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I warn you against believing that advertising is a science.

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
Believe
Warn
Believing
Advertising
Design
Science

More quotes by William Bernbach

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Don't confuse good taste with the absence of taste.
William Bernbach
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Advertising is fundamentally persuasion and persuasion happens to be not a science, but an art.
William Bernbach
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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.
William Bernbach
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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.
William Bernbach
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The heart of creativity is discipline.
William Bernbach
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Properly practiced creativity can make one ad do the work of ten.
William Bernbach
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It may well be that creativity is the last unfair advantage we're legally allowed to take over our competitors.
William Bernbach
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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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A principle isn't a principle until it costs you something.
William Bernbach
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Properly practiced creativity MUST result in greater sales more economically achieved. Properly practiced creativity can lift your claims out of the swamp of sameness and make them accepted, believed, persuasive, urgent.
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
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Nobody counts the number of ads you run they just remember the impression you make.
William Bernbach
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Creativity is the most practical thing a businessman can employ.
William Bernbach
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An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it.
William Bernbach
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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.
William Bernbach
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Word of mouth is the best medium of all.
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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A great ad campaign will make a bad product fail faster. It will get more people to know it's bad.
William Bernbach
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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
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Good advertising does not just circulate information. It penetrates the public mind with desires and belief.
William Bernbach