| Have you ever been desperately thrashing around for an idea – but getting nowhere? Then maybe this will help. David Ogilvy, more than once, claimed the solution was alcohol. In one video he mentioned “a bottle” – then hastily changed it to “half a bottle” of good claret. On another occasion he said half a bottle of rum did the trick . Afterwards he claimed the copy came in an “uncontrollable gush”. I actually drafted possibly the best copy I ever wrote while oiled to the gills. It was a piece for Save the Children. The client wanted to get people to leave money to the charity in their wills. When the client told me this I blithely said “Yes, I can do it.” and walked away in a state of misery. I hadn’t he faintest idea how to go about it. What I did was consume a fair amount of red wine and take my dog for a walk. As I walked I thought who might be the perfect prospect. What kind of person might leave money to a charity in their will? What would they be thinking about? The person who came to mind was my mother. So I wrote the copy thinking of her, and it was so effective that it ran for 8 years. The smartest thing about that copy was – I think – a passage where I said that the charity was not looking for money now, but explained what they did. The letter got more donations than anything they’d ever run. And curiously enough the client later came to work with me, and ended up running our London and New York offices. Now, I’m not recommending that you take recourse to the bottle, but I am recommending that you try another remedy – my ‘Ask Drayton’ club. You’ll be relieved to know I’m stone cold sober all the way through it. And I like to think you’ll write some of your best copy – still sober – after applying some of its suggestions. But rather than mull this offer over, why not give it a go? You have nothing to lose: my iron clad, no quibble, cast-in-stone guarantee takes care of that. If you don’t think it’s worth every single penny, I’ll refund you in full, no questions asked. So what’s stopping you? But before you decide – if you also want to see the original Save the Children letter, it is in my book – How to Write Sales Letters that Sell – that is also bundled free with Ask Drayton. So you’ve really got nothing to lose. Oh, and by the way, here’s a free hint for you. Years ago McGrawHill researchers found that the most effective advertisements repeat the proposition three times. So for the third time … why not try Ask Drayton, risk free and see what it does for you profits? Best Drayton |
Ogilvy’s boozy remedy for struggling writers
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.