Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 1. Exaggeration
Men whose opinions are effective are men of moderation.
Instinct discounts superlatives. And the discount often goes too far to the article's injustice.
Adjectives callous credulity.
Blatancy does not command respect.
Over-statement, in reaction, creates commensurate resistance.
Some things may be the best of their kind in the world. But it is pretty hard for finite minds to
know it. And harder still for cynical minds to believe it.
Modesty, by its very rarity, commands attention. And by its fascination wins.
Too much effort makes men think that your selling task is hard.
Remember how the expression "Morgan & Wright Tires are Good Tires" stood out amidst the
bombast of its time.
What advertising phrase was ever more effective than the simple words "It Floats"?

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 2. Good Nature
In selling goods, in print or person, good nature is a prime essential.
Never attack a competitor. Never appear ungracious.
Never complain at defeat.
Play business like a game of golf Be always the cultured gentleman, always the good
fellow.
Be efficient. Watch your chances. Make every stroke tell to the limit.
But be fair with your opponent. Observe the rules. Sometimes stretch them, if you see a
chance, in your rival's favor.
Applaud his master strokes. Show a sunny disposition. Be always a good sport.
An easy manner indicates reserve power. To the casual onlooker, the man who smiles seems
the winner.
Men buy more things because they like the salesman than logic ever sold them.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 3. Service'
All business worth while, and all that's enduring, is based on superior service.
In primitive business, one man raised corn, another hunted pelts. And they exchanged their
products.
The basis was, You work for me, I'll work for you. And that basis has never altered.
Now some men study medicine, some law, some advertising. Some make motor cars, some
clothing and some food.
But all are selling service.
Men don't buy brains or trucks or clothes. They buy a certain needed service, and pay in
other service.
The man who shirks will fail.
The man who gives more than another will eventually outstrip him.
Every sale or purchase, every business alliance, should be based on service only.
If this is faulty, or if it is superlative, men will find it out. And the verdict will fix your place.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 4. Not Like War.
Twas said at one time that business is like war.
Perhaps it was at one time, but there's been a reformation.
War means enmity, bitterness, deception and destruction. Victory rides on ruin.
Modern business means co-operation.
Secrets have become uncommon.
Oppression is obsolete, almost.
Strategy is rivalry in service.
Attacks are in bad odor.
Expediency, as well as conscience, forbids a ruthless act.
Competitors meet in conventions. What one man learns he gladly gives to others.
We have found that business thrives best in an atmosphere of courtesy and of mutual helpThe man who lacks this spirit should not advertise at discord with the new-day, trend. The
less he lets men know of him the better..

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 5. Joy of Work
Men do best what they like best.
A man will little succeed-for himself or for others who considers his work as a hardship.
In employing helpers, learn their attitude of mind. Get men, if you can, who go at the job as a ballplayer goes to bat.
Get men who think more of the winning than they do of the recompense.
Most of the big things are being done by men who don't need the money. They are done for
the joy of doing. And joy-work is done well.
Some men object to calling business a game. We like that description of it. When our office
ceases to seem a play-ground we shall think we belong elsewhere.
We look for helpers who see only the goal, and not the rough road that leads there. And we
believe that every client whom we serve in advertising is glad that we find it fun.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 6. Individuality
Cultivate a personality peculiar to yourself. Make that distinction, if you can, point in the right
direction. But better a wrong directionin degreethan similarity.
Uniqueness alone gets attention.
A crowd never progresses. The very first step toward leadership takes a man away from the
rest.
So in advertising. Any article, to succeed, must first be made distinctive.
Clothe it with individuality. Make it stand out from its rivals.
Learn what buyers most want. Then give to your product that characteristic, if the article
deserves it.
Picture an ideal product, based on wanted qualities. Make sure that the maker conforms to it.
Then never deviate, in picture or in product.
Varying claims are elusive. Too many claims are confusing. One great distinction is usually
enough.
Work to that single model. Then in time it will come to typify something that men want.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 7. Simplicity
Be simple in the language which you use in print. Especially in advertising. The world is full of
very simple people.
Use common wordsshort sentencesso all may comprehend.
Erase yourself. Make no attempt to impress your own capacity.
Let no unique phrase, no happy turn, take attention from the product that you talk.
The ad-writer is anonymous and should be. He is talking for the man who sells. That man is
selling merchandise, not literary style.
Don't seem to strain after effect.
Hide your effort to sell. Such effort, when apparent, creates a resistance.
