Will Any Agency Hire This Off-Key Singing Man? David Ogilvy and Gordon Alexander Overlooked.
Will Any Agency Hire This Off-Key Singing Man? David Ogilvy and Gordon Alexander Overlooked.
Everybody knows David Ogilvy.
Ogilvy & Mather, one of the largest advertising agencies in the world ..blah...blah...blah.
Well, here is a piece of overlooked David Ogilvy.
Once he sent out the following "resume" of himself:
--- Start Resume---
Will Any Agency Hire This Man?
He is 38, and unemployed. He dropped out of college. He has been a cook, a salesman, a diplomatist and a farmer. He knows nothing about marketing and has never written any copy. He professes to be interested in advertising as a career (at the age of 38!) and is ready to go to work.
I doubt if any American agency will hire him.
---End Resume---
Surprisingly, a London agency DID hire him.
2. Everybody knows Gordon Alexander.
Here is a piece of Gordon Alexander overlooked as a business model:
---Start Piece---
HEY. I'd start the OFF KEY SINGING TELEGRAM SERVICE.
And I did. The very next day.
After morning classes, I went to the Buchtelite, the school paper and placed the following ad:
WORLD'S WORST SINGER WILL DELIVER REALLY AWFUL (BUT TERRIBLY FUNNY) SINGING TELEGRAMS. BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES, ANY OCCASIONS. CALL JAY ALEXANDER AT XXX-XXXX.
---End Piece (the whole story is at http://www.sowpub.com/story-singing.shtml)---
(BTW, I personally think the OFF KEY SINGING TELEGRAM SERVICE has been the best business achievement of Gordon's.)
As I see it, both Ogilvy and Alexander did the same thing - they ADVERTISED themselves as anti-experts.
Both were successful.
Next time you read a recommendation to present yourself as an "expert", think about those two models.
Sometimes it's profitable to tell a brutal truth.
Simon
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