Do you know of a more successful, admired entrepreneur than Richard Branson?
And did you know he started out in direct marketing, selling records?
Wouldn’t you like to know his secrets? What kind of mind he has? How he goes about things? Go here and see one of his former partners tell you. You’ll get an idea of what it takes to turn an idea into a big business… without spending a penny of your own money.
(And there’s a surprise bonus waiting for you if after watching it you’d like to know to know more).
The man in the clip is called Rowan Gormley, and I’m very pleased to say that I saw him last year. He helped Branson set up three successful businesses, and now has his own which is a huge success after less than a year.
When you watch the clip you’ll laugh – and realise that Branson’s key to success is a million miles away from business school theory. But hurry. The clip is only up for 4 days.
It’s a little foretaste of a unique new Commonsense Marketing programme, featuring some of the world’s most talented business people – created by one of the world’s most influential marketers.
I can say this with a straight face because I have all his books on my shelves, I’ve spent a fair amount of time (and money) with him and learned a lot. But I am not alone.
When the Chartered Institute of Marketing wanted to decide which 50 living individuals, worldwide, have shaped modern marketing his name was on the list.
Sir Martin Sorrell, whose WPP business turns over £7.5 billion, was once his boss. He said people all over the world were “lucky enough to learn from” this man.
Ken McCarthy, the “Godfather” of internet marketing (another man I’ve studied with) called him,
“a genius. Really”
and
“the most accomplished living direct marketer”
I actually saw Ken tell how his own success was sparked by this man.
And the legendary David Ogilvy said he,
“knows more about direct marketing than anyone in the world”
You can look at almost every leading marketer today and find they had something in common. Gary Bencivenga, Clayton Makepeace, Yanik Silver – even Joe Sugarman. They all learned from this man – as did David Magliano, the only man ever named Marketing Director of the Year twice – and Ad Age’s Global Marketing Director of the Year for his work on the London Olympics.
His name probably won’t come as any surprise to you: Drayton Bird. By a strange numerical coincidence he’s worked in 50 countries in 50 year career with some of the world’s most famous brands – and many tiny businesses you’ve never heard of.
Every time I see him I pick up business gems worth goodness knows how much. I sat through most of a week last year with him and his faculty of great marketers just taking notes. (Yes, I really do know him, personally. He happensto be my marketing teacher and I can prove it.)
Now he’s done it again. It’s taken him three solid years – and as I say, this little clip is just a taster. Check it out here, while it’s up.
It gives a unique insight into the minds of two entrepreneurs – Branson and Gormley. It’s also very funny … and if you register you’ll discover that the drinks are on Drayton.
And did you know he started out in direct marketing, selling records?
Wouldn’t you like to know his secrets? What kind of mind he has? How he goes about things? Go here and see one of his former partners tell you. You’ll get an idea of what it takes to turn an idea into a big business … without spending a penny of your own money
(And there’s a surprise bonus waiting for you if after watching it you’d like to know to know more).
The man in the clip is called Rowan Gormley, and I’m very pleased to say that I saw him last year. He helped Branson set up three successful businesses, and now has his own which is a huge success after less than a year.
When you watch the clip you’ll laugh – and realise that Branson’s key to success is a million miles away from business school theory. But hurry. The clip is only up for 4 days.
It’s a little foretaste of a unique new Commonsense Marketing programme, featuring some of the world’s most talented business people – created by one of the world’s most influential marketers.
I can say this with a straight face because I have all his books on my shelves, I’ve spent a fair amount of time (and money) with him and learned a lot. But I am not alone.
When the Chartered Institute of Marketing wanted to decide which 50 living individuals, worldwide, have shaped modern marketing his name was on the list.
Sir Martin Sorrell, whose WPP business turns over £7.5 billion, was once his boss. He said people all over the world were “lucky enough to learn from” this man.
Ken McCarthy, the “Godfather” of internet marketing (another man I’ve studied with) called him “a genius. Really” and “the most accomplished living direct marketer.” I actually saw Ken tell how his own success was sparked by this man.
And the legendary David Ogilvy said he “knows more about direct marketing than anyone in the world.”
You can look at almost every leading marketer today and find they had something in common. Gary Bencivenga, Clayton Makepeace, Yanik Silver – even Joe Sugarman. They all learned from this man – as did David Magliano, the only man ever named Marketing Director of the Year twice – and Ad Age’s Global Marketing Director of the Year for his work on the London Olympics.
His name probably won’t come as any surprise to you: Drayton Bird. By a strange numerical coincidence he’s worked in 50 countries in 50 year career with some of the world’s most famous brands – and many tiny businesses you’ve never heard of.
