Lee Clow Quotes

There's an independence to surfing, it's just you and the ocean. There aren't a bunch of rules.

An ad should be an appetizer, not a buffet.

If it's been done, do it better. If it hasn't been done, do it so well that better is not an option.

I’d rather apologize than to be so timid as to never try to do anything smart or brave.

Creativity thrives on a consistent diet of challenges and opportunities, which are often one and the same.

Actions speak louder than meetings.

Most ideas are a bit scary, and if an idea isn't scary, it's not an idea at all.

Baby Steps are for Babies, Not Brands. Be Amazing or Be Surpassed.

[In 2007] People's relationship with a brand is becoming a dialog, not a monolog.

I've never found a client's business problem that could be solved solely through advertising.

I have always felt the word 'advertising' is either a diminutive or derogatory term that kind of goes with stuff people don't like, and I always felt frustrated because I felt like I was a communication artist or a media artist. The best advertising is one of the art forms of our culture.

It's very demeaning that we have to put on a show to prove that we know how to put on a show.

Make it smart. Make it beautiful. Have fun.

When creatively passionate people get together to start a company, the energy and camaraderie is really pretty stimulating.

Creative people are 50% ego and 50% insecurity.

Consumers never complain about ads being too smart.

Shocking is easy. Shockingly brilliant, a bit more challenging.

Listen real hard to the smartest guy in the room before you go trying to prove how smart you are.

An incredible advertising career is not about creating an incredibly amazing ad, it's about making an incredible amazing ad every single day of your career, it's about getting those adds killed, and resurrecting them over and over again. It's about your season average not that occasional home-run.

What I've always loved to do is build a brand that's so cool that you want to wear their T-shirt.

Hey! You can be more than just a car company. You can be more than just a pet food company. You can aspire to loving dogs, rather than just feeding dogs.

Everything a brand does is advertising.

Telling stories on behalf of brands is what I've done all my life.

Managing brands is going to be more and more about trying to manage everything that your company does.

You have to be daring and make something that doesn't look like anybody else.

TV spots are short. If you can't hold folks' attention for 20 seconds before revealing the brand, find another line of work.

If you are always trying to do something great and different and fresh, lots of them are going to be shut down for lots of stupid or good reasons, but you have to keep on trying.

The smartest advertising is the advertising that communicates the best and respects the consumer's intelligence.

[In 2004 on being at TBWA Chiat Day for 30 years.] Different people are different in terms of the way they're made. I knew since the day I arrived at Chiat Day that I was at home, and that I was at a place where I could prove my talent and my ability... I am also married for 35 years too, so it could just be how I am.

What I know how to do is nurture and help people discover the best opportunities.

[In 2011] What Steve Jobs did was simply make everything and everyone better.

Ultimately, if you are doing great work, the money will come.

A thing that most creatives don't do well is that you've gotta learn to listen.

If you think you have a better mousetrap or car, or shirt, or whatever, you've got to tell people.

[In 2004] That's how I got a relationship with Steve Jobs. Because I listened really hard to him cause he's the smartest guy I ever worked for.

Most people who are deemed 'mean' are usually perfectionist who make mediocre people unhappy, cause they put more pressure on them then they can handle.

Good advertising is a dialog with people.

If you'd put it in a Powerpoint deck don't put it in your ad

The only reason you should move to a new job is if you are not getting the opportunity to do what you want to do and what you believe you can do.

When you open an Apple product it's like a religious experience.

Throughout history, the technology always comes first. It's just technology for a while, until the day we artists inherit it.

I found my own way of doing things.

Steve [Jobs] is unique. There aren't many clients that are like that. You have one guy that you really work for. That's very rare.

[In 2011 on Steve Jobs] He was the most amazing person I have ever know. He was a genius. He was an innovator. He was the best client we ever had. He was my friend.

Advertising can be a very frustrating business.