Do you remember the Dos Equis commercials about The Most Interesting Man in the World?

They were very big for a long time. They may still be running. I can’t say. I don’t watch TV anymore.

If you haven’t seen them, imagine this: A rugged-looking, silver-haired man who is always surrounded by beautiful women. In one version of the commercial, he arm-wrestles a Banana Republic dictator. In another, he releases a grizzly bear from a trap. In still another, he explains that even his enemies list him as their emergency contact and that the police often question him just because they find him interesting.

Fun stuff… and memorable… but not exactly original.

If you are a student of advertising, you know this is a knockoff of David Ogilvy’s famous ad campaign: The Man in the Hathaway Shirt.

That was a great one. With a great story behind it…

It was 1951. Ellerton Jette, a shirtmaker from Waterville, Maine, had the crazy idea of growing his little local business into a national brand.

How could he do that?

He had no clue. But he had an idea: He had heard about the advertising prowess of David Ogilvy. So he booked a meeting with him.

“I have an advertising budget of only $30,000,” he told Ogilvy. “I know that’s much less than you normally work with. But I believe you can make me into a big client of yours if you take on the job.”

If he’d stopped there, Ogilvy would have thrown him out of the office. But then Jette said something that sold the great salesman.

He said, “If you do take on the job, Mr. Ogilvy, I promise you this. No matter how big my company gets, I will never fire you. And I will never change a word of your copy.”

Stop right there…