On sundry stabbings – and why occasionally someone makes me feel I’m not wasting my time

You can safely say that doing business my way is not quite how they do it in those agencies with receptions that look like restaurants.

I just had a comic exchange with an old acquaintance (and new client if we ever get our shit together) about the dramas of domestic life.

I think I managed to top his stories by saying that “As someone who has been stabbed by one ex-wife and one ex-mistress and still has a scar on his face from another who hit an artery I laugh at your puny adventures.”

But to change the subject entirely, a year or so ago a Croatian TV interviewer asked me why I’m still in this bloody business. I replied as best I could, but this email which I got yesterday gives the best reason of all.

Hi Drayton

I wanted to send you a personal note (well as personal as an email can be) to thank you for inspiring me in my career.

Let me explain.

25 years ago I was a copywriting rookie at Sun Alliance. A graduate on that slippery road of irrelevant brilliance…ideas aplenty, most of them useless. Thankfully this was accompanied by an overwhelming desire to learn.

I was sent on a 2 day direct marketing conference in London. Almost by accident I meandered into a seminar you were running. I can remember feeling daunted but intrigued by you and I became completely engrossed in what you had to say.

On a screen you flashed up examples of adverts – good, bad, horrendous and brilliant. I squirmed when you thoroughly denounced an advert by Sun Alliance. Thank god I had not written it.


Then you flashed an advert, a simple classified ad for a B&B in the Dales that spun a beautiful story in just one paragraph. You pointed out the descriptions and the words and told us that great copywriting began with simplicity and relevance, with compelling descriptions and more. I wonder if you can remember?

Over the years I have never, ever forgotten your brilliant advice. I love telling stories and getting paid for them and I have mentioned your name on countless occasions when talking to people about the art of copywriting. I still feel like a rookie, just an older one!

I found you on Twitter and started following you. This galvanised me into writing to you.

I get a few like this. Sorry if it’s a bit maudlin of me to quote that one, but last week was mostly crap, and it cheered me up no end. I still use that example, too. Good things don’t age.

Thanks for taking the trouble, Dee.

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.

2 Comments

  1. deeblick

    It is a pleasure, we don't say thank you enough. Yesterday I was in a pensive mood, reflecting on the people that have inspired me in my career and you were and still are the number one key influencer that has shaped my copywriting as I have never had any official training. After emailing you I then bought two of your books on Amazon. Heaven knows why I had not done this earlier. This old dog has many new tricks to learn!

    Reply
  2. Andy

    Genuine praise warms the heart, it is a rare gift cherish it.

    Reply

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