Article | Violet
I recently read a book called "Confessions of an Advertising Man", written by David Ogilvy. From his career as a cook to a salesman, market researcher, British intelligence officer, and tobacco farmer. He didn't found Ogilvy until he was 38 years old. In 15 years, he built Ogilvy into a globally influential advertising company. Some of the truths in the book can only be understood after you calm down, read them carefully and think about them.
Don’t forget your original intention
The book says how Ogilvy chose his customers, and he believed that to be a first-class company, you must have first-class customers, so he On the second day after Ogilvy was founded, he made a list of clients, all of which were top clients in the United States at that time, such as Shell and General Foods. In his eyes, although I was a small company, I had to serve first-class clients before I could be called A great company. And he faced a problem: how could a person who started his own business at the age of 38 and had no background win the trust of top companies?
He produced some effective copywriting at that time. Every time he went to meet a client, he was not eager to introduce his company to others. Tell the customer instead. The new advertising company is more enthusiastic, energetic and able to endure hardships. And the old big companies are stuck in their ways. Lack of creativity and ideas. It is this simple and easy-to-understand rhetoric. Once the other party recognizes this model, they will agree and confirm the employment of a young and creative company like Ogilvy. In fact, many start-up companies will have Ogilvy's first step idea. They feel that if they want to create a great company, they need to serve first-class customers. But there are no specific coping strategies. In fact, in the book, Ogilvy also initially picked up some customers who were temporarily not in line with his customer list in order to maintain the company's survival. To put it simply, isn't this Ogilvy using his own experience to teach you not to forget your original intention?
Learn to give up
After Ogilvy received business from a large company like Shell at the time, more and more companies would naturally come to Ogilvy. But he began to screen customers, and he had his own principles for screening. For example, restrict the undertaking of business with too large a quota. Ogilvy once rejected an invitation from Ford Motor Company for advertising business, and at that time Ford's advertising budget was almost equal to half of Ogilvy's total revenue. In Ogilvy's own eyes, he could not take on these particularly large clients because once he lost this client, the company would collapse. And once the customer accounts for too much of him, he will not have the courage to put forward frank and sincere opinions to the customer because of the fear of losing this customer. Therefore, he must maintain his financial independence and not be kidnapped by a large company. important.
See here, in fact, operations is a branch of marketing, and it is only a profession that has become particularly popular in the past five years. Many people need to face their bosses who do not know much about operations. Can we also give frank and sincere opinions when we are working, or should we just say that work is important and we should listen to whatever the leader says. In the past I almost always chose the latter. Regardless of whether you have your own ideas or not, whatever the leader says, just follow the instructions and be done with it. But if you want your skills to become more sophisticated, you must have your own ideas and find ways to verify them. Only in this way can you ensure your independence and growth, instead of being a puppet who just listens to what you are told and never has your own ideas. Sometimes people need to give up something if they want to get something.
How to learn
Ogilvy mentioned two ways of learning throughout the book, one is cross-border learning and the other is in-depth learning. These two learning methods, if summarized simply, are analogical learning and systematic learning.
For example, for in-depth study, if the customer is a company operating in the oil industry, then you should not only look at the information provided by the customer, but also check the information online and then you will be satisfied. Instead, you need to master all knowledge related to all customers, such as books on chemistry, geology and petroleum product sales, and read all the company's petroleum-related research reports and plans. At the same time, you also need to go to gasoline stores and gas stations, talk to drivers, and go deep into customers' refineries and laboratories to study competitors' promotional materials, etc. Only by doing this can you serve your customers well and have more knowledge in all aspects of this field than anyone else in the company. This is similar to assuming that oil is the core of knowledge you want to learn. Your systematic learning needs to revolve around this core. In fact, this kind of knowledge can also be applied to your projects and operations, all in order to find the most critical node, and everything extends around this critical point.
As for the so-called cross-border learning, Ogilvy also mentioned an interesting example. At that time, he was serving in a top restaurant in Paris, France. Working in a high-pressure environment, with no complaints and high enthusiasm, Ogilvy's management method is to steal a lot of management experience from Peeta, because he believes that the method that can manage a group of chefs should also be able to manage a group of chefs well. Advertiser. At the same time, Ogilvy also learned copywriting communication from magazine editors and the attractive collaboration of advertising from the direct selling industry. He found that cross-border learning from the best people in various fields can help him grow quickly. And I am very glad that I understood this truth from the beginning.
Keep learning from the people around you who are doing well and learn from their experiences. Applying it to your own life and work will indeed allow you to grow very quickly.
In fact, in the article, Ogilvy does not teach you any shortcuts to learning. Instead, he uses his own experience to tell you that you need to be flexible and learn systematically.
Although today, with the rise of new media, the traditional advertising industry is also facing new adjustments. At the same time, some views in Ogilvy's "Confessions of an Advertising Man" may be acclimatized and outdated. But he not only has important inspiration and value for advertisers, but also for every ordinary person. Teach you how to never forget your original intention, learn to give up, and learn.