Notable quotes about advertising: Difference between revisions

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| text = Stopping advertising to save money is like stopping your watch to save time.<ref>{{cite book |last=Forbes |first=B.C. |title=The Forbes Scrapbook of Thoughts on the Business of Life |publisher=Forbes Inc. |date=1968}}</ref>

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| text = Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shapiro |first=Fred R. |title=The Yale Book of Quotations |publisher=Yale University Press |date=2006}}</ref>

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| text = In good times people want to advertise; in bad times they have to.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bruce Barton Classic Quotations |url=http://www.ravintokirja.fi/T_Superlist.pdf |website=The Superlist |publisher=Christer Sundqvist |access-date=2025-12-19 |date=1955 |author=Barton, Bruce}}</ref>

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| text = Creative without strategy is called 'art.' Creative with strategy is called 'advertising.'<ref>{{cite news |title=Refining the Definition of Advertising |work=Journal of Advertising |date=2002 |author=Jef I. Richards |publisher=American Academy of Advertising}}</ref>

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| text = Advertising is fundamentally persuasion and persuasion happens to be not a science, but an art.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Creative Revolutionist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/03/obituaries/william-bernbach-is-dead-at-71.html |work=The New York Times |date=October 3, 1982 |access-date=December 19, 2025}}</ref>

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| text = A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ogilvy |first=David |title=Confessions of an Advertising Man |publisher=Atheneum |date=1963}}</ref>

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| text = Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Leo Burnett Story |url=https://leoburnett.com/about |publisher=Leo Burnett Worldwide |access-date=December 19, 2025}}</ref>

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| text = An ad is finished only when you no longer can find a single element to remove.<ref>{{cite book |last=Baker |first=Stephen |title=The Art of Writing Advertising |publisher=Benjamin Company |date=1965}}</ref>

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| text = The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ogilvy |first=David |title=Confessions of an Advertising Man |publisher=Atheneum |date=1963}}</ref>

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| text = An ad should be an appetizer, not a buffet.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Creative Mind of Lee Clow |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/1670642/the-creative-mind-of-lee-clow |website=Fast Company |access-date=2025-12-19 |date=2012-08-28 |author=Fast Company Staff}}</ref>

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| text = Advertising is the ability to sense, interpret... to put the very heart throbs of a business into type, paper and ink.<ref>{{cite book |last=Burnett |first=Leo |title=100 Leo's: The Advertising Philosophy of Leo Burnett |publisher=Leo Burnett Company |date=1961}}</ref>

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| text = People screen out a lot of commercials because they open with something dull...When you advertise fire-extinguishers, open with the fire.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ogilvy |first=David |title=Confessions of an Advertising Man |publisher=Atheneum |date=1963}}</ref>

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| text = Nobody reads ads. People read what interests them. Sometimes, it's an ad.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gossage |first=Howard |title=The Book of Gossage |publisher=Copy Workshop |date=1995}}</ref>

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| text = Good advertising does not just circulate information. It penetrates the public mind with desires and belief.<ref>{{cite book |last=Burnett |first=Leo |title=Communications of an Advertising Man |publisher=Privately printed |date=1961}}</ref>

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| text = Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.<ref>{{cite book |last=Godin |first=Seth |title=Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us |publisher=Portfolio/Penguin |date=2008}}</ref>

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| text = Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ogilvy |first=David |title=Confessions of an Advertising Man |publisher=Atheneum |date=1963}}</ref>

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| text = Advertising must respect the intelligence of its audience and if it does not prompt them to think, it will be dismissed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fallon |first=Ivan |title=The Brothers: The Rise and Rise of Saatchi & Saatchi |publisher=Hutchinson |date=1988}}</ref>

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| text = Nobody who bought a drill actually wanted a drill. They wanted a hole.<ref>{{cite book |last=Marshall |first=Perry |title=80/20 Sales and Marketing |publisher=Entrepreneur Press |date=2013}}</ref>

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| text = I am one who believes that one of the greatest dangers of advertising is not that of misleading people, but that of boring them to death.<ref>{{cite book |last=Burnett |first=Leo |title=100 LEO'S: 100 Years of Leo Burnett |publisher=Leo Burnett Worldwide |date=2012}}</ref>

