Brands get lost of technicals but the advert is the most important.

Key Takeaways

1. Creative is the true performance driver

No bidding strategy or attribution model can save weak creative. The story, visuals and copy are what cut through clutter, win attention, and ultimately sell.

2. Ogilvy’s principles still apply

Position clearly, respect the consumer, write strong headlines, and make the product the hero. These timeless fundamentals are more powerful than platform hacks.

3. Bad creative carries real risk

Poor ads do not just waste budget – they harm brand perception. In a swipe culture, one weak execution can lose a customer forever.

Cutting Through the Noise

In today’s world of endless dashboards, pixel tracking, and attribution models, it is easy for brands to get lost in the technical side of digital advertising. The obsession with data points and bidding strategies often overshadows the single most important factor: the advert itself.

Creative assets – the story, the visuals, the copy – remain the number one driver of performance. Across every channel, from Meta to TikTok, from YouTube to programmatic display, the creative is by far the most significant lever in generating sales and building brand equity.

Digital is measurable, yes, but it is also an environment where people go to be entertained, inspired and distracted. Cutting through the clutter requires more than clever targeting. It requires a story well told.

Bad advertising does not just waste budget – it damages brand perception. A poor ad can actively turn people away, ensuring they never consider your brand again. Which is why it is worth returning to the wisdom of the industry’s greats, particularly David Ogilvy, whose timeless lessons on advertising still hold true in 2025.

Ogilvy’s Timeless Principles

David Ogilvy, often dubbed the “Father of Advertising,” understood human psychology and persuasion better than most. While the platforms and tools have changed, his principles remain as relevant as ever for digital campaigns. Let’s revisit some of them with a modern lens.

1. Your Role is to Sell – Do Not Lose Sight of That

Advertising is not art for art’s sake. The ultimate role is to sell. That does not mean ads cannot be creative or entertaining, but these elements should never distract from the purpose.

In the age of TikTok and Instagram Reels, brands sometimes prioritise virality over effectiveness. A funny or surprising video that has no connection to the brand or product might rack up millions of views, but if it does not drive consideration or sales, it has failed.

Great creative is entertaining and persuasive.

2. Clearly Define Your Positioning

Ogilvy famously repositioned Dove from a detergent bar for men with dirty hands to a beauty bar for women with dry skin – a decision that shaped decades of success.

Positioning remains everything. In a crowded digital marketplace, where consumers are bombarded with messages, clarity is non-negotiable. What is the product? Who is it for? Why should they care?

Ambiguity kills performance. Without positioning, even the most beautiful creative will fall flat.

3. Do Your Homework: Study Your Consumer

This may be the least glamorous part of advertising, but it is also the most crucial. To write compelling copy and produce resonant creative, you must understand who you are talking to – not just demographically, but psychologically.

What do they want? What do they fear? What problem are they trying to solve? What motivates them?

Brands that skip this step often end up producing generic creative that tries to appeal to everyone and, in doing so, resonates with no one.

4. Treat the Consumer With Respect

Ogilvy’s line – “the consumer isn’t a moron, she’s your wife” – may be dated in phrasing but is timeless in principle. Consumers are smart. They can see through empty slogans, vapid adjectives, and lazy creative.

People want information. They want substance. They want to know why the product matters to them. If you assume a catchphrase and a nice image are enough, you risk insulting your audience’s intelligence.

Digital consumers are especially unforgiving. With one swipe or one tap, they move on. Respect is earned through relevance, detail and authenticity.

5. Talk To People in Their Own Language

The best copy does not sound like copy. It sounds like a conversation.

Modern advertising thrives on colloquial tones – the same language people use with their friends, not corporate jargon. Whether it is a playful TikTok caption, a punchy Meta headline, or a conversational chatbot script, tone matters.

Speaking naturally not only improves relatability but also builds trust. Consumers buy from brands that feel human.

6. Headlines Do 80% of the Work

Eight out of ten people will only read the headline. That statistic has not changed in decades – if anything, in the age of short attention spans, it has become even more critical.

A great headline is not optional. It is the hook that determines whether the consumer will engage with the rest of the message. Invest time and creativity here, because a weak headline means wasted ad spend.

7. Make the Product the Hero

Ogilvy insisted there are no boring products, only boring advertising. That rings true today.

Even in highly competitive markets with little differentiation, creative imagination can make a product shine. It is about finding the angle, the context, or the story that reframes the ordinary as extraordinary.

Whether through humour, storytelling, or striking design, the product must remain the hero of the ad.

Modern Proof: Creative Still Wins

If Ogilvy’s words feel theoretical, the data backs them up.

Meta’s own studies consistently show that creative quality is the single biggest driver of campaign performance, more influential than targeting or bidding strategy. TikTok’s best-performing campaigns are built on creative designed specifically for the platform. YouTube emphasises creative sequencing as the key to impact.

The message from the platforms themselves is clear: in an auction environment, good creative reduces costs, increases engagement, and delivers higher returns.

The Risk of Bad Advertising

It is worth stressing the flip side. Bad creative does not just fail – it actively harms.

A dull ad signals mediocrity.
An irrelevant ad suggests you do not understand your consumer.
A confusing ad makes people distrust your brand.
An irritating ad ensures they never engage with you again.

The stakes are high. Every advert is not just an opportunity to sell – it is a moment of brand-building, for better or worse.

Creative in the One Day Approach

At One Day Agency, we place creative at the centre of every campaign. We do not treat it as an afterthought once the media plan is built. Instead, we fuse media, creative and digital into an integrated process that ensures ads are not only technically sound but emotionally compelling.

Because while targeting matters, while pixels matter, while KPIs matter – none of them work without great creative. The ad itself is the variable that moves the needle.

Final Word

Advertising is simple in principle but difficult in practice. Brands get lost in technicalities, but the truth is timeless: the creative asset is the most important factor.

Good advertising sells. Great advertising entertains, persuades and builds long-term loyalty. Poor advertising damages brands irreparably.

So next time you plan a campaign, before you obsess over bidding strategies or attribution models, ask yourself the most important question: is this a good ad?

Because in the end, everything else follows from there.