Wit and wisdom from Leo Burnett
Here’s today’s Leo: “I look for craftsmen in words and pictures who so completely understand good creative masonry and are so skilled in it, that when they lay a brick out of place they do it on purpose.” — Leo Burnett This is a wonderful analogy — it’s similar to …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “I believe that superior creative work always has been, is, and always will be the hub of the wheel in any successful agency.” — Leo Burnett The campaign which put David Ogilvy on the map was for Rolls-Royce from 1958 to 1962. This super famous campaign stated: …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “Good advertising is a happy wedding of words and pictures, not a contest between them.” — Leo Burnett They don’t TV advertise “Kraft Singles” anymore, but boy oh boy — when they did, it was world-class. Here’s to a wonderful marriage of words and pictures, in a …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “Whatever success I have enjoyed, I attribute almost entirely to a deep personal sense of responsibility to our clients and to the job at hand, with a passion for thoroughness, often at considerable personal sacrifice, and an unyielding intolerance of sloppy thinking, sloppy work and almost-good-enough jobs.” …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “Steep yourself in your subject, work like hell, and love, honor and obey your hunches.” — Leo Burnett I’m always puzzled by marketers who don’t deeply understand their product or their subject. I always tell people that I’m cool if they don’t want to steep themselves in …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “Cling like wildcats to the only realities we can swear we have hold of — our own sacred and individual integrities.” — Leo Burnett Right on … and if Leo were alive today, I think he’d add “… and be a HONEY BADGER ABOUT IT!” #madmen #advertising …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “A real idea has a power of its own and a life of its own.” — Leo Burnett I’ve loved the P&G “Thank You Mom” campaign which they’ve been producing since the 2010 Winter Games. It’s clearly one of the greatest campaigns of the 21st century, and …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “I regard a great ad as the most beautiful thing in the world.” — Leo Burnett Beautiful because it sells. Beautiful because a whole story is told in a few moments. Beautiful because each of those moments are slaved over by a team of professionals. Beautiful like …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “I have learned to practice what I call ‘constructive dissatisfaction.’” — Leo Burnett I can only imagine what it would have been like to have experienced Leo’s ‘constructive dissatisfaction.’ I’m guessing he was always working to make it better, without demotivating the creatives … kinda like this Kissinger …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “My only warning is that growth never compromises integrity, and I regard integrity as the heart and driving force of this agency.” — Leo Burnett I have this really cool CD collection called “Great Speeches of the 20th Century” and it features speeches of the great events …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “These things pay off — good taste, a high standard of ethics, an attitude of public responsibility and low …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “A good basic selling idea, involvement and relevancy, of course, are as important as ever, but in the advertising …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “Take a firm stand against putting expediency above principle; bluff ahead of facts.” — Leo Burnett While this was …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “The grist for our mill is still words. Words as they put the sock and soul into the expression …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “If you are writing about baloney, don’t try to make it Cornish hen because that is the worst kind …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “It seems axiomatic that you have to make a friend before you can effectively make him a proposition.” — …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “It’s important in building our organizational machines not to exclude the dissenter, the ‘Outsider,’ the non-conformist.” — Leo Burnett …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “I listen to everybody and take notes. Particularly salesmen. They get close to people.” — Leo Burnett Leo Burnett …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “Anyone who thinks that people who can be fooled or pushed around has an inaccurate and pretty low estimate …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “I have always felt that advertising could be something to get excited about. To take pleasure in. To regard …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “‘Reaching for the Stars’ may sound a little naive, but it is a thought in which I passionately believe; …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “It is this spirit (Reaching for the Stars) which I think has made many of us work long hours, …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “The biggest problem of all, as I see it, is a human one — how to keep from acting …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “In operating a business of our size, it is obvious that we have to be well departmentalized. This does …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “Creative ideas flourish best in a shop which preserves some spirit of fun. Nobody is in business for fun, …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.” — Leo …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “In learning to work and live with people, the most important thing I am coming to understand is the …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “Agencies that create great advertising may become big agencies, but their goal remains the creation of great advertising.” — …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “I have always taken the attitude that no account is a ‘problem account’ but that all accounts have important …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “The greatest saving of all is better utilization of our time. This directly affects practically every phase of the …more
