Quotes from Stanley Pollitt

 

- On why he decided to create account planning:

"I found the existing agency researchers had grown cozy in their back rooms. They had grown too familiar with relying on techniques as a crutch, rather than thinking out more direct ways of solving problems themselves. They had grown too accustomed to being academic to know how to be pragmatic and practical. They mostly disappeared into research agencies."

- His opinion of market research:

"It asks the wrong types of questions of the wrong people."

- His opinion of consumers:

"Proper consumer understanding is at the heart of major advertising decision making."

 

- WHEN account planning will work:

"Planning can only work when there is a total agency management commitment to getting the advertising content right at all costs. Getting it right being more important than maximizing agency profits, than keeping clients happy or building an agency shop window for distinctive-looking advertising."

 

Quotes on Pollitt

"He was a wholly intelligent man. He was able to get clients to trust him in a way that few of us can anymore - arguing passionately, but always prepared to listen."

- Chris Powell, CEO of BMP-DDP

 

"Stanley should be remembered for his passion for getting advertising 'right' - for underlining the qualitative dimension to the way consumers react to ads."

- Martin Boase, founder of BMP

 

"Stanley is the ultimate father-figure in planning terms. He was always the guy you'd refer to and discuss important problems with. He has a wealth of experience and understanding you rarely find elsewhere. He really is an intellectual giant in the business - there are few of them. England has a small number of profound thinkers. Stanley is tremendous. He manages to combine academic standards and relate that to creative breakthough. Look at some of the work - especially Cadbury's Smash. He had a great influence on the creative work at BMP."

 
- David Wright, previously of BMP.