Edmund Whitehead (from Schweppes ads), Ogilvy, and George Wrangell (from Hathaway ads)

The iconic ad man, who was born on June 23 1911, has been credited with shaping the modern ad industry and introducing what in the 1920s were considered revolutionary ideas. This week the advertising world will be celebrating the centenary of his birth.

Over the five decades of David’s career, he created one of the biggest advertising agencies in the world, and was widely credited for being the first to turn products into brands.
He was undoubtedly a non-conformist and often controversial, but the clearly defined principles on which he built Ogilvy can be credited with turning it into one of the largest and most successful ad agencies in the world. David always believed that the function of advertising was to sell, and that it is possible to determine tangible techniques by which sales are most likely to be produced.
This is a principal that Ogilvy South Africa lives by - a deep commitment to creative work that has a proven track record of effectiveness.
In fact, Ogilvy South Africa is a true example of how an agency can internalise the vision of one man, and act according to his original principles.
Consistently, both creative and effective work has earned Ogilvy’s offices in South Africa local and international acclaim over the years, the company and it's staff will be joining their counterparts in all corners of the globe to honour the man behind what is now in itself an iconic brand.
Ogilvy Worldwide will be turning the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, the colour RED in David’s honour while local offices around the globe will be joining in the David Ogilvy Digital Mosaic campaign, an initiative that will encourage people to Tweet about what inspires them using the hashtag #DO100. The collection of Tweets will be added to a digital mosaic of David and shared around the world.

For further information, go to Ogilvy.com/DO100

Ogilvyisms

Ogilvy has been widely quoted both in and beyond the advertising industry including such memorable sayings:
"You cannot bore people into buying your product; you can only interest them in buying it."

Below is an illustration of the real life of the Advertising genius created by Adweek

We recommend you watch the video David Ogivly Essentials - everything you need to know in 4 minutes.

Source: ADWEEK, Bizcommunity,Ogilvy.com/DO100