Quote

Don't confuse good taste with the absence of taste.

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
Absence
Taste
Good
Confuse

More quotes by William Bernbach

Image
Is creativity some obscure, esoteric art form? Not on your life. It's the most practical thing a business-man can employ.
William Bernbach
Image
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
Image
Research can trap you into the past.
William Bernbach
Image
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.
William Bernbach
Image
Adapt your techniques to an idea, not an idea to your techniques.
William Bernbach
Image
It's not just what you say that stirs people. It's the way that you say it.
William Bernbach
Image
Persuasion is not a science but an art
William Bernbach
Image
A principle isn't a principle until it costs you something.
William Bernbach
Image
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.
William Bernbach
Image
Advertising is the art of persuasion.
William Bernbach
Image
Creativity is the most practical thing a businessman can employ.
William Bernbach
Image
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
Image
Advertising doesn't create a product advantage. It can only convey it.
William Bernbach
Image
Imitation can be commercial suicide.
William Bernbach
Image
A great ad campaign will make a bad product fail faster. It will get more people to know it's bad.
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
Nobody counts the number of ads you run they just remember the impression you make.
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
The most powerful element in advertising is the truth.
William Bernbach