Be brief. Folks won't listen to a salesman long. Say nothing which doesn't count.
Stop when you finish. Don't repeat. Printed words are costly.
Make your first wordsyour headlinesstrike the very heart of your subject.
Don't mix major and minor claims. Little claims belittle all. And paltry qualities, when cited,
suggest the lack of great ones.
'

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 8. Sincerity
Humor has no place in advertising.
Nor has poetry. Nor any touch of lightness.
Spending money is serious business. And most folks so regard it.
YOU are seeking confidence. Deserve it.
You are courting respect. Avoid frivolity.
People are not reading ads for amusement. They seek information. And they want it from a
man who seems sincere.
Picture a typical customer. Consider his wantsand his ignorancerespecting what you
have to sell.
Consider the importanceto him and to youof what you ask him to do.
Write as though that man were before you.
Write as though your future depended on that sale. Your future does, when your words go to
millions.
Don't pass an ad until you feel that the reader will find it resistless.
Make your case impregnable.
Make every word ring with truth.
There is nothing so winning in the world as absolute sincerity. Nothing is so abhorrent as its
lack.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 9. Brevity
This is a hurried world. Yet we linger long over interesting things, and wish to linger longer.
We like brief sermons, but not brief plays. We want our sweetmeats in bulky form, but our
quinine in a capsule.
All this applies to advertising.
Tell an interesting story to an interested man and brevity becomes a fault.
For instance, a motor enthusiast, about to spend a year's savings on a car. You can't say too
much to him.
"Reason Why"a Lord & Thomas copy ideahas had a thousand critics. But look at its
successes.
This all depends on the ad.
If you are talking of something which nobody wants, better stop talking entirely.
If you are talking bombast, brevity is much to be desired.
If your treatment isn't interesting, length is an added fault.
But don't omit things worth saying. None of your readers is seeking amusement. Unless they
want information they'll pass the briefest ad by.
Don't skimp them on what they want.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 10. Good Name
Foster respect for the line you live by, and for the men who make it.
Never abuse a competitor.
Cite your able rivals. Praise their deeds. Show pride that they are compeers. Your own
importance is enhanced by a background of the great.
Don't limelight the unworthy until men feel that your whole field is infested.
No man can discredit his co-workers without sharing the shadow himself.
Remember how muckraking once beclouded all the best in American business. The few
attacked came to typify the whole. The innocent and guilty suffered equal opprobrium.
Don't invite a like disaster to the confidence you share.
In full force, this applies to advertising.
Note its wondrous growth. Mark the power it wields. Consider how the ablest men respect
it. Think what vast issues are committed to its care.
You did not make it what it is. Ten thousand men worked with you. And every man who
smirches one becomes a mutual enemy.
Protect that priceless prestige by every word and act. Do your part to dignify the line.
Rome was not built in a day, we know. But we know it was burned in a night.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 11. Confidence
Do nothing in advertising which by any chance may lessen men's confidence in it.
That's our most priceless possession.
Discourage speculation in this line.
Minimize the chances of mistakes.
Move slowly in new undertakings.
Attempt to sell nothing until convinced that the product deserves success.
Venture in no line until you measure carefully the possible demand.
Enter no big field until your plans have first met success in a small one.
Aim always to prove advertising safe.
Avert disasters. Under right methods they have no excuse.
One glaring failure, due to rashness, may discredit you forever. And it should. But, more than
that, it lends to this line the aspect of a gamble. One man's costly error has deterred a hundred men
from advertising.
Never let an untruth or a half-truth creep into an ad. Your readers may never know it. But the
men you serve will judge your standards by it.
No man suffers alone for a misdeed in business. His whole line shares the blame.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 12. Self-Respect
Do not use the arts of friendship in seeking or holding trade.
They have no place in business.
You are not selling personality. Clients worth having are not buying good fellowship. You
insult them when you intrude it.
You will never gain the world's respect until you show self-respect.
In advertising, any worthy expert is a man of rare accomplishments. He has spent a lifetime in
acquiring the ability he offers. It was coined from precious years.
You degrade such talents when you try to sell them as courtiers sell manners.
Then flattery little flatters when used as a business bribe. Compliments used to sway men's
judgment are far from complimentary.
In any enterprise worth winning, fawning brings contempt.
Seem the leader if you wish to lead.
Merit is the question in every business deal. Let it stand unhampered and alone.
