Victor Kiam Quotes

There is a great deal of advertising that is much better than the product. When that happens, all that the good advertising will do is put you out of business faster.

My goal is to get another 30 years out of this business. So I need to figure out the fuel to do that. And so far, I think it's respect and quality and company, not celebrity or box office or stardom. It's not a sprinter's approach. It's more like a long-distance thing. You can stick around a lot longer if you kind of slow-play it.

People are brainwashed into believing that Italy is the seat of luxury manufacturing. If it's made in Italy, it must be good. That's just hype. Quality is where you bring it.

A frustration I have is that a lot of people increasingly seem to equate an advertising business model with somehow being out of alignment with your customers. I think it's the most ridiculous concept.

When I was a kid, I got really great advice from someone who is so important to me and someone who I respect so much, and they told me, 'Don't do too many endorsements. Don't throw your name on things; think of your longevity.'

The goal should be to build a sustainable lifestyle business that does good for employees and customers - and that steadily builds wealth.

Social enables word of mouth at an unprecedented scale. Its most powerful effect, through reviews and recommendations, is to put product quality and value for money as the key to success in commerce. Social brings a level of transparency that prevents marketers from advertising their way to success without underlying product quality.

I think it's very important that whatever you're trying to make or sell, or teach has to be basically good. A bad product and you know what? You won't be here in ten years.

I have been very careful about what kind of products and companies I endorse just because I don't want to be promoting anything that I don't have any kind of connection to.

You are as good as your product. When you are used and loved by everyone, your brand equity is high. When you are not, you're not.

I do get a lot of offers for endorsing a brand, but for me, the credibility of the brand matters the most.

If you keep your eye on the profit, you’re going to skimp on the product. But if you focus on making really great products, then the profits will follow.

Herbalife: the customers are fictitious, the business opportunity is a scam, the university degree is a fraud.

Can advertising foist an inferior product on the consumer? Bitter experience has taught me that it cannot. On those rare occasions when I have advertised products which consumer tests have found inferior to other products in the same field, the results have been disastrous.

Only a consistent, ongoing, deep experience can make a lasting media brand: one that has a commitment from a core community and the respect of a larger reading public.

If advertisers spent the same amount of money on improving their products as they do on advertising then they wouldn't have to advertise them.

I am so disappointed in Apple. I don't even use an iPhone anymore. Their marketing sucks. It's embarrassing. It's just garbage.

If I pick up a book with spaceships on the cover, I want spaceships. If I see one with dragons, I want there to be dragons inside the book. Proper labeling. Ethical labeling. I don't want to open up my cornflakes and find that they're full of pebbles... You need to respect the reader enough not to call it something it isn't.

No business can stay in business without customers. How you treat - or mistreat - them determines how long your doors stay open.

You've got to be picky in this business - if you're not, then I don't think you have the option of longevity. You've got to be choosy and try and do something that's outside of the box and dangerous. I love doing stuff that excites me, gives me that adrenalin rush.

If you don't operate it as a business, you aren't going to be around very long.

… the brilliance of Coca-Cola capitalism:. By not owning its many distributors and by relying on native intermediaries in foreign nations, Coke could claim that it was a critical component of the local economy.... Once embedded in host communities, Coca-Cola became very difficult to dislodge, even in places where it caused serious environmental problems, because killing Coke meant killing jobs. In impoverished communities, ... the argument of dollars and cents won the day.

My job is to make sure that 10 and 15 years from now, people aren't going to say, 'Oh, do you remember Merck?'

You build a fan base over time, and they will accept you as long as it's good. Nothing matters as long as something's good. If it's bad, nobody will see it.

Word of mouth is way more important than millions of dollars spent marketing.