That’s another fine mess I’ve got myself into… and uncommon wisdom from some young bloods

I assume you recognise that Laurel and Hardy catch-phrase.

Anyhow, I’m always saying stuff that gets me into trouble when I should know better.

For instance the other day I blithely said I’d put a video up every day.

Well, that was a dumb idea, as I learned when I started sending out a helpful marketing idea every day.

People wrote and said they couldn’t keep up with them – so I spaced them out a bit more. I’ll do the same with the videos.

Anyhow, that brings me, by no logical route, to something I saw at 3 in the morning on TV which reminded me of a simple truth about human motivation.

I was watching this programme where two posh girls went and spent some time in one of those housing estates – projects they call them in the U.S. – where half the young people are unemployed.

In one scene they met three young black guys, who were sitting on a bench looking as sinister as they could possibly manage.

One of the girls asked, “Why do you do all this bad stuff?”

One of the guys answered: “It’s rep, innit?”

When he was asked why that mattered, he said, “If you’re not known, who are you?”

That simple statement said more about why people do what they do and feel how they feel than anything I’ve heard for a long time.

For instance, why do people hate recorded answerphone messages more than anything else in life? Why do they loathe politicians and bureaucrats? Why do so many hate their jobs?

Because they’re not in control.

And that is one of the keys to persuasion. Allow people to control their lives and you have happy people.

By the way, I just read that a man I used to deal with is setting up a new bank. Some interviewer in Marketing magazine asked him if it was going to be “an entirely London-centric brand”. What a pillock!

Best,
Drayton


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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

  1. I understand your comments about the others, but I think people loathe politicians and bureaucrats because that's what they're for.

    What other use do they have?

  2. walterdaniels

    That explains why people don't like being sold to. Then, control is in the hands of the seller, instead of being shared, or reversed.

  3. Drayton

    Actually, I think people sometimes DO like being sold to. I remember an American printer who came over to the U.K. to sell personalised formats in the '70's. He was so funny I loved every minute of his presentations.

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