Leo Burnett quotes

Leo Burnett was an influential American advertising executive and the founder of the Leo Burnett Company. His creative approach and iconic brand characters transformed the advertising industry. He is remembered as one of the most innovative minds in advertising history. Here are 41 of his 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. (Leo Burnett)
Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read. View quote
Leo Burnett
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. View quote
Leo Burnett
Fun without sell gets nowhere but sell without fun tends to become obnoxious. View quote
Leo Burnett
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. View quote
Leo Burnett
We want consumers to say, 'That's a hell of a product' instead of, 'That's a hell of an ad.' View quote
Leo Burnett
What helps people, helps business. View quote
Leo Burnett
The secret of all effective originality in advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships. View quote
Leo Burnett
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. View quote
Leo Burnett
The sole purpose of business is service. The sole purpose of advertising is explaining the service which business renders. View quote
Leo Burnett
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'. (Leo Burnett)
Good advertising does not just circulate information. It penetrates the public mind with desires and belief. View quote
Leo Burnett
Friction makes sparks and sparks start creative conflagrations. View quote
Leo Burnett
Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people. View quote
Leo Burnett
Advertising is the ability to sense, interpret... to put the very heart throbs of a business into type, paper and ink. View quote
Leo Burnett
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. View quote
Leo Burnett
I regard a great ad as the most beautiful thing in the world. View quote
Leo Burnett
The greatest thing to be achieved in advertising, in my opinion, is believability, and nothing is more believable than the product itself. View quote
Leo Burnett
There's no such thing as 'hard sell' and 'soft sell.' There's only 'smart sell' and 'stupid sell.' View quote
Leo Burnett
I am often asked how I got into the business. I didn't. The business got into me. View quote
Leo Burnett
There is no such thing as a permanent advertising success. (Leo Burnett)
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. View quote
Leo Burnett
If you can't turn yourself into your customer, you probably shouldn't be in the ad writing business at all. View quote
Leo Burnett
I have learned to respect ideas, wherever they come from. Often they come from clients. Account executives often have big creative ideas, regardless of what some writers think. View quote
Leo Burnett
I have learned that it is far easier to write a speech about good advertising than it is to write a good ad. View quote
Leo Burnett

Leo Burnett

Occupation: American Businessman
Born: October 21, 1891
Died: June 7, 1971
Quotes count: 41
Wikipedia: Leo Burnett

Related authors

William Bernbach - thumbnail
William Bernbach  31 
American Businessman
David Ogilvy  88 
British Businessman
Rosser Reeves  4 
American Businessman
Claude C. Hopkins  24 
American Businessman
Stefan Sagmeister - thumbnail
Stefan Sagmeister  8 
Austrian Designer
John Hughes - thumbnail
John Hughes  15 
American Director
George Lois - thumbnail
George Lois  5 
American Artist
Paul Rand - thumbnail
Paul Rand  20 
American Designer
Jay Chiat  21 
American Businessman
James Webb Young  8