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Persuasion is not a science but an art

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
Persuasion
Science
Art

More quotes by William Bernbach

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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.
William Bernbach
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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.
William Bernbach
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In communications, familiarity breeds apathy.
William Bernbach
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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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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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Imitation can be commercial suicide.
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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Rules are what the artist breaks the memorable never emerged from a formula.
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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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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In this very real world, good doesn't drive out evil. Evil doesn't drive out good. But the energetic displaces the passive.
William Bernbach
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Advertising is the art of persuasion.
William Bernbach
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In advertising, not to be different is virtually suicidal.
William Bernbach
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Is creativity some obscure, esoteric art form? Not on your life. It's the most practical thing a business-man can employ.
William Bernbach
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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.
William Bernbach
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If your advertising goes unnoticed, everything else is academic!
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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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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Never do anything yourself that you can hire someone else to do, especially if they can do it better.
William Bernbach
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Because an appeal makes logical sense is no guarantee that it will work.
William Bernbach