Conor O'Flaherty

Passionate about higher education and sports branding. Always learning and sometimes contributing.

[Ad Professor @The_AdProfessor]

24 lessons from David Ogilvy:

1. Search all the parks in all your cities; you'll find no statues of committees.

2. The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.

3. You are advertising to a moving parade, not a standing army.

4. Do not address your readers as though they were gathered together in a stadium. When people read your copy, they are alone.

5. Remember you are a human being writing to another human being. Neither of you is an institution

6. Tell your prospective client your weakness before they notice them. This will make you more credible when you boast about your strong points.

7. Avoiding excess in all things is a recipe for dullness and mediocrity.

8. A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself.

9. There is no need for advertisements to look like advertisements. If you make them look like editorial pages, you will attract about 50% more readers

10. Big ideas come from the unconscious. This is true in art, in science, and in advertising. But your unconscious has to be well-informed, or your idea will be irrelevant

11. People who think well, write well

12. The most important word in the vocabulary of advertising is 'test'.

13. On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy.

14. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.

15. Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating

16. Advertising is only evil when it advertises evil things.

17. Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.

18. Raise your sights. Blaze new trails. Compete with the immortals.

19. I am a lousy copywriter, but I am a good editor. So I go to work editing my own draft.

20. If you're trying to persuade people to buy something, use the language in which they think.

21. Insist that due dates are kept even if it means working all night. Hard work never killed a man. People die of boredom

22. If you are lucky enough to write a good advertisement, repeat it until it stops selling.

23. At the start of your career in advertising, what you learn is more important than what you earn.

24. When Fortune published an article about me and titled it: 'Is David Ogilvy a Genius?', "I asked my lawyer to sue the editor for the question mark.”

[LogoArchive @LogoArchive]

Bridgestone by PAOS and Masanori Umeda, Japan, 1984.

#logos # branding #design #logoarchive

[Kevin Doyle @KevDoyle_Indo]

Just wow, that sprint on the home straight. Just wow!

[Roman Kemp @romankemp]

This video from @NorwichCityFC is the best bit of Mental Health Awareness I’ve ever seen… watch until the end.

[Conor O'Flaherty @ConorOFlaherty1]

A fantastic case example from @ChCh_Oxford for any higher education institution trying to balance "historical allure" with "modern academic aspirations” within their visual identity. https://t.co/hbRUdRGuZ9 #highered #higheredmarketing #branding

[Brian Collins @briancollins1]

And then, there is work so precisely on-point that it feels inevitable. Bravo to Mark Porter and his crew for a dazzling reimagining and new identity for the Irish Independent masterbrand. It is evolving from a disparate group of newspapers, websites and apps into a one mutil-platform news platform
And here’s its new flag.
It speaks to a legendary history in a way that is absolutely future-facing.

So, bravo to the gifted Dublin-based teams who did this work, including Clare Bell, and Max Phillips, illustrator Andy Goodman and Smörgåsbord Studio for animation.

And congratulations to The Independent for asking the right people to do the right work.

💚🧡

[NorthDakotaAthletics @UNDsports]

Kicking off the 2023-24 season in style!

Grab your official gameday gear today at @SiouxShop, @SCHEELS and the UND Bookstore!

#UNDproud | #LGH

[Conor O'Flaherty @ConorOFlaherty1]

Really like how the sense of fun and playfulness has been added back into Jell-O with this rebrand.

[Michael J. Miraflor @michaelmiraflor]

What do we think about the Jell-O rebrand?

[Trevor Beattie @trevorbmbagency]

Great logos retain the power to communicate with us. Even from beyond the grave..

[RareIrishStuff @RareIrishStuff]

Love this clip that surfaced in the @RTEArchives of Pete St John on Dublin. He is best known for composing "The Fields of Athenry". He died last year on March 12th. Hopefully, we'll hear the Fields of Athenry ring out tomorrow at Ireland Vs Scotland on his first anniversary.

[Conor O'Flaherty @ConorOFlaherty1]

Awesome new brand from the @SonomaSeawolves who have completely captured the uniqueness of the Seawolves name in their identity. The wave and fluid nature of the wolf head is perfect.

[Sonoma State Seawolves @SonomaSeawolves]

https://t.co/22QlfFjHv6

[Phil Rowlands @PrDOOH]

Another bus belter from @Specsavers 👓

[Conor O'Flaherty @ConorOFlaherty1]

Tidy work from @DragonRougeUK on the refreshed @AVFCOfficial identity. While I chuckle at the rationale for the change in orientation (we always say the same thing), I think to color updates are spot on. Feels historic with an eye on modern application.
https://t.co/FX2mQrL6M0

[Fooser Sports Design @FooserSports]

This might be Mt. Rushmore of anniversary logos…

[Conor O'Flaherty @ConorOFlaherty1]

The serif is back!

[Stan/Lee @StanLeeTweets]

'Whoever your destination' is a lovely line. Nice work by The Works for Qantas.

[Conor O'Flaherty @ConorOFlaherty1]

Really nice new identity work from @ACGatorSports. I particularly like the typography while the new A logo is absolutely top notch. That A just has baseball cap written all over it!

[Allegheny Gators @ACGatorSports]

Bold. Fierce.

Introducing the new brand identity for Gator Athletics!

Learn more: https://t.co/MNrHI1s3Zg

Go Gators!

[Conor O'Flaherty @ConorOFlaherty1]

A clean and fresh update from the @AkronZips that reflects the brand’s position as a top tier Division I program. Great job by all involved in this one. 10/10

[Akron Zips Athletics @AkronZips]

Coming Fall 2022 🔥 #GoZips

[Conor O'Flaherty @ConorOFlaherty1]

Perfectionism is the enemy of creative execution. Perfectionism is a form of procrastination. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. #branding

[Conor O'Flaherty @ConorOFlaherty1]

As we dive back into another year of work and toil I’m reminded of a favorite quote from Dylan Thomas. Here’s to 2022 and the road ahead. #DylanThomas