Alas for the man who ventures in advertising with a sycophant as pilot. Better, if necessary, a
qualified boor.
The big men you meet well know that.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 13. The Golden Rule
The greatest business axiom ever uttered is The Golden Rule. But it took two thousand years
to discover it.
Disregard of others' rights once made business a reproach. Self was the guiding spirit.
Customers were often lambs, workers slaves, and rivals enemies.
But in the valleys of despair business learned a lesson. And big-brained rnenamong them
Gary, Lovett and the McCormicksapplied The Golden Rule.
Now competitors are friends.
Now directors are trustees.
Now customers are wards.
Now coworkers are partners.
Note the different aspect. Business men are now regarded as builders of communities. As
crusaders in prosperity. As socialistic leaders.
Also note the sounder business structure. Note its greater profits.
Article one in every by-law should be this Golden Rule. Chapter one in every business lesson.
Blaze it on every office wall.
Measure with it every word and deed.
Gains made without it wither in one's hands. They form a trembling structure. And they
come, in time, to symbolize contempt.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 14. Picking Men
In commercial fields, the great successes are due largely to skill in picking men.
Few other acts are so far-reaching, so persistent in effect.
Office boys and officers may be equally important. For your coming captains should grow up
from the ranks. Developed big men are pretty hard to get.
Your advertising pilots are particularly important. Your place with the millions depends on
them.
But. happily, the right men here are easily selected. A mistake is inexcusable.
Every master of advertising, at every step, leaves his indelible record. You have only to
consult it.
Mediocrity, when on parade, looks much like competence. But it is your own fault if you
judge men by such off -hand impressions.
In advertising, where so much is staked, beware men of unproved powers.
In Lord & Thomas, with all our skill at selection, hardly one in fifty unproved men proves a
master.
The men who can do big things for you have done them repeatedly elsewhere.
Don't try to measure them up for yourself. Go to the men who have tried them.
Go to the greatest successes you know and ask who their pilots were.
They are the safe onesthe certain.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 15. Self-Confidence
In any game of skill you play mark the value of self-confidence.
Sometimes you play well, sometimes illdue to varying mental attitude.
It never rains but it pours" and "Troubles never come singly" mean simply that misfortune
breeds misfortune through the mind.
Some men attain the habit of success, and all things come their way. Other men, expecting ill
luck, rarely fail to meet it.
In business we call this esprit de corps. In the army they call it morale. In any contest of wits
or arms it is all-important.
Years alone bring none to the age limit. It is dead self-assurance, which the years have killed.
Consider these facts in employing advertising helpers. Don't resent egotism that's born of
experience. It denotes habitual success, while modesty may mean a fear, due to repeated blows.
Be careful, however. Self-assertion is too often only bumptious ignorance. But a battlescarred veteran who remains sure of himself can be trusted to succeed.
The man who knows, and knows he knows, is the man to follow.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 16. Efficiency
Efficiency is the ability to get maximum results at minimum cost in money, time or effort.
It is so rare a quality that the man who has it need fear no competition.
Men waste more effort than they utilize in nearly every undertaking. Often ten times as much.
They spend countless working hours-on trifles, unworthy of their calibre. They have no
schedules. They fritter time away. '
Rare is the man doing half what he could if he corrected this evil of waste.
But advertising. probably, holds the palm for flagrant inefficiency. That it survives such
prodigality shows its wondrous latent powers.
Mark how few costly ads exhibit masterly salesmanship. How few carry conviction. Or could
ever lead to action or decision.
A $25-a-week salesman would lose his job if he attempted like methods in person.
Too many ad-writers think of men in masses. They scatter words like grass seed.
Aim at an individuals typical possible customer. Address that man as you would talk in
person.
Seek to accomplish action.
How many of your ads could measure up to that essential standard ?

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 17. Imagination
What is Imagination, so cited as a business asset?
Certainly it is not a dreamer's dream.
The architect, when he plans a 40-story structure, has every line and detail pictured in
advance.
The engineer, when he spans a chasm, first ascertains the strength requirements of a million
separate parts.
They see the end, and mark the way there, before one step is taken. For they know that
deviation is expensive.
So should it be in business, and in advertising.
Haphazard efforts lead in many different ways. To gain a goal, one's every effort should aim
directly at it.
In advertising, more than most lines, one needs imagination. But it must be trained.
As in architecture and engineering, it must be the picture of a man who knows.
Such a man can see the end because he has seen it often. And he knows the way.
