Someone – an accountant, what a surprise! – wrote to me a week or so asking what response rate you should expect. He was “firming up” his direct mail plans. I gave the same reply I have been giving for …
Read MoreCategory: Uncategorized
“You cannot bore people into buying” – Ogilvy. Would you buy this person’s services?
God help us all. Almost every word of 91 is a cliché or marketing waffle or both – with seven uses of the word strategy or its derivatives. Only one fact is missing: “Cannot write for toffee”. In their excellent …
Read MoreWhy big businesses fail: a telling example for you from IBM
A little smile for you. It’s one of my helpful ideas – actually not mine, but I wish it was. It was both funny and helpful. A reader wrote: As a reader of your tips and your blog, I just …
Read MoreA Japanese game show reveals why many firms go broke: starting with a new strategy
“The first aim of business is to avoid making a loss” – Peter Drucker. Here’s one way many firms muddle their way to catastrophe Have you ever seen this TV show? Kids love it; but I think it has lessons …
Read MoreThe Pretension Trap: an excellent piece – all the way from Melbourne, and full of good sense
How is it that most agencies trot out exactly the same meaningless bilge? I don’t know, but here’s a pretty good guide to what to avoid One day I must create a very large file called “Stuff Drayton wishes he …
Read MoreFrom the dung-heaps of the web rises the stench of vintage poppycock and hypocrisy. But some mugs inhale it gladly
“If you believe that, Sir, you will believe anything” said the Duke of Wellington when a man asked if he was Mr John Smith At the time this exchange took place, the Duke of Wellington was the most recognised person …
Read MoreA little bouquet of posters – the good, the bad the brilliant – and the same old, same old: with my usual crappy photos
Schools, shoes and cliches: what I saw in New York – and when I came home As usual I must apologise for my shaky hands, bizarre sense of perspective and complete lack of any vestige of a clue about composition. …
Read MorePhoney University awards MBA to dog – and my experience of business studies in Tehran
The magical day I became an MBA – and a DBA, too. And why you shouldn’t hire me or my four footed fellow academic The dog, who is called Pete, lives in Battersea Dogs’ Home, and he must be the …
Read More“It’s one of the best times ever to be in advertising but why is the work so poor?” – Hegarty
“I don’t know of any other industry in the world that would say the way to succeed is to make a worse product.” My favourite restaurant in London is Shampers in Kingly Street. I’ve been going there since 1977. I …
Read MoreDavid Ogilvy on how to handle clients
This applies to any kind of business. I recall breaking two of these rules Never submit an advertisement unless