What’s your favorite advertising quote?

MANILA, Philippines—Let’s begin with “Advertising is the greatest art form of the 20th century,” according to Canadian philosopher, scholar and communications theorist Marshall McLuhan.

The man coined the expressions “the medium is the message” and “the global village.” He also predicted the World Wide Web almost 30 years before it was invented.

Words of wisdom, quips from famous advertising icons, lines from well-known creative directors, copywriters and art directors, even from the lowly message boys and people manning the pantry. They’ve been repeated time and again, immortalized and turned into books on marketing. They have contributed a lot in enriching our advertising language.

Just walk through the halls of any ad agency in New York, London, Paris or Manila and you’d get bits and pieces of phrases to ponder while selling your brands.

The legendary Bill Bernbach, father of modern advertising, David Ogilvy and Leo Burnett are just some of the most quoted icons of advertising.

For newbies in advertising, Bernbach is the B in DDB acronym (the other two are Doyle and Dane), the largest ad agency in the United States and now part of the world’s most creative ad network Omnicom.

Ogilvy is part of the agency brand Ogilvy & Mather, belonging to WPP holdings. Burnett is one of the oldest ad agencies in the world—part of the Publicis group of companies.

Quotable

“It’s not creative unless it sells.” Ogilvy said this famous line, which suggests that there is more to selling than just simple selling. He tells us that in order to get more sales and become a chartbuster, one must be inventive to move products off the shelves.

Bernbach expounded on this: “Advertising doesn’t create a better product. It merely conveys it. The truth isn’t the truth until people believe you. And they can’t believe you unless they know what you are saying. And they can’t know you unless they are listening to you. And they won’t listen to you unless you are interesting. And you won’t be interesting unless you say things, freshly, originally and imaginatively.”

Today’s media is cluttered with all kinds of sale pitches from different advertisers. We are bombarded with countless messages around the clock.

In the light of advertising’s changing landscape, Ogilvy, Burnett and Bernbach give us timeless reminders that are as relevant today as they were first written.

“The consumer is not a moron. She is your wife,” Ogilvy said.

How many times have some ads in our midst offended consumers with their content and by being too literal and boringly tutorial? How many ads today continue to insult consumers’ intelligence?

Agency-client relationship

Leo Burnett hits the nail right on the head with this quotation: “I have learned that you can’t have good advertising without a good client, that you can’t keep a good client without good advertising, and no client will ever buy better advertising than he understands or has an appetite for.”

The guy who built an ad empire in many countries worldwide is also famous for these quotes:

“When you reach for the stars you may not quite get one, but you won’t come up with a handful of mud either.”

“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.”

In every Volkswagen ad, Bernbach paid the highest tribute to the consumer by being honest, simple, sensible and, most of all, different. The results were always positive.

The man on the street had no problem relating to it, and the manufacturing and advertising philosophy that he created were always one and the same. That was the trademark of Volkswagen advertising.

“When you love and respect the consumer, the same goes back to you, and the cash box rings merrily ever after,” a local client was quoted as saying.

While many will argue that success has a formula, it is quite different with advertising.

“The memorable never emerged from a formula,” says Bernbach.

Try airing three different shampoo brands on TV with the same execution and almost exact template. Will people find it easy distinguishing your brand? “If your advertising goes unnoticed, everything else is academic,” Bernbach said.

In the Philippines, formula print and outdoor advertising are a dime a dozen. Headline, subhead, visual, body copy, tagline, blurbs and other screaming violators, plus a big logo, are much evident they look like brochures.

Bernbach advocated no rules in advertising. He knew that when you impose restrictions, the creative well dries up. He says, “There would be a time when no headline is proper and there would be a time when a headline is proper.”

As consumers get smarter and smarter, formula advertising gets ignored. And as generic advertising becomes prevalent, advertisers risk losing lots of production and media money.

More quotes

“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.”—Jerry Della Femina

“There are always protests, whether you do something good or bad. Even if you do something beneficial, people say you do it because it’s advertising.”—Giorgio Armani

“I can’t say the advertising model is obsolete yet, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense in the long range.”—Jay Chiat

“Hire people who are better than you are, then leave them to get on with it. Look for people who will aim for the remarkable, who will not settle for the routine.”—David Ogilvy