The picture is essential. One must have in mind-perhaps years in advance--exactly what he
aims at. And every move must fit the end, else the act is wasted.
A difficult thing, but vital in advertising, is to keep in one direction.
Zig-zag- paths are long.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 18. Averages
Judge all things possible by the law of averages. Avoid isolated facts.
As well judge climate by some weather extreme, as a man by an hour on parade.
All unfit men do the fit thing at times. And unsafe men the safe thing.
Many men create one business success who could never create another.
Like causes often bring opposite effects.
All men are many-sided. All business enterprises alternate ups and downs. So one can prove
by selected facts whatever he wishes about them.
Remember these truths in advertising.
Here you appeal to the millions. Mistakes are very costly. Don't be guided. by a few
opinions.
Don't view the whole world through the dot of your little circle.
Get the viewpoint of a myriad prospects before taking important steps.
Get the verdict of the thousands before the millions are approached.
The vagaries 'of human nature belie the shrewdest guesses.
Nearly all the mistakes made in advertising are the errors of egotism.
Bigots always blunder.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 19. Diplomacy
The wheels of business, like all human cogs, need oiling.
Opinions differ, interests clash, pride is often ruffled. And friction retards progress.
The preventive is diplomacy.
Don't be arbitrary. The ablest men-who best can serve you-resent autocracy the most.
Don't be obstinate. Think how often other viewpoints have proved better than your own.
In advertising, the layman and the expert often disagree. But usually on non-essentials, due to
different types of mind.
The expert errs when he contests a point which matters little. Life is all compromise. No one
is always right. And contests, won or lost, leave scars.
Yield such things with a "thank you," and thus create desire for reciprocity.
The time may come when the dispute involves a principle with you. A point you can't
concede. For no man, guardian of his own prestige, can knowingly share in an error.
Fortunate for you then if you have concessions to your credit. If you have stood for give and
take. For men are fair in general. All they ask, among their equals, is a "fifty-fifty" deal.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 20. Genius
There is no such thing as an advertising genius.
To be an average man, with an average viewpoint, is the first essential of success.
The advertising expert must be many-sided- Genius is-never that.
One must be very human to win humanity his way. Genius isn't human.
Beware the high-brow in any field of selling. The workings of the common mind are beyond
his comprehension.
One mast know why Farmer Jones buys a certain plow. Why Mrs. Housewife likes a certain
soap. What Anyman thinks most about when he goes to buy a car.
It isnt genius-it is common sense-which tells these things to men. And men in the clouds are
excluded.
Success in business comes from doing just the obvious things, which dreamers overlook.
Salesmanship is not an intellectual pursuit.
Review your schoolmates. Mark how the brilliant men have fallen. Note where the plodders
are.
Consider that in choosing men to help you.
In business, the greatest and the rarest quality is plain horse-sense.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 21. Psychology
Unguided by Psychology, salesmanship is crude. Good advertising must recognize facts like
these:
People are dilatory. Without some incentive to prompt action or decision they will usually
delay and forget.
It is natural to follow others. Impress folks with the crowd that goes your way.
It is natural to obey. A direct command is more effective than request.
People don't like problems. Present them only the worked-out solutions.
Too evident desire to sell puts men on guard against you.
Curiosity incites men more than fact. Half-told tales have interest which completed tales have
not.
Men covet an advantage. Things they can get which others can't are things they want the
most.
Folks are not impressed by boasting.
When you quote others to confirm your statements you indict your own veracity.
Evident bias kills influence. Praise of an article is made doubly effective by a touch of
criticism.
One's honesty can never be impressed save by some evident self-denial.
Masterful advertising has to consider a thousand such basic axioms.
That's one reason for- its rarity.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 22. Eccentricity
Every evidence of Eccentricity, in word, manner or person diminishes one's influence.
It is considered abnormal. And only normal things can seriously appeal to normal minds.
Interest and amusement are often engendered by it. But it never carries conviction. And it
never breeds respect.
Yet how common it is in advertising.
How many Jekylls in personal salesmanship are Hydes when they sell in print.
Still these very ad-writers, in their serious reading, particularly abhor Eccentricity.
In newspapers, magazines and books they desire simplicity. They stand for clearness and
directness, familiar types and settings, normal pictures and displays. Always, save when queerness is
intended to amuse.
Only in ads do they depart from these standards, and employ uniqueness for attention's sake.
