David Ogilvy, this century's outstanding advertising man, died on July the 21st 1999 in Paris. He was a Foundationer at Fettes and went on to read history at Christ Church, Oxford. In 1935 he joined Mather and Crowther in London, where he shortly became managing director. During the war he was in British Intelligence in Washington.
After a brief stint as a tobacco farmer in Pennsylvania, he
formed his own advertising agency: Hewitt, Ogilvy, Benson & Mather. This
agency, thanks to Ogilvy's creativity and drive, was hugely successful. His
advertising campaigns for Hathaway shirts, Schweppes tonic water, Rolls Royce,
and Dove, among many others, were brilliantly conceived and are still cited as
examples of advertising excellence.
OFs were always welcome in his Madison
Avenue offices in New York, and some were employed by him there. The writer
remembers with affectionate amusement how, walking along Fifth Avenue, on the
way back from lunch, it seemed as if every other person on the pavement wanted
to come alongside to shake his hand and say "Hullo, David!". It was incredible.
Fettes also remembers fondly how, in reply to a request for £7,000, for some
project or another, they got back a cheque with a note which read simply, "You
bastards! Here it is."
David was generous, kind, funny, unbelievably
intelligent. He was the advertising man's advertising man. A giant of his times.
We shall not see his like again.
Michael Dawson