SOME call it a mantra, some call it a company philosophy, some a mission statement, a belief system or DNA. Some hang it up on a foyer wall, some have it printed in exquisite coffee-table books, some make it the opening slides in their PowerPoint presentations and some let it live and breathe in the thing that matters most — the work.The best advertising agencies I know are the ones whose philosophy is visible not just in the culture and design of the place but also in the people, and the advertising made by those people. A good agency philosophy is deeply embedded, like personality and character. It imbues a place and persists long after generations of staff have come and gone. It has to last, it has to be authentic and it has to work.If a philosophy is complicated and long-winded, it is easily forgotten. If it is too trite and trendy, it is trash.David Ogilvy had many philosophies about many things regarding advertising life, but they stuck and hold true today because they are mea...
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