Do your homework
"You don't stand a tinker's chance of producing successful advertising unless you start by doing your homework. I have always found this extremely tedious, but there is no substitute for it.
"First, study the product you are going to advertise. The more you know about it, the more likely you are to come up with a big idea for selling it.
"Your next chore is to find out what kind of advertising your competitors have been doing for similar products, and with what success. This will give you your bearings."
Source: Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy, pages 11-12.
