Advertising is back in vogue.

First, "Mad Men" hit BBC4. Achingly good.
[the "Carousel" scene. My.]

Then, BBC4 also rolled out everything in their advertising archive.
The Saachis getting pregnant.
The crazy eighties.
And an hour devoted to the man himself, David Ogilvy.

Now, it's five years since I read "Ogilvy on Advertising". James Mullen, the marketing brains behind Thomas Pink, told us it was the one book we must read. We were smitten.

Well, inspired by the Ogilvy flashback, I finally read his 1963 classic, "Confessions of an Advertising Man".

He writes beautifully. You must read this. What a salesman.

A few things I picked up for us entrepreneurs:

1. He didn't even start in advertising till he was 41.
   There's still time!
2. Shameless self-publicity works. Ogilvy sent regular updates to 600 influential people (bet it was better than our newsletter). He charmed the best marketing journalists at lunches. He spoke his mind and got noticed. And his autobiography sold a million copies, promoting his firm from the first page.
3. His advice on management is rather nice. Hard to summarise, but work hard, inspire others, give praise (seldom) when due, be a gentleman, and so on. All there in Chapter 1.
   
4. Even he, a "creative" (a word he despises), was meticulously organised. He always delivered work on time. Like the Duke of Wellington, who wouldn't leave work until his desk was clear. (Looking at my desk. Oh dear.)
   

And I had to highlight a few copywriting tips from the master:

1. Sell in the headline - 5 times as many will read the headline as the body
2. Your first paragraph should be no more than 11 words.
3. Certain magic words - "new", "free", "how to", "now", "startling" - get you noticed.
   (though I wonder if we're better at screening them out these days).
4. Avoid superlatives: "make the truth fascinating".
5. Lay-out matters: large initial letters, arrows, columns no more than 40 characters wide (like newsprint) and regular crossheads...

Oh dear, I've just made a riveting book sound like a techie manual.
But the overall impression you get from the book is that all you need to reach the top is good manners, integrity, determination and a touch of flair.
OK, and just a soupcon of arrogance. But we can allow him that.