man in the Hathaway shirt" sporting his aristocratic eye patch, and Schweppes, which introduced Commander Edward Whitehead, the elegant bearded Briton, to bring Schweppes and "Schweppervescence" to the U.S. with the line "The man from Schweppes is here". The firm also promoted the Rolls-Royce automobile with the famous headline, "At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock".
Ogilvy believed that the best way to get new clients was to do notable work for his existing clients. Success in his early campaigns helped Ogilvy get big clients such as Rolls-Royce and Shell. New clients followed, and Ogilvy's company grew quickly. He was widely hailed as the "Father of Advertising".[17][18] In 1962, Time called him "the most sought-after wizard in today's advertising industry".[19]
In 1973, Ogilvy retired as chairman of Ogilvy & Mather and moved to Touffou, his estate in France. While no longer involved in the agency's day-to-day operations, he stayed in touch with the company. His correspondence so dramatically increased the volume of mail handled in the nearby town of Bonnes that the post office was reclassified at a higher status and the postmaster's salary raised. The film "The View From Touffou" was made at the estate; in it, Ogilvy recounts his advertising guidelines.
Ogilvy & Mather linked with H.H.D Europe in 1972.
