Leo Burnett was an American advertising executive and best known as the Founder of Leo Burnett Worldwide. Best known for creating some of the most well known advertising characters and campaigns ever seen in the 20th Century,Burnett is known for Tony the Tiger, Charlie the Tuna, the Marlboro Man and more. Named one of the 100 most influential people in the 20th century by Time Magazine, here is a look at some of the most notable Leo Burnett quotes ever documented.
“A company in which anyone is afraid to speak up, to differ, to be daring and original, is closing the coffin door on itself.”
“A good basic selling idea, involvement and relevancy, of course, are as important as ever, but in the advertising din of today, unless you make yourself noticed and believed, you ain’t got nothin’.”
“Advertising is the ability to sense, interpret… to put the very heart throbs of a business into type, paper and ink.”
“Anyone who thinks that people can be fooled or pushed around has an inaccurate and pretty low estimate of people – and he won’t do very well in advertising.”
“Before you can have a share of market, you must have a share of mind.”
“Collective solutions to problems start with individual human beings and individual efforts.”
“Creative ideas flourish best in a shop which preserves some spirit of fun. Nobody is in business for fun, but that does not mean there cannot be fun in business.”
“Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.”
“Don’t tell me how good you make it; tell me how good it makes me when I use it.”
“Fun without sell gets nowhere but sell without fun tends to become obnoxious.”
“Good advertising is a happy wedding of words and pictures, not a contest between them.”
“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.”
“I have learned that any fool can write a bad ad, but that it takes a real genius to keep his hands off a good one.”
“I have learned that it is far easier to write a speech about good advertising than it is to write a good ad.”
“If you don’t get noticed, you don’t have anything. You just have to be noticed, but the art is in getting noticed naturally, without screaming or without tricks.”
“Good #advertising…penetrates the public mind with desires and belief.”
– #LeoBurnett pic.twitter.com/6gXB3JuMmA— Paul Talbot (@PaulTalbot77) February 25, 2017
“It’s important in building our organizational machines not to exclude the dissenter, the ‘Outsider,’ the non-conformist.”
“Let’s continue to be known as an agency which spends more time trying to improve its theories rather than defend them.”
“Let’s gear our advertising to sell our goods, but let’s recognize also that advertising has a broad social responsibility.”
“Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.”
“Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind.”
“Regardless of the moral issue, dishonesty in advertising has proved very unprofitable.”
“Steep yourself in your subject, work like hell, and love, honor and obey your hunches.”
“The greatest thing to be achieved in advertising, in my opinion, is believability, and nothing is more believable than the product itself.”
“The secret of all effective advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships.”
“The sole purpose of business is service. The sole purpose of advertising is explaining the service which business renders.”
“The work of an advertising agency is warmly and immediately human. It deals with human needs, wants, dreams and hopes. Its ‘product’ cannot be turned out on an assembly line.”
“To swear off making mistakes is very easy. All you have to do is swear off having ideas.”
“We want consumers to say, ‘That’s a hell of a product instead of ‘That’s a hell of an ad.'”
“What helps people, helps business.”
“When you reach for the stars, you might not quite get one, but you won’t come up with a handful of mud either.”
Here is a speech presented by Leo Burnett.
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