Timely andvertising advice from some dead guys

L-R: Bill Bernbach, David Ogilvy, Winston Churchill

In a world increasingly overloaded with news, distractions, and choices, it’s going to take more than data-driven strategies and monitoring mouse clicks by the millions to create andvertising that gets noticed.

Call me old school but I believe what Bill Bernbach preached: “Persuasion in communication is largely an art. It’s wrong to conduct it as a science. When you do, you base everything on research—and you simply can’t research ingenuity, taste and judgement.”

True, quality content is essential. But quality content doesn’t make people feel anything. It’s how you express the quality content that makes the difference.

In 1960, Bill Bernbach could have used an “-st” word to make a positive statement such as: “Volkswagen has the greatest inspection system in the world.” Instead, he dramatized the negative side of the story and chose a five-letter word that sends a shiver down the spine of a new car buyer: “Lemon.” In one brilliant stroke he captured the fact that Volkswagen had a rather remarkable quality control system.

In 1958, David Ogilvy could have picked a nice “-st” word and said, “Rolls Royce is the quietest car in the world.” Instead, he picked a different “-st” word and wrote, “At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.”

And in 1940, Winston Churchill could have said, “We owe a lot to the RAF.” Instead he expressed it this way: “Never was so much owed by so many to so few.”

Nothing succeeds like a great idea memorably executed.