Intimations of idiocy – Drayton Bird Associates

Every day I see fatuous statements I mean to comment on – but rarely get round to.

On Sunday I noticed:

1. A sign in a small charity shop in School Road, Sale seeking people to “play key roles” there. Doing what, pray? Cleaning the toilets? The word key should be banned unless referring to something that opens doors.

2. The prime minister saying upon the death of Britain’s oldest man that “I had the privilege of meeting Henry many times.” Gordon, will you be so kind as to keep quiet for a minute, breathe calmly, then make your way to the nearest home for the mentally disturbed?

3. Some idiot who works for Boris Johnson (an incipient megalomaniac, by the way) calling a scheme for cyclists “iconic.” This almost pips the time some brain-dead marketing journalist called Walker’s Crisps an “iconic” brand.

When the world comes to an end, it will not be because of swine flu – which I rather hoped was something that only killed members of parliament – or global warming. It will be because nobody knows what words mean.

Incidentally I have just decided that things like Twitter are the online equivalent of people who talk in loud voices on their mobile phones. Nobody is really that interested.

About the Author

In 2003, the Chartered Institute of Marketing named Drayton one of 50 living individuals who have shaped today’s marketing.

He has worked in 55 countries with many of the world’s greatest brands. These include American Express, Audi, Bentley, British Airways, Cisco, Columbia Business School, Deutsche Post, Ford, IBM, McKinsey, Mercedes, Microsoft, Nestle, Philips, Procter & Gamble, Toyota, Unilever, Visa and Volkswagen.

Drayton has helped sell everything from Airbus planes to Peppa Pig. His book, Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing, out in 17 languages, has been the UK’s best seller on the subject every year since 1982. He has also run his own businesses in the U.K., Portugal and Malaysia.

He was a main board member of the Ogilvy Group, a founding member of the Superbrands Organisation, one of the first eight Honorary Fellows of the Institute of Direct Marketing and one of the first three people named to the Hall of Fame of the Direct Marketing Association of India. He has also been given Lifetime Achievement Awards by the Caples Organisation in New York and Early To Rise in Florida.

3 Comments

DaveC

Jul 7, 2009 - 3:44 pm

I agree with your opinion of Twitter.

Many famous online marketers claim to use it. I wonder if that's because they've figured out how to sell courses to on how to use Twitter?

How did you arrive at your opinion?

Steve

Jul 7, 2009 - 2:17 pm

I'm sure there might be ways of making money from twitter…

However, it's ghastly* and I suspect the name came from a combination of the words “twat” and “witter”.

Steve

* Except for the coverage of the Tour de France – there are a lot of pro cyclists, journos, commentators etc on it.