“Campaigns containing little or no product, but working instead by appealing to emotions or ‘herd instincts’, are twice as effective as conventional ‘message’ advertising. It seems in marketing, like politics, meta-communication is what matters … what you say matters less than how you say it.”
Sarah Carter & Les Binet, ‘How not to plan’
“When you give too many details and words and ideas and choices, all those ideas compete with each other – so the receiver has a lot of details, but doesn’t know which one to focus on.”
Joel Schwartzberg, professional presentation coach, via HBR
The essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action, while reason leads to conclusions.
Donald B. Calne, renowned neurologist
For better or for worse, in visual culture we judge and are judged by appearances
Kim Golombisky & Rebecca Hagen, design authors
“If some people find it unclear, it’s unclear. If you find it clear and someone else finds it unclear, it’s unclear. The responsibility for clarity of comms is with the communicator not the recipient.”
Vic Polkinghorne, Founder – agency WeAreSellSell
“The more people that do the same thing, the less different and distinctive it becomes. And the less different and distinctive it becomes, the less effective it is. And that’s a real imperative towards innovative thought and innovative action.”
Murray Calder, strategist
We don’t want to push our ideas on to customers, we simply want to make what they want.
Laura Ashley, fashion and home design legend
An idea is anything that changes the selling message from mere information to persuasive communication
Suzanne Pope, advertising expert
My philosophy about advertising is rather simple. I believe in giving consumer the facts about the product and making those facts fascinating.
David Ogilvy, advertising legend
“Information design is presenting information in a structured way to effectively communicate a particular subject with clarity and efficiency.
Don’t just tell when you can show … but, in successful visualisation, seeing must lead to understanding. And, as in any other medium, it much engage, inform and inspire us.”
Graham Roberts, Senior Graphics Editor, The New York Times
Bite-Sized Marcomms 