Quote

Forget words like 'hard sell' and 'soft sell.' That will only confuse you. Just be sure your advertising is saying something with substance, something that will inform and serve the consumer, and be sure you're saying it like it's never been said before.

William Bernbach

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

William Bernbach
Age: 71 †
Born: 1911
Born: August 13
Died: 1982
Died: October 2
Art Director
Economist
Entrepreneur
The Bronx
New York City
Forget
Consumers
Words
Substance
Hard
Advertising
Something
Sell
Never
Sells
Inform
Like
Serve
Confuse
Saying
Consumer
Sure
Soft

More quotes by William Bernbach

Image
Creativity is the most practical thing a businessman can employ.
William Bernbach
Image
Advertising is the art of persuasion.
William Bernbach
Image
If you stand for something, you will always find some people for you and some people against you. If you stand for nothing, you will find nobody against you, and nobody for you.
William Bernbach
Image
All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarise that society. We can brutalise it. Or we can help lift it onto a higher level.
William Bernbach
Image
Nothing is so powerful as an insight into human nature... what compulsions drive a man, what instincts dominate his action. If you know these things abut a person, you can touch him at the core of his being.
William Bernbach
Image
In this very real world, good doesn't drive out evil. Evil doesn't drive out good. But the energetic displaces the passive.
William Bernbach
Image
Advertising doesn't create a product advantage. It can only convey it.
William Bernbach
Image
The truth isn't the truth until people believe you, and they can't believe you if they don't know what you're saying, and they can't know what you're saying if they don't listen to you, and they won't listen to you if you're not interesting, and you won't be interesting unless you say things imaginatively, originally, freshly.
William Bernbach
Image
Never do anything yourself that you can hire someone else to do, especially if they can do it better.
William Bernbach
Image
Because an appeal makes logical sense is no guarantee that it will work.
William Bernbach
Image
Those who are going to be in business tomorrow are those who understand that the future, as always, belongs to the brave.
William Bernbach
Image
You can say the right thing about a product and nobody will listen. You’ve got to say it in such a way that people will feel it in their gut. Because if they don’t feel it, nothing will happen.
William Bernbach
Image
The real giants have always been poets, men who jumped from facts into the realm of imagination and ideas.
William Bernbach
Image
If your advertising goes unnoticed, everything else is academic!
William Bernbach
Image
The creative man with an insight into human nature, with the artistry to touch and move people, will succeed. Without them he will fail.
William Bernbach
Image
An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it.
William Bernbach
Image
Find the simple story in the product, and present it in an articulate and intelligent, persuasive way.
William Bernbach
Image
A principle isn't a principle until it costs you something.
William Bernbach
Image
In communications, familiarity breeds apathy.
William Bernbach
Image
Research can trap you into the past.
William Bernbach