Advertisers who know what they’re doing don’t lie. They find the truth and tell it in a dramatic way.

Mark Pollard, creative strategist

Let the audience fill in some blanks…

“When baiting a trap with cheese, always remember to leave room for the mouse” Howard Gossage, advertising icon

What he meant was, don’t just tell the audience what you want them to think. Leave some blanks for the audience to fill in themselves, so they reach the destination on their own. A conclusion or idea formed by the customer in their own mind is likelier to stay there.

Marketing lesson: keep trying

“What I had to do was get in the box 500 times a season. 100 times I’d connect. 50 times the goalkeeper would save it. Half of the rest would go in and 25 goals a season would do me – just by making sure I got in the box 500 times”

Jimmy Greaves, England football international

(H/T Dave Trott)

Innovation is less about producing something new, and more about enabling something new and important for customers

Clayton Christensen, strategy expert

A powerful take on persuasion

“The most powerful way to get someone to believe something is not to show them facts, because facts can be interpreted in different ways. It’s to make their income or approval in a social circle depend on believing it.”

Morgan Housel

A brand without trust is just a product, and a product can be replaced

Keith Weed, CMO, Unilever

Advertising works not by communicating, but by making someone feel something. Emotions are the key

Les Binet & Peter Field

What is an insight?

…an observation framed in such a way that it changes understanding of the situation and suggests action

Jem Fawcus, CEO – Firefish