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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.

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
Products
Gimmick
Exist
Gimmicks
Fall
Skillful
Doesn
Invent
Matter
Anyway
Going
Apart
Product
Advantage

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Research can trap you into the past.
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The heart of creativity is discipline.
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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.
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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.
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I warn you against believing that advertising is a science.
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An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it.
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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.
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Today's smartest advertising style is tomorrow's corn.
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In this very real world, good doesn't drive out evil. Evil doesn't drive out good. But the energetic displaces the passive.
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Never do anything yourself that you can hire someone else to do, especially if they can do it better.
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Don't confuse good taste with the absence of taste.
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Adapt your techniques to an idea, not an idea to your techniques.
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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.
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Word of mouth is the best medium of all.
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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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Properly practiced creativity can make one ad do the work of ten.
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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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It may well be that creativity is the last unfair advantage we're legally allowed to take over our competitors.
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In advertising, not to be different is virtually suicidal.
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Persuasion is not a science but an art
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