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Logic and over-analysis can immobilise and sterilize an idea. It's like love. The more you analyse it, the more it disappears.

William Bernbach

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William Bernbach
Age: 71 †
Born: 1911
Born: August 13
Died: 1982
Died: October 2
Art Director
Economist
Entrepreneur
The Bronx
New York City
Disappear
Logic
Emotion
Idea
Sterilize
Ideas
Analyse
Love
Disappears
Like
Analysis
Advertising

More quotes by William Bernbach

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Our job is to sell our clients' merchandise... not ourselves. Our job is to kill the cleverness that makes us shine instead of the product. Our job is to simplify, to tear away the unrelated, to pluck out the weeds that are smothering the product message.
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The most powerful element in advertising is the truth.
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Rules are what the artist breaks the memorable never emerged from a formula.
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The difference between the forgettable and the enduring is artistry.
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Those who are going to be in business tomorrow are those who understand that the future, as always, belongs to the brave.
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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
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Properly practiced creativity can make one ad do the work of ten.
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Because an appeal makes logical sense is no guarantee that it will work.
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Advertising is fundamentally persuasion and persuasion happens to be not a science, but an art.
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You cannot sell a man who isn't listening word of mouth is the best medium of all and dullness won't sell your product, but neither will irrelevant brilliance.
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Research can trap you into the past.
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It may well be that creativity is the last unfair advantage we're legally allowed to take over our competitors.
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Find the simple story in the product, and present it in an articulate and intelligent, persuasive way.
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There is no such thing as a good or bad ad in isolation. What is good at one moment is bad at another. Research can trap you into the past.
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Is creativity some obscure, esoteric art form? Not on your life. It's the most practical thing a business-man can employ.
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If your advertising goes unnoticed, everything else is academic!
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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.
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You have to live with your product, you have to know it through and through, you have to look at it, understand it, love it then, and only then, you can crystallize in one clear thought, one single theme, what must be conveyed about the product to the consumer.
William Bernbach
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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
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Just because your ad looks good is no insurance that it will get looked at. How many people do you know who are impeccably groomed... but dull?
William Bernbach