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| text = No one wakes up excited to see more advertising, no one goes to sleep thinking about the ads they'll see tomorrow.<ref>{{cite web |title=Why we don't sell ads |url=https://blog.whatsapp.com/why-we-dont-sell-ads |website=WhatsApp Blog |publisher=WhatsApp Inc. |access-date=2025-12-19 |date=2012-06-18 |author=Koum, Jan}}</ref>

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| text = If it doesn't sell, it isn't creative.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ogilvy |first=David |title=Ogilvy on Advertising |publisher=Crown Publishers |date=1983}}</ref>

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| text = Advertising tries to be a pyromaniac, igniting conflagrations of desires for instant gratification.<ref>{{cite book |last=Will |first=George F. |title=The Morning After |publisher=Free Press |date=1986}}</ref>

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| text = Much of the messy advertising you see on television today is the product of committees. Committees can criticize advertisements, but they should never be allowed to create them.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ogilvy |first=David |title=Confessions of an Advertising Man |publisher=Atheneum |date=1963}}</ref>

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| text = If dogs don't like your dog food, the packaging doesn't matter.<ref>{{cite book |last=Denny |first=Stephen |title=Killing Giants: 10 Strategies to Topple the Goliath in Your Industry |publisher=Portfolio |date=2011}}</ref>

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| text = Every single element in an advertisement must be put there because testing has shown that it works best!<ref>{{cite book |last=Caples |first=John |title=Tested Advertising Methods |publisher=Prentice Hall |date=1997}}</ref>

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| text = It is flagrantly dishonest for an advertising agent to urge consumers to buy a product which he would not allow his own wife to buy.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ogilvy |first=David |title=Confessions of an Advertising Man |publisher=Atheneum |date=1963}}</ref>

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| text = Dishonesty in advertising has proved very unprofitable.<ref>{{cite book |last=Burnett |first=Leo |title=100 Leo's: The Advertising Philosophy of Leo Burnett |publisher=Leo Burnett Company |date=1961}}</ref>

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| text = Advertising brings in the customers, but it is your job to keep them buying from you.<ref>{{cite book |last=Holmes |first=Chet |title=The Ultimate Sales Machine |publisher=Portfolio |date=2007}}</ref>

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| text = Never write an advertisement which you wouldn't want your own family to read. You wouldn't tell lies to your own wife. Don't tell them to mine.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ogilvy |first=David |title=Confessions of an Advertising Man |publisher=Atheneum |date=1963}}</ref>

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| text = There is a great deal of advertising that is much better than the product. When that happens, all that the good advertising will do is put you out of business faster.<ref>{{cite book |last=Della Femina |first=Jerry |title=From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor |publisher=Simon & Schuster |date=1970}}</ref>

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| text = I've never found a client's business problem that could be solved solely through advertising.<ref>{{cite web |title=Art & Copy (2009) Documentary Quotes |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1341071/ |website=IMDb |access-date=2025-12-19 |date=2009 |author=Pray, Doug}}</ref>

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| text = In advertising, not to be different is virtually suicidal.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bernbach |first=Bill |title=Bill Bernbach Said... |publisher=DDB Needham Worldwide |date=1987}}</ref>

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| text = The best advertising is done by satisfied customers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kotler |first=Philip |title=Marketing Management: Millennium Edition |publisher=Prentice Hall |date=1999}}</ref>

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| text = Content is king, but engagement is queen, and the lady rules the house!<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Mari |title=The New Relationship Marketing |publisher=Wiley |date=2011}}</ref>

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| text = A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is — it is what consumers tell each other it is.<ref>{{cite news |title=Marketing in the Age of Social Media |url=https://hbr.org/2011/12/marketing-is-dead |work=Harvard Business Review |date=December 2011 |access-date=December 19, 2025 |author=Scott Cook}}</ref>

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| text = The secret to marketing success is no secret at all: Word of mouth is all that matters.<ref>{{cite web |title=Word of mouth is all that matters |url=https://seths.blog/2003/01/word_of_mouth_i/ |website=Seth's Blog |publisher=Seth Godin |access-date=December 19, 2025 |date=January 29, 2003 |author=Seth Godin}}</ref>

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| text = There is no advertisement as powerful as a positive reputation traveling fast.<ref>{{cite book |last=Koslow |first=Brian |title=365 Ways to Market Your Business |publisher=Dutton |date=1998}}</ref>

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