Might as well place a clown's garb on a salesman, have him talk through a megaphone, or
walk on stilts.
Of what use is attention from amusement seekers who lack interest in your subject.
How can you hope to get a man's patronage through capers in frivolity?
When will advertisers learn that selling is serious business? That substance alone can count?
And that anything which leads minds away from the argument prohibits effective impressions?

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 23. Vanity
Let us not rail at Vanity.
It's a universal trait. And it adds to life a needed piquancy and charm.
Also, it is profitable. Half the business in the world would disappear if it perished.
And Ambition would die with it.
But let us open an account with it. Let us frankly charge to Vanity exactly what it costs us.
Separate it from essentials. In personal affairs or business, let us not fool ourselves.
Particularly in advertising.
When we depict our buildings and boast accomplishments, let us not charge that to selling.
Mark the unnecessary pictures, the wasteful borders and displays, the words inserted only for
self-pride.
Measure the space used solely to make ads attractive to yourself and friends.
Charge all that to Vanity account.
Do this by comparison with mail order ads. For in all traced advertising, where cost and result
can be accurately measured, Vanity obliterates itself.
Vanity is a friend of ours. Ads would be smaller and advertisers fewer without it. So this
Creed is not meant unkindly.
But as trusted advisers we must say to our clients, Don't charge Vanity to Salesmanship.
Keep a separate account.
Then, if the tax is too-great, reduce it.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 24. Frills
Advertising success, as every veteran knows, has little to do with the frills.
No more than business success has to do with clothes. Or the value of a book with the cover.
Only to inexpert observers are appearances impressive. But they are the multitude.
Nine laymen in ten judge an advertising campaign entirely by the pictures. Yet how rarely is
anyone sold by them alone.
So in all lines. The big things masters do are beyond casual comprehension. Men and their
efforts are largely judged by meaningless externals, until they are judged by results.
Thus it behooves us to be careful of appearance. That is, if we crave credit from the many, or
even from those we serve.
But, knowing how appearances deceive, we should guard ourselves against them.
Let them not sway your judgment.
A myriad men can make an ad attractive to one who can make it effective.
To look success is child's play compared with its achievement.
In business, no man is a capable captain unless immune to frills.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 25. Power
Forget not the responsibilities of power.
Virile advertising is a fearful force, and every master knows it. He can feel the millions yielding
to his sway.
The ad-writer is the only advocate who has everybody's ear. Around every fireside, far and
near, folks listen to his logic.
A frequent result is to create a monopoly. And the courts have decided, in a Sherman Law
case, that it is legal monopoly.
But, unless such monopolies serve the common good, they won't be legal long.
Forceful advertising leads or misleads in a tremendous way. It is serving Man or Mammon,
Greed or Justice, with a billion able cohorts.
In self-defense, the world will ever hold such forces to account.
Mark the history of misused power, in whatever field exerted. Avarice has never long
succeeded. Mankind was never long deluded. Never has injustice escaped punishment for long.
The guardians of advertising closed its doors to the liars and the frauds. And that was all that
saved it.
But all infractions of the square deal are dangers equally acute. We must guard this field
against them, else that power will be deposed.
All of us will share in the disaster.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 26. Folderol
A certain magazine reaches two million homes. A page ad in one issue costs $5,000.
To reach all homes in America-just once at like rate would cost $50,000.
One ad writer figures that advertisers spend $10 per word on his copy.
Look over advertising pages with that thought in mind, and judge what ads are worth that.
The trouble is just this:
Most advertisers cannot judge what their ads are doing. There are many factors in success,
and advertising in the melange gets an undue credit.
The result is much folderol which could never survive a real test.
All great ad-writers got their training in the school of direct results. Beware of one who did
not.
It takes real salesmanship to meet the test of traced returns. And a man who has to face them
long will never publish folderol.
Those foolish ads, those wasteful pictures, those inert platitudes. The men who write them
never squarely faced an advertising issue.
They will perish if they ever do.
Every worth-while ad is a master salesmans supreme effort to sell goods. In this costly field,
lesser efforts are folly.
There is no middle ground.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 27. Industry
Nature does less toward making big men than is generally supposed.
In fact, most masters were in youth particularly unpromising.
Demosthenes was a stutterer, Napoleon a recluse, Lincoln a rail-splitter.
Most biographies of great men start in lowliest surroundings. Their only visible distinction lay
in surplus handicaps.
The chief uniqueness which their record shows is overwhelming industry.
