Advertising legend David Ogilvy, founder of Ogilvy & Mather advertising agency and creator of well-known copy (“At 60 miles an hour, the loudest noise in this new Rolls Royce comes from this electric clock”) and characters (the man in the Hathaway Shirt; Schweppes and Commander Whitehead), developed an ad layout formula so successful that it became known as the Ogilvy. The formula adheres to the order in which researchers tell us readers typically look at ads:
Visual (photograph or graphic), Caption, Headline, Copy, Signature (advertiser’s name & contact information)
The basic Ogilvy layout can be altered to include a coupon (set ad copy in a three-column grid and place the coupon in the third column); headline moved above the visual (when the headline carries more weight than the visual); or copy set in a two-column grid and the headline moved to the right of the visual.