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A principle isn't a principle until it costs you something.

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
Costs
Principle
Cost
Principles
Something

More quotes by William Bernbach

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An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it.
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The difference between the forgettable and the enduring is artistry.
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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.
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The heart of creativity is discipline.
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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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Rules are what the artist breaks the memorable never emerged from a formula.
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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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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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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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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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Advertising doesn't create a product advantage. It can only convey it.
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Today's smartest advertising style is tomorrow's corn.
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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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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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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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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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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
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Properly practiced creativity can make one ad do the work of ten.
William Bernbach
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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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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