They did a day's work in a day, as did their fellows. But they stole an extra day from night.
We find it so in advertising.
Geniuses are failures. Brilliant writers never sell the goods. Great talent, by breeding overconfidence, multiplies mistakes.
The tragedy of this line is its countless fallen stars.
The rulers who stay are the plodders.
While others enjoyed their brief place in the sun, they basked by the midnight lamp.
After 44 years, this is our analysis: The only way to succeed is to work.
To out-rival others, do double work. Learn twice as much as they do, both of pitfalls and of
peaks.
No amount of brains can compete with double experience in salesmanship-in-print.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 28. Honesty
Honesty is not self-apparent.
And strangers rarely assume it.
So the man who desires a reputation for probity must actively work to attain it.
In selling goods, one way to secure it is by dealing frankly with both pro and con.
Honest men do that in personal dealings. They say, "That is your due, this is my due." And
they stand for both alike.
The result is implicit trust.
Think what it would mean to have equal prestige accrue to your selling in print.
Like methods will attain it.
Give to your rivals their due.
Assume your patron's viewpoint. Present, in his interest, every side of the question.
Mix some censure with your praise.
Some shortcomings with supremacies.
Make your fairness evident.
People expect laudations. Surprise -them with a touch of self-criticism.
Be more the judge than advocate.
We know some will exclaim, "What, pay my money to cite defects in my wares!"
Yes, it would pay. It is not altruistic.
The weight of your praise would be multiplied.
And the man who thinks he can hide a delinquency is fooling himself at best.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 29. Atmosphere
Around anything which typifies high attainment there accrues an air of prestige.
With a concern it sometimes grows until patronage seems a privilege.
With a man. it multiplies the effectiveness of every utterance and action.
To a product it gives what we call atmosphere in advertising. And that's its chiefest asset.
But prestige is intangible and volatile.
It is easily marred. It departs over-night if one fails to live up to it.
A man by one act can tarnish a luster which years have been spent to create.
And so may an advertiser in respect to his product. Its whole atmosphere with thousands may
be changed by a single ad.
One unworthy idea, made public, has razed many a slow-built structure.
Anything which indicates your own lack of respect forfeits the respect of your patrons.
Yet how often we see that done.
Some master salesman, by striking a high key, gives a product a rare prestige.
Then somebody else, over the same signature, destroys it by flippant treatment.
Scandal has more power than praise-by a hundred fold. Just so, one ad which shows a low
conception may bedim a thousand luster-giving touches.
We must protect our atmosphere from clouds.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 30 Courage
One reason why brave men succeed so easily is the prevalence of cowards.
Most opposition is mere bravado, which withers upon attack.
For lack of courage, the masses cling to life-rafts. And drift where the life-rafts go.
Only men who strike out where they sink or swim can hope to reach coveted ports.
Fear more than incapacity keeps men in ruts. And the feared things are bugaboos, usually.
Timid men often take seven years to do what other men do in seven months.
For fear of a risk they let rivals outstrip them, then flatter themselves on conservatism.
Advertising success is easy because so few men vigorously attempt it.
In a good many lines a solitary brand has the whole mammoth field to itself.
Yet the value of advertising as an aid to success is the best-advertised fact in the world.
Men don't know the way. The road is dark. And darkness breeds ghosts of disaster.
The fact is that advertising, rightly conducted, is the safest of business ventures. In nothing else
with equal prospects can one so feel his way.
It is a pity that more men don't consult pilots who have proved themselves trustworthy.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No 31. Caveat Emptor
That is an old-time rule which still retains some legal recognition.
But woe to the man, selling service or product, who today lets the buyer beware.
Modern business is no battle of wits. It's an offer of service, with a pledge of good faith.
Goods are sold on approval. And service would be, could time, like the goods, be reclaimed.
Selling inducements are all implied guarantees. To fail an iota is cheating.
Giving what patrons expect is but value received. And that is a matter of course.
Credit comes only through some over measure.
In your line and our line and all lines, very few men rise high.
Instinctively, in those who do, we look for super-service. Their place proves that they give it.
There lies the appeal of bigness.
It proves that many have there found some unique satisfaction. It proves that patrons stay.
And their verdicts have been endorsements.
Buyers know they don't need to beware.
It is not what we say, but -what customers say, that finally fixes our place.
And the big concern's place has been fixed.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 32. Time.
In the valuations which you place on time, multiply each business hour by ten.
