Recently, to my astonishment, three new planets shot into orbit.
They belong to three well known marketing experts.
They were already famous for their talents.
But now these brilliant thinkers have transmogrified – and become Planets.
Planet Kennedy, Planet Levis and Planet Marshall.
Who could fail to be impressed? In awe, as the saying goes.
Personally I’ve always seen myself as rather like a pile of debris.
Poke around and you may find a few things to help you succeed.
Ah well!
In fact these three gentlemen, two of whom I have worked with, are indeed extremely talented.
Perry is very, very quick to come up with solutions for problems. I saw him do it when we worked in Chicago years ago – and again when I spoke at two of his events in England.
He’s also a great student and made his name talking about the 80/20 rule which amused me as we first made a big deal of this at Ogilvy in the 1980’s.
He is candid about his problems, too; he confessed he was on his uppers not so long ago – yet now he has ascended unto the heavens.
Daniel Levis I also worked with, he was trained by Clayton Makepeace, probably the best copywriter around till he died, sadly far too young only weeks ago.
I always read Daniel’s e-mails, if not in full then certainly the openings – the most important part.
They are remarkably imaginative.I’m also too set in my ways to learn, but I’m astonished at his ability to come up with catchy headlines which do not follow the usual format driven stuff.
I have also observed him do online webinars and he is truly extraordinary, with a huge weight of enthusiasm.
Dan Kennedy is, if not a planet at any rate something of a legend.
If I had paid attention to everything he had to say about how to charge money I would finally be rich again.
Having said all this would you say a “planet” is perhaps a celestial being too far?
A heavenly object too far?
A superlative too extreme?
I only ask as a humble terrestrial eager to learn
What’s your view?
Three new heavenly bodies discovered
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.