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David Ogilvy—The Rich Ad Genius—Says This About Advertising, and He's Right David Ogilvy, often hailed as the "Father of Advertising" and a man who built a fortune from mastering the art of persuasion, once said: “Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.” Now, here’s the thing: We all know how powerful research is in advertising, but how many of us truly do it? How many of us really dive into what motivates our audience before we craft that next ad? Let’s be honest. The pressure of deadlines, quick-turnaround campaigns, and the constant rush can often lead us to copy-paste advertising formulas that we’ve used a hundred times before. But here’s the catch—that’s not enough anymore. Just knowing your audience’s basic demographics—age, income, location—isn’t enough to get them to act. What you need is psychographics—the deeper understanding of what drives your audience’s decisions. What do they care about? What do they struggle with? And more importantly, how can you speak their language? David Ogilvy was clear: “If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, you should use their language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think.” This wasn’t just theoretical advice—this is how Ogilvy built his empire. He didn’t guess. He researched, listened, and understood. And if you think this is just about the past, think again. Take Joanna Wiebe, for example. She worked with a rehab center (not for broken bones, but for addiction), where getting direct feedback from customers was nearly impossible. So, she went online—studied 500 Amazon reviews of bestselling addiction books, analyzing the language and struggles of real people. From that, she crafted a landing page that spoke their language. The result? 400% more CTA clicks 20% increase in lead generation submissions And she didn’t do anything magical. She just took the time to understand her audience’s true needs and spoke directly to them. She didn’t rely on guesswork or outdated formulas. Here’s the takeaway: You can’t just rely on basic demographics. To truly connect with your audience and drive results, you need to know their mindset. You need to speak their language. And you can do that by doing the one thing that every ad genius, including Ogilvy, has always emphasized—research. So, the next time you create an ad, remember: Do your research. Speak their language. And the results will speak for themselves.