Each working hour, normally, calls for an hour of sleep. And an hour of recreation.
Six working days call for a day of rest.
And the years of our full-blown powers were preceded by full as many years of preparation.
So an hour of your prime, as a business asset, makes at least ten hours of life.
Think of time that way-you easy-going men. You who let things lag.
You who waste countless hours in doing what less valuable men could do for you.
You who permit inefficient methods to cut your accomplishments in two.
You who do slowly what can be done quickly.
You who cultivate your fields with ox-plows when competitors use tractors.
You who employ mediocrity when ability could multiply your momentum.
You who continue in important positions, helpers who must be helped.
You who do in person what can be done a thousandfold better in print.
And you who use print in a pop-gun way when conditions call for cannon.
The money wasted is a minor matter. That is easily replaced.
But the time is lost forever. And wasted time, in your heyday, is -what limits your career.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 33. Modesty
Remember how winsome is Modesty. And how repugnant is Conceit. Boasting wins no
allies.
Men resent domination. They rebel at coercion. And they fear over-growth.
Sympathy lies with the under dog.
Size and strength excite interest. But they suggest self-sufficiency, and that chills the heart.
The great majority, fighting in the ranks, feel no fellowship with leaders.
They have no love for the powerful.
'

Twas the distrust and fear of overlords that bred the grudge against big business.
It is evident still in the growing trend to help in an uphill fight.

So it isn't wise to flaunt bigness. Or to show a desire to crush rivals. Or to indicate

dominance, usually.
Even too-big ads have, again and again, proved that they arouse resentment.
And many an ad, by its braggadocio, drives away goodwill.
Men who really command do not seem to attempt it. Men with the most power least display
it.
That is particularly true where success depends on a following. Above all, in politics and
advertising.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 34. Strategy
The primeval instinct in mankind is to gain our ends by force.
In advertising that means reliance on the power of money. And it rarely wins.
Sheer force is wasteful, crude, offensive. What it gains a greater force can always take away.
The skilful salesman uses strategy instead.
With much less effort, and perhaps less backing, he gets what money can't get.
That's the secret of successful advertising.
It isn't words or pictures, size of space, or anything you see. It is some subtle method which
escapes opposition, melts apathy, wins sympathy, and kindles instant interest.
Big concerns are most apt to rely on money. They waste millions every year in bold, mistaken
strokes.
And big concerns, in fights for public favor, make most of the mistakes.
Small concerns, for lack of money, are forced to strategy. So the great majority of advertising
successes spring from those conditions.
Many are won without risking a dollar. Many by men with almost nothing to risk.
That fact is rich in meaning.
It is skill, not money, that wins success in this field. And the men most likely to employ it are
the men who must.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 35. Mistakes
Don't figure to avoid mistakes.
You will never do anything new.
But minimize them. Don't be rash. Feel your way on new ground.
The "great decision" need rarely come in business. And never in advertising. . The wise man
finds the light by groping, never by sudden plunge.
On wants and wishes, likes and dislikes, there is no authority. Preferences can't be guessed.
But they are easily and cheaply ascertained.
The great masters of advertising are never infallible. They are simply efficient. Wrong or right,
you get a final answer.
But they get it "on the dog."
One never hears of their mistakes. They are too small, too brief. And nobody suffers by
them.
They let no effort reach the limelight save a well-proved certainty.
"Nothing risked, nothing gained," is a gambler's apology. "Nothing gained if much is risked" is
a better business proverb.
In advertising, nine-tenths of the successes staked a trifle at the start.
afterwards. But the graveyards of business are filled with the plungers.

And no thing

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 36. Gentility
In dealing with the great majority it pays to be a gentleman.
There are stupid people, boisterous people, lovers of brute force. But they are a minority.
And they, like the rest, are impressed by gentility.
Do you see black headlines, fairly yelling for attention? Settings grotesque or unusual?
Displays too urgent, claims blatant and insistent?
You feel that the man behind them is not one you'd care to meet.
There's an etiquette in advertising, as in all human relations. And it calls, like all codes, for the
following of fixed customs.
People are accustomed to certain line lengths, to certain types and settings.
These have been fixed by generations, for ease of reading and convenience.
Why discard those standards when you invite a hearing as a courtesy?
Suppose you went where your ads go-into the family circle. Would you talk as loud as your
ads do? Or dress as grotesquely? Or so pound your points home? Or employ their slang. or boast?
