Ogilvy won the Shell account with a last-minute flight from New York to London

Scroll through a 75-year timeline of Ogilvy’s iconic ads

From the brilliant Rolls-Royce slogan that David Ogilvy wrote himself (“at 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock”) to Dove’s early 2000s campaign for Real Beauty, these 75 ads are among the best in advertising agency Ogilvy’s history.

David Ogilvy resigned the Rolls-Royce account after dissatisfaction with its cars

Ogilvy said that he only advertised products he believed in and would personally use. Despite his famous copywriting for Rolls-Royce (“at 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock”), he resigned the account when he lost confidence in the brand’s newer cars’ quality.

David Ogilvy once worked for the man who created the Gallup Poll

In 1938, when Ogilvy came to the United States, he started working for George Gallup’s Audience Research Institute in New Jersey. He took his learnings with him through the rest of his career, including during World War II, when Ogilvy worked with the Intelligence Service at the British Embassy in Washington.

David Ogilvy’s brother helped get him into the advertising business

Ogilvy sent a copy of his stove sales manual, "The Theory and Practice of Selling the AGA Cooker" (which Fortune magazine later called "probably the best sales manual ever written”) to his brother, who was working at London ad agency Mather & Crowther at the time.

Warren Buffett once referred to David Ogilvy as a genius

Buffett also owned stock in Ogilvy & Mather, David Ogilvy's advertising agency. This podcast episode dives into an overview of one of Ogilvy's best-selling books, "Confessions of an Advertising Man," which he wrote in part to grow his agency business.

Advertising holding company WPP acquired Ogilvy & Mather in 1989 for $864M

It was the largest amount ever paid for an agency at the time. WPP, which acquired agency J. Walter Thompson for $566M just two years before the Ogilvy & Mather acquisition, still owns Ogilvy today.

David Ogilvy died at his chateau in France in 1999

Ogilvy purchased Chateau de Touffou in 1973 and would go on to host hundreds of Ogilvy & Mather staffers there over the years. Some say that Ogilvy was eager to take his agency public in part so he would have more money to purchase the chateau.

In one of Ogilvy’s most well-known ads, he put an eyepatch on the ad’s star for ‘story appeal’

A 1951 campaign for men’s clothing brand Hathaway’s shirts featuring a distinguished man … wearing an eyepatch. Ogilvy has said he added it for “story appeal,” the idea that an ad should make viewers want to know the full story. The campaign ran for more than a decade. Ogilvy explains story appeal and more of his creative principles in this video.

Advertising powerhouse Mary Wells Lawrence was the first female CEO of a public company listed on the NYSE

The TV show “Mad Men’s” character Peggy Olson is inspired by Wells Lawrence, who founded ad agency Wells Rich Greene in 1966. Wells Lawrence is also known for her famous Alka-Seltzer campaign slogan, “plop plop fizz fizz.”

How 'Don't leave home without it' became the American Express tagline

The tagline was created by legendary New York advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather. Its first commercial was fronted by Karl Malden, famous for his role in the TV show "The Streets of San Francisco." The slogan was originally designed for American Express traveler's cheques, but was revived for the company's credit cards. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Oil’s legacy: fueling industrial growth and shaping imperial strategies

This episode of The Rest Is History podcast traces oil’s pivotal role—from fueling industrial growth to steering imperial power. It also examines how access to oil shaped US politics, World War II, and sparked the creation of OPEC following the Suez Crisis.

With the advent of charge cards, Estée Lauder fought to get her products in department stores to benefit from impulse purchases

Because Estée Lauder focused on personal relationships and demonstrations as one of her primary sales strategies, getting her product in front of enough people was an early struggle. Similarly, many customers wanted to buy her products, but didn't always have the cash on hand. One of her biggest accomplishments was earning a retail spot at Saks on 5th Ave in Manhattan, which paved the way for her brand to become a household name and gave customers more flexibility to make purchases on the spot.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

The Judgment of Paris was organized by Steve Spurrier

The English wine merchant organized the competition with Patricia Gallagher at his Paris wine shop. In this in-depth interview, he talks about how he got into the wine trade, how the Judgment of Paris impacted his own career and the global wine scene, and tells some of his favorite stories from the past.

