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Imitation can be commercial suicide.

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
Design
Imitation
Commercial
Suicide

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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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If your advertising goes unnoticed, everything else is academic!
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Properly practiced creativity can make one ad do the work of ten.
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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.
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No matter how skillful you are, you can't invent a product advantage that doesn't exist. And if you do, and it's just a gimmick, it's going to fall apart anyway.
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Don't confuse good taste with the absence of taste.
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Because an appeal makes logical sense is no guarantee that it will work.
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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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The difference between the forgettable and the enduring is artistry.
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It's not just what you say that stirs people. It's the way that you say it.
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Advertising is the art of persuasion.
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It is insight into human nature that is the key to the communicator's skill. For whereas the writer is concerned with what he puts into his writings, the communicator is concerned with what the reader gets out of it. He therefore becomes a student of how people read or listen.
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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.
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An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it.
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We are so busy measuring public opinion that we forget we can mold it. We are so busy listening to statistics we forget we can create them.
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The creative man with an insight into human nature, with the artistry to touch and move people, will succeed. Without them he will fail.
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Adapt your techniques to an idea, not an idea to your techniques.
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I warn you against believing that advertising is a science.
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Good advertising does not just circulate information. It penetrates the public mind with desires and belief.
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