

David Ogilvy: "I am a lousy copywriter" (1955) - yarone
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/01/i-am-lousy-copywriter.html

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badclient
_In some cases I seek the help of the research department and get them to do a
split-run on a battery of headlines._

Split testing headlines in the 1950s? I wonder how many others were doing this
in that era.

~~~
gruseom
Claude Hopkins was doing A/B testing as early as 1910. He had people send out
different versions of direct-mail ads, which they would correlate with sales.

[http://www.amazon.com/Life-Advertising-Scientific-
Classics-L...](http://www.amazon.com/Life-Advertising-Scientific-Classics-
Library/dp/0844231010)

I recommend this book. Apart from this and other techniques that he pioneered
astonishingly early (we know that's true because the book came out in 1923),
it's striking how many brands Hopkins created that are still household words
today (Goodyear, Palmolive, Quaker). The book is also a plain good read.

~~~
pospischil
For those who prefer electronic versions, My Life in Advertising is available
on Google Books for free:

[http://books.google.com/books/about/My_life_in_advertising.h...](http://books.google.com/books/about/My_life_in_advertising.html?id=jvhCAAAAIAAJ)

Scientific Advertising is also available for free (as a pdf):
[http://www.scientificadvertising.com/ScientificAdvertising.p...](http://www.scientificadvertising.com/ScientificAdvertising.pdf)

~~~
SoftwareMaven
I'm saddened that this is one of the last things to enter the public domain in
the US.

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richardburton
This is hilarious:

 _If all else fails, I drink half a bottle of rum and play a Handel oratorio
on the gramophone. This generally produces an uncontrollable gush of copy._

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6ren
funfact: David Ogilvy had below average IQ (96)
[http://books.google.com.au/books?id=vrDEWAcDGbkC&lpg=PA1...](http://books.google.com.au/books?id=vrDEWAcDGbkC&lpg=PA157&ots=UX3Og5sz38&dq=david%20ogilvy%20intelligent%20IQ&pg=PA157#v=onepage&q&f=false)

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richardburton
This is important context that should have been added to the quote:

 _I am a lousy copywriter, but I am a good editor. So I go to work editing my
own draft._

~~~
nandemo
Exactly. It really means that he's a great copywriter who rarely gets it right
in the first try. Which describes a lot of great fiction writers and
programmers too.

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yarone
Reminiscent of the fun / creativity / agony of product design work (including
the "work from home" and "growl" at wife bits).

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richardburton
This quote is fantastic:

 _I have never written an advertisement in the office._

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mathattack
Being a good editor rather than writer applies to design and coding too. Of
course this is probably why the article is in HN.

