David de Souza

Feb 25, 20201 min

Ogilvy on Advertising

Updated: Feb 8, 2022

  • Amazon: Link

  • Score: 7/10

  • Skills Category: Copywriting

  • Mental Models: Attentional Bias, First Conclusion Bias, Incentives, Mise-en-Place, System 1 vs System 2 Thinking, Trust, Vividness Bias

Mental Models from the book:

'Ogilvy on Advertising' can be summarised into 7 mental models:

1. Attentional Bias

  • 5 x times more people read the headline vs the copy
     

  • Use the following features in headlines: Promises/ News/ Long/ Specifics/ information/ flag/ quotes

2. First Conclusion Bias

  • Headlines that offer a benefit are remembered by 4x more people.

3. Incentives

  • Ads that offer no benefit do not sell
     

4. MisE-en-Place

  • Finding the most effective promise is the best use of research. Show people a number of promises and say they are for different products. Ask them to rate for importance and uniqueness.

5. System 1 vs System 2 Thinking

  • Big ideas come from your subconscious. Stuff your mind with knowledge and then walk/relax.
     

6. Trust

  • Tell clients about your weaknesses before they are noticed. It will make you more trustworthy and your strong points more believable.
     

7. Vividness Bias

  • People read/view an ad in the following order (so put them in this order):

    1. Illustration

    2. Headline

    3. Copy

Mental Model Mind Maps

Mind maps can help you to remember the most important parts of a book. Signup to my newsletter below to get a free mindmap of this book:

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