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Find the simple story in the product, and present it in an articulate and intelligent, persuasive way.

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
Intelligent
Products
Present
Story
Simple
Stories
Persuasive
Find
Articulate
Way
Product

More quotes by William Bernbach

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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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The most powerful element in advertising is the truth.
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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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Adapt your techniques to an idea, not an idea to your techniques.
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In communications, familiarity breeds apathy.
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Persuasion is not a science but an art
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Don't confuse good taste with the absence of taste.
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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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For the Flower to blossom, you need the right soil as well as the right seed. The same is true to cultivate good thinking.
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Our job is to bring the dead facts to life.
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Advertising doesn't create a product advantage. It can only convey it.
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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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Today's smartest advertising style is tomorrow's corn.
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You cannot sell a man who isn't listening word of mouth is the best medium of all and dullness won't sell your product, but neither will irrelevant brilliance.
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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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Those who are going to be in business tomorrow are those who understand that the future, as always, belongs to the brave.
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Good advertising does not just circulate information. It penetrates the public mind with desires and belief.
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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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Rules are what the artist breaks the memorable never emerged from a formula.
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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