William Bernbach Quotes

Quotes about:

• It's not just what you say that stirs people. It's the way that you say it.

  William Bernbach

  People, Way

  5 Copy quote

• 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.

  William Bernbach

  Believe, People, Interesting

  25 Copy quote

• 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

  Real, Evil, Advertising Business

  84 Copy quote

• In advertising, not to be different is virtually suicidal.

  William Bernbach

  Suicide, Suicidal, Marketing

  25 Copy quote

• Advertising is fundamentally persuasion and persuasion happens to be not a science, but an art.

  William Bernbach

  Art, Business, Advertising

  "Letters of Note: Volume 2: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience". Book by Shaun Usher (p.190), 2016.

  21 Copy quote

• 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.

  William Bernbach

  People, Stand For Something, Ifs

  24 Copy quote

• 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

  Listening, Mold, Public Opinion

  24 Copy quote

• 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

  Powerful, Knowledge, Men

  26 Copy quote

• 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.

  William Bernbach

  People, Way, Feels

  21 Copy quote

• Creativity is the most practical thing a businessman can employ.

  William Bernbach

  Creativity, Advertising Business, Businessman

  7 Copy quote

• Adapt your techniques to an idea, not an idea to your techniques.

  William Bernbach

  Ideas, Technique

  5 Copy quote

• Nobody counts the number of ads you run; they just remember the impression you make.

  William Bernbach

  Running, Business, Numbers

  24 Copy quote

• The heart of creativity is discipline.

  William Bernbach

  Heart, Creativity, Discipline

  8 Copy quote

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

  William Bernbach

  Simple, Intelligent, Stories

  8 Copy quote

• There are a lot of great technicians in advertising. And unfortunately they talk the best game. They know all the rules. They can tell you that people in an ad will get you greater readership. They can tell you that a sentence should be this short or that long. They can tell you that body copy should be broken up for easier reading. They can give you fact after fact after fact. They are the scientists of advertising. But there's one little rub. Advertising is fundamentally persuasion and persuasion happens to be not a science, but an art.

  William Bernbach

  Wise, Witty, Art

  Letter on May 15, 1947. "Letters of Note". Book by Shaun Usher. Volume 2: "An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience", p. 190, 2016.

  10 Copy quote

• Rules are what the artist breaks; the memorable never emerged from a formula.

  William Bernbach

  Memorable, Artist, Design

  18 Copy quote

• Never do anything yourself that you can hire someone else to do, especially if they can do it better.

  William Bernbach

  Design, Can Do, Ifs

  19 Copy quote

• It may well be that creativity is the last unfair advantage we're legally allowed to take over our competitors.

  William Bernbach

  Creativity, May, Lasts

  22 Copy quote

• If your advertising goes unnoticed, everything else is academic!

  William Bernbach

  Business, Design, Advertising

  "Making Dr. King a Pitchman, Turning His Words Upside Down", www.nytimes.com. February 5, 2018.

  18 Copy quote

• The world has progressed to the point where it's most powerful force is public opinion. And I believe that in this world it is not the great book or epic play, as once was the case, that will shape that opinion, but those who understand mass media and the techniques of mass persuasion...We must not just believe in what we sell. We must sell what we believe in. And we must pour a vast energy into those causes.

  William Bernbach

  Powerful, Believe, Book

  25 Copy quote

• An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it.

  William Bernbach

  Motivational, Positive, Creativity

  24 Copy quote

• The most powerful element in advertising is the truth.

  William Bernbach

  Powerful, Marketing, Elements

  13 Copy quote

• Persuasion is not a science but an art

  William Bernbach

  Art, Persuasion, Great Advertising

  7 Copy quote

• The real giants have always been poets, men who jumped from facts into the realm of imagination and ideas.

  William Bernbach

  Real, Men, Ideas

  8 Copy quote

• 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

  Like Love, Ideas, Analysis

  7 Copy quote

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