If not, conform your ads to your personal standards. They are your representatives.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 37. Character
The longer we live, and the wider our viewpoint, the more we rely upon character.
Any seeming success made without it is not a safe investment.
Any brilliant man, unsound in his principles, will soon or late meet disaster.
The men who trust him will be led astray.
The business he serves will be weakened.
That's acutely true in advertising.
Lack of character cannot be concealed in the limelight of publicity.
Keep in the shadow and the world's appraisal may be long delayed. But not in print.
Therefore, well consider character in choosing counselors in advertising.
They are your portrait-painters to the world at large. It can't be otherwise.
What they are you are bound to seem, however you restrict them. Try as they will, in word or
method they cannot conceal themselves.
Are they such men as you want the world to think you? Are their business principles
deserving of respect?
If not, avoid them. The more you trust them the more they will mislead you. And they in this
field, to a large extent, are bound to mirror you.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 38. Skeptics
We are dealing with a world of skeptics.
People fear their own credulity. So, in self-protection, they seek flaws in all that sellers sayThey don't fear actual lying so much as exaggeration. For laws now punish liars.
In advertising we must disarm this skepticism, else we can't convince.
Don't use fluent generalities.
Be specific in your claims.
Say only that which must be truth, if it isn't a deliberate lie. Then people will believe it.
Be exact and careful. If a statement may arouse a doubt, explain the doubt away.
Make truth seem like truth.
People are easily fooled, and they know it. But in guarding themselves they usually discredit
things that don't deserve it.
More salesmen fail through looseness than through lies. They make fact seem like fiction, just
by careless handling.
Many an ad when analyzed seems both fair and true. But in hasty reading it appears a
fabrication.
The man you, trust qualifies all statements that require it. Words good as bonds always sound
like bonds.
But the voluble man whose words flow too easily is ever at a discount.
So it is in ads.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 39. Pacemakers
Two similar products were developed by the same man. One under old methods, one under
new.
Under old methods, it took ten years to attain a certain volume.
Under new methods, on a like product, the same volume was reached in seven months.
The old way succeeded. But the new method proved itself 17 times as efficient.
Many other men, in many lines, will sometime face a like awakening.
They are moving, and they feel content. But they judge without a pacemaker.
Perhaps they have no rivals, or the rivals they have are plugs.
Sometime, if their line is worth while, a speeder will appear. And his new methods will reveal
undreamed of possibilities.
In a line with capable pacemakers, it is easy to gauge one's efforts. In a line without, beware.
There may be ways to move ten times as fast. If another finds them and employs them, you'll
be left behind.
Many lines of advertising, deemed passable now, will seem pretty bad when a pacemaker
appears.
But they are just as bad now, just as out-of-date. And there are men who know it.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 4o. Basic Laws
The first essential in a modern government is a constitution.
The first steps in a corporation are its charter and its by-laws.
We recognize in such things the need of basic laws. But how rarely we apply them in our dayto-day affairs.
How often we are guided by floating conditions, or an impulse of the moment.
The result is a zig-zag course.
One action often counteracts another.
We must decide on certain principles and methods to make consistent progress toward a goal.
They should endure until we prove them wrong.
Then the principles which supplant them should be equally immutable. And every minor action
should be measured by them.
Otherwise we drift. Each mood, each circumstance may sway us from our course. And we
never arrive at our harbor.
This applies to advertising policy.
It applies to advertising method. Once adopted, it should never be changed or abated, save
for well-considered reasons.
Whatever we are in private it does not do to seem a weather-vane in print.

Lord & Thomas Creeds

No. 41. Self-Reliance
Don't rely too much on dealers to help foster your ambitions.
Treat them fairly. Justify their service. Try to harmonize their interests with your own.
Their good-will is important.
But don't expect that they will fight your battles. They have battles of their own.
Don't count them allies, if their interests ever clash with yours.
Don't whimper at substitution, if your methods make it profitable or possible.
And don't expect them to invest much on mere pictured prospects.
Your work is with consumers.
Dealers say, "Bring the trade and we'll supply it." And they will.
Many a campaign has spent itself in getting distribution. In stocking dealers, in urging their
enthusiasm. Then the advertising was a fiasco.
Now these skeptical dealers enthuse best when you go the other way around. Center your
efforts on the consumer. He'll get what he comes to want.
Initial sales may be lost, but still the plan will prove most economical.
And its best effect perhaps will come in nurturing self-reliance.