references/canon/ogilvy.md

# Ogilvy

## Principle

Respect the audience, make the proposition intelligible, support claims with evidence, and treat creative work as accountable to selling and brand memory rather than self-expression.

## Use when

- Creative is attractive but unclear about the product or benefit.
- Claims need proof, specificity, or a stronger reason to believe.
- A campaign needs discipline between brand identity and response.

## Do not over-apply

- Do not reduce modern marketing to long-copy direct response.
- Historic advertising heuristics must be tested against current channel behavior and category conditions.

## Decision questions

- What does the audience need to understand after one exposure?
- Which claim can be proved?
- Is the creative helping recognition and persuasion or merely attracting attention?
- Would the work still make sense without stylistic decoration?

## Counterweight

Use channel-native behavior, experimentation, and broader brand-growth evidence rather than treating historic copy conventions as universal rules.

## Sources

- `source:ogilvy-advertising`