Farewell Bob, And Thanks

The great Bob Levenson died this week at the age of 83. Bob was one of advertising’s great copywriters and key part of the creative revolution in the 60s, and his work has been a long-time inspiration for us. From his famous ad Do This Or Die...

“We in advertising, together with our clients, have all the power and skill to trick people. Or so we think. But we're wrong. We can't fool any of the people any of the time. There is indeed a twelve-year-old mentality in this country; every six-year-old has one. We are a nation of smart people. And most smart people ignore most advertising because most advertising ignores smart people. Instead we talk to each other. We debate endlessly about the medium and the message. Nonsense. In advertising, the message itself is the message. A blank page and a blank television screen are one and the same. And above all, the messages we put on those pages and on those television screens must be the truth. For if we play tricks with the truth, we die.”

Thanks Bob.