Principles

“Do you think it childish to use a set of written principles...? I can only tell you that mine have proved invaluable in keeping a complicated enterprise on course.”


David Ogilvy, Ogilvy On Advertising



Of the innumerable ideas we’ve adopted from the fabled King of Madison Avenue, it only seems appropriate that we define our own set of principles:

1. Ruthless honesty, playfulness, and simplicity.   
2. Nothing is original, so be original in your plagiarism.
   
3. Don’t ignore an idea that begins with “What if...”.
   
4. Leave room for interpretation; Beauty often lies in abstraction.
5. Subtract, by default.
6. If it won’t last, don’t do it
7. Complacency is treason.