Does winning a Cannes Lion matter?

It’s easy to become cynical about awards, but a study shows winning at Cannes Lions financially benefits agencies. Of course, snagging an award also helps boost creatives' egos.

'The Firm' is a book about the influence of top consulting firm McKinsey

The author argues that consulting firms are so valuable to the companies that hire them because the clients don’t have to take the blame for any changes the consulting firm decides to make within the organization.

How famed investigative journalist Ida Tarbell took on Standard Oil

After watching her father lose his oil refining business to Standard Oil, Ida Tarbell began to focus on unfair business practices in the US, writing a series on the oil giant's transgressions.

One '$64,000 Question' winner went from police officer to Shakespearean scholar overnight

Redmond O’Hanlon was a police officer living on Staten Island, New York, when he competed on “The $64,000 Question.” His knowledge of Shakespeare earned him $16,000, which was four times his annual salary. After appearing on the show, he became a minor celebrity, and created a Shakespeare-themed set of playing cards and established the O'Hanlon Shakespeare Service, a consultancy on the Bard, all while continuing to work for the NYPD.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

The Shed at Dulwich was a fake restaurant that became the top-rated eatery in London

In 2017, freelance writer Oobah Butler conducted an experiment in which he created a website claiming that his south London garden shed offered a unique fine-dining experience. Butler asked friends to write glowing reviews on Tripadvisor, made the restaurant open only by appointment, and allured audiences with mystery. As a result, hordes of people called and emailed to make a reservation at a restaurant that didn't exist.

That time two journalists raced around the world in 80 days

In 1889, Journalist Nellie Bly, née Elizabeth Jane Cochran, set sail on a journey around the world to compete with Phileas Fogg, the protagonist of the 1872 fiction novel "Around the World in Eighty Days." This short video explains how competing...

Orville and Wilbur argued over everything, likely accelerating their progress

The two never married, and focused solely on their goal of achieving flight. While both were socially reserved, they were passionate about their project, regularly debating—even shouting—over the details of propellers, engines, wings and more. This video explores how their culture of open argument likely fueled their discoveries.

In 1820, a sperm whale sank a ship and inspired 'Moby-Dick'

The Essex's crew hoped to capture sperm oil, a lucrative material found in the heads of sperm whales. However, a whale charged and crashed into the ship. Survivors of the attack drifted at sea for months, and many experienced starvation, dehydration, and cannibalism. The ordeal inspired author Herman Melville.

Eleven architects collaborated to create the UN building in NYC

Renowned leaders in the field, accustomed to control over their projects, had to work together to complete the building. This quick article explores the tensions and cooperation of the architects to complete the UN building.

The Times Square New Year's celebration originated as a party for The New York Times

The paper moved to the area, originally called Longacre Square, in 1904 and lobbied the city to rename it after the publication. The paper’s publisher, Alfred Ochs, threw a massive all-day party on New Year’s Eve to celebrate the opening of the paper’s headquarters, establishing the location as a destination for the holiday.

'If you want to succeed, you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.'

- Billionaire John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937)

The night before the disaster, not everyone signed the Challenger's launch authorization form

Allan McDonald, director of the booster rocket program at NASA contractor Morton Thiokol, refused to sign, believing ice on the spacecraft could damage the orbiter's heat tiles and that cold temperatures could cause O-ring failure. He later testified that management had overruled objections from engineers.

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

Dorothy's famous entrance into Oz in 'The Wizard of Oz' relied on analog tricks, including a body double and sepia-toned paint, as much as it did on technology

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Brandi Chastain, the star of the 1999 US victory over China in the 1999 Women's World Cup, was a last-second choice to take the penalty kick that sealed the victory.

An investigation suggests a Scottish island became awash in forever chemicals via seafoam and seaspray—raising questions about what that means for the safety of other coastal areas.

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

Watch contemporary footage covering the US-backed Shah of Iran fleeing the country in the face of the 1979 Iranian Revolution

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

This site reaches millions of visitors who are tired of AI chatbots and seeking human connection. Pretend to be an AI chatbot and ask questions, provide answers, and draw for people in real time.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.