- David Ogilvy Ogilvy quoted Hopkins's autobiography in chapter 18 of Ogilvy on Advertising; the ISBN is the 1997 combined edition "My Life in Advertising & Scientific Advertising: Two Works" (McGraw-Hill). source ↗
Hopkins's 1927 autobiography, covering his rise from a poor farm boy to the highest-paid copywriter in America. It is both a memoir and a demonstration of his principles: test everything, track results, give people a reason to buy now.
Ogilvy quoted My Life in Advertising in chapter 18 of Ogilvy on Advertising, and Recommended it alongside Scientific Advertising in every interview and reading list. The autobiography shows the man behind the method — how Hopkins developed his testing discipline by failing, measuring, and iterating.
For a founder, Hopkins's autobiography is the original story of a self-taught marketer who out- thought everyone else by out-testing them. His emphasis on trackable results, specific claims, and a relentless focus on the offer is as applicable to a SaaS landing page in 2025 as it was to a magazine ad in 1910.