Every time I see him I pick up business gems worth goodness knows how much. I sat through most of a week last year with him and his faculty of great marketers just taking notes
Now he’s done it again. It’s taken him three solid years – and as I say, this little clip is just a taster. I’m furious to be honest. What I’ve paid tens of thousands for over the years you can get for peanuts.
Check the clip out here, while it’s up. It gives a unique insight into the minds of two entrepreneurs – Branson and Gormley. It’s also very funny … and if you register you’ll discover that the drinks are on Drayton.
Here’s what David Ogilvy said of Drayton and his seminal book on marketing “Commonsense Direct & Digital Marketing”…
Drayton Bird knows more about Direct Marketing than anyone in the world. His book about it is pure gold.
Eric Van Vooren of BBDO Direct in Brussels said…
Without doubt the best marketing book which exists.
And probably my favourite quote about Drayton’s book come’s from Robert Leiderman, the leading telemarketing expert, when he said…
Perceptive, provocative and funny as hell.
You get an idea of the type of personality Drayton Bird is when he begins his blog with…
Welcome to Bird droppings
Okay, so who is Drayton Bird?
The Chartered Institute of Marketing named him “one of 50 individuals who’ve shaped today’s marketing”.
As you’ve already read above, David Ogilvy said he “knows more about direct marketing than anyone in the world.”
Side note…
If you don’t know who David Ogilvy is, this is what his biography says of him… he’s the guy who…
“Founded the agency which would become Ogilvy & Mather. Starting with no clients and a staff of two, he built his company into one of the eight largest advertising networks in the world. Today it has 359 offices in 100 countries”.
And, while David died in 1999, he…
remains one of the most famous names in advertising and one of the handful of thinkers (Raymond Rubicam, Leo Burnett, William Bernbach, and Ted Bates) who shaped the business after the 1920s.
Drayton has written three business related books including, “Commonsense Direct & Digital Marketing”, “Salesletters that sell” & “Marketing Insights and Outrages”.
He has even written a novel entitled, in his own inimitable way, “Some rats run faster” which he wrote at the age of 27 when, I’m sure he would probably agree, was when dinosaurs still roamed the earth.
Drayton say of this book, “Hardly anyone read this brilliant work as it had virtually no plot”, which isn’t surprising as business and marketing are where his strengths lie.
He’s written over 1,000 columns for international magazines, spoken in 42 countries and worked with many leading brands, incl. Amex, BA, Deutsche Post, Ford, Microsoft, Nestle, P&G, Philips, The Royal Mail, Unilever and Visa. In 1977, he and two partners set up Trenear-Harvey, Bird & Watson, sold in l984 to O&M.
As international Vice-Chairman and Creative Director, he helped O&M Direct become the world’s largest DM agency network, and was elected to the worldwide Ogilvy Group board.
He now runs Drayton Bird Associates and has interests in 5 other firms. He says the ones he never visits do much better, but I kinda doubt that.
I studied Drayton Bird’s work when I studied business in the mid-1990s and it seems surreal when you get to meet and work with someone with Drayton’s reputation, someone’s work you studied.
In marketing terms it’s like being on first name terms with the biggest movie and rock stars.
Except for the fact Drayton actually knows how to think for himself.
You can get his book “Commonsense Direct & Digital Marketing” – now on its 5th edition here http://directanddigitalmarketing.com/ along with his other books. That’s a direct link.
Take it from me, or you can find out for yourself, Drayton had me chuckling from the second paragraph.
This is not your average crusty text book… it’s almost like reading a novel.
Ken McCarthy, of The System Seminar and probably the leading exponent of utilising the internet for business had this to say of “Commonsense Direct & Digital Marketing”…
What makes direct marketing such an appealingly reliable way of making money in good times and bad is that it’s not based on theory, opinion, fad or fantasy.Instead it’s rooted in unchanging principles of human behavior.
If you’re new to direct marketing, you won’t find a better guide to this reality-based approach to selling than Drayton Bird.
If you’re an “old hand,” this is a book you’ll want to keep handy as an entertaining and insightful reminder of marketing principles you know you can always count on.”
If you’ve been in business, or at least studied it for any length of time, you’ll have heard of Peter Drucker.
Peter Drucker is generally recognised as the guru’s guru when it comes to management.
Well, as far as I’m concerned…
Drayton Bird is the Peter Drucker of Marketing.
Or should that be… Peter Drucker is the Drayton Bird of management?
Here’s that link again, go check out the comments on Amazon http://directanddigitalmarketing.com/
