Read Drayton Bird's previous newsletter articles below:
I have a daughter in Montclair, New Jersey – hometown of the inimitable Yogi Berra. As a result, I have made a bit of a study of his remarks. And one of my favorites is, “You can observe a lot just by looking.” Well, one thing I have observed a lot is the disinclination of most marketers [...]
By Drayton Bird | Thu, Apr 21, 2011
Firms that spend more money on discounting than advertising are far less profitable than those that spend more on advertising than discounting.
By Drayton Bird | Wed, Nov 10, 2010
Here’s a little quiz for you. Who said the following? 1. “Those who can, do; those who cannot, teach.” 2. “The Golden Rule is, there is no Golden Rule.” 3. “Will you sleep with me for a million pounds?” Well, the man who said all those things was the Irish playwright and critic George Bernard Shaw. But I bet the last [...]
By Drayton Bird | Thu, Sep 23, 2010
What has come over us Limeys? We were always known as a pretty dull, phlegmatic bunch, compared to the excitable French, the fiery Spanish, and the sexy Italians.
By Drayton Bird | Tue, Aug 31, 2010
How Often Should You Talk to Your Customers? In his video today, marketing legend Drayton Bird says… it depends. Just click on the screen below to get the full story. [Ed. Note: Veteran copywriter and direct-marketing strategist Drayton Bird has worked with American Express, Ford, Microsoft, Visa, Procter & Gamble, and scores of other clients during his [...]
By Drayton Bird | Thu, Jul 29, 2010
A while back, my Australian partner Malcolm Auld sent me a piece by a marketing expert named Tom Evans, which stated that "direct mail for customer acquisition is dead." You should still put your money into direct marketing, said Tom -- but do it online.
By Drayton Bird | Thu, Jul 1, 2010
I have always seen myself as a kindly, helpful soul -- but clearly my memory fails me. Back in my Ogilvy & Mather Direct days, people quickly turned their computer screens blank whenever I materialized in the creative department. Seems I had the nasty habit of reading the sales copy they were writing out loud and making derisive comments.
By Drayton Bird | Mon, May 10, 2010
When I got into the mail-order business years ago, it wasn't something you boasted about. You would be a bit inscrutable when people asked you what your job was. You would mutter something that included the word advertising -- so much sexier! I recalled this coyness when an old colleague asked me to talk to some to Syracuse University students here in London who are enrolled in a course called Ethical Advertising. Most marketers are too busy trying to make a living to worry about whether or not they're being ethical. But then I came across this quote from Abraham Lincoln that summed up the way I feel about my chosen career: When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad.
By Drayton Bird | Tue, Apr 13, 2010
A few years ago, after making a speech about copywriting that I thought was excellent in every way, my childish delight at my own brilliance was destroyed by a cynical listener. He said, “Well, you seem to know just about everything about what to do in order to write good sales copy. So why can’t you [...]
By Drayton Bird | Wed, Jun 15, 2011
0 Comments