“Think
of it this way: there are many forms of expressing creativity: Doyle Dane
Bernbach’s genre centred around irony, humor, irreverence, whimsy and a
capacity to evoke genuine emotion. Brilliant, yes. But soft on aggression. Ed
Butler, who worked first at DDB and later at Ally & Gargano, summed up the
relative merits of the three most influential agencies at the time in these
succinct words: Ogilvy gave advertising a certain dignity, Bernbach gave it
humanity. Ally gave it teeth.” (Gargano, 2009, p.13).
“We
figured client-agency relationship should be a two-way street. We had as much
right to evaluate and reject a client as their right to evaluate and reject
us.” (Gargano, 2009, p.17).
“His
(Carl Ally’s) frankness, often brutal, often without tact, made him a
vulnerable target. But it was also his willingness to freely bare his soul that
made him connect so well with people – a 200-pound mass of raw nerve endings.
(…) He once said to me, “In this life, you’ve got to show your ass.”” (Gargano,
2009, p.39).
“For
us, comparative advertising became the quintessential advertising form to
deliver useful consumer information. A tough, factful approach short on hype,
puffery, and embellishment. And when you think about it, isn’t comparative
judgement the way people decide on almost everything?” (Gargano, 2009, p.52). “We
need something to compare something else to in order to give that something
greater definition and meaning.” (Gargano, 2009, p.73).
“Comparative
advertising will work only when a product has superior benefits over
competition.” (Gargano, 2009, p.73).
“”The last thing we do is make ads,” were
repeated in every new business meeting during what seemed a lifetime.”
(Gargano, 2009, p.75).
“Two
basic elements of communications, substance and style, were made equal in
importance – one was never subordinated to the other. Both are essential in all
work.
“I’ve
never seen a consumer look at an ad that caught their attention and then go on
to say, “I’d buy it, but it’s not on strategy.”” (Gargano, 2009, p.77).
“Advertising
is the toy department of business.” (Gargano quoting O’Reilly, 2009, p.138).
“Award
shows have an intrinsic merit. They set the standard that serves as a source of
inspiration to others, and deliver the recognition and reward to those who have
labored long and fought hard to create the best of what we do as an industry. Whatever
shortcomings exist, and there are many, their value exceeds their limitations.”
(Gargano, 2009, p.138).
“When
the French want to sell you something they take off their clothes. The English
tell a joke. And Americans sing.” (Gargano, 2009, p.138).
“We hypothesized, contrary to established
thinking, that ad agencies are not in the service business. Although service
for agencies was all hat mattered, we insisted that, foremost, agencies
manufactured products – tangible and finite – that can be touched, seen, or
llistened to. They’re called ads. And that’s what we make.” (Gargano, 2009,
p.218).
“Whoever
the advertiser,
whatever
the product,
there
was always the
commitment
to uncover ways
to
better inform the consumers.” (Gargano, 2009, p.312).
“If
I want to be different, I’ll come to breakfast in the morning with my socks in
my mouth.” (Gargano quoting Leo Burnett, 2009, p.339).
“He
was driven, I suppose like many of us here tonight, by a fear of living an
ordinary life – by a fear of checking out before he made his mark.” (Gargano,
2009, p.369).
“And
that is what you are about to see: Advertising’s possibilities. Honest, powerful
work, filled with humanity and warmth, satire, irony and irreverence.”
(Gargano, 2009, p.369).
“Great
clients make great agencies, not vice versa.” (Gargano, 2009, p.377).
“Not
obvious simplicity, which is to say water is wet and fire is hot, but to edit
and transform this profusion of information into an illuminating, simple
thought that everyone can grasp and remember.” (Gargano, 2009, p.409).
“Comfort
the afflicted. Afflict the comforted.” (Gargano, 2009, p.409).
“Adversity, it is said, introduces a man
to himself.” (Gargano, 2009, p.412).
“Company symbols and logos are necessary
today, but, as Bill Bernbach was fond of saying, they’re more like “Corporate
Cufflinks.”” (Gargano, 2009, p.460).
“I don’t understand why an agency would
want to devour other agencies. For what purpose? Why should I acquire a bunch
of disparate philosophies and try to assimilate them? Any artist knows when you
mix all the colors of the palette, the color you end up with is mud.” (Gargano,
2009, p.526).
“A professor from Harvard appeared,
spewing marketing platitudes and shibboleths of inctionable generalities.”
(Gargano, 2009, p.539).
Publicly held companies are constrained
by a more rigid set of controls than privately held companies. Outside
directors with fiduciary responsibility will decide matters in the best
financial interest of shareholders over the need for a company to maintain
ideology that’s held dearly.” (Gargano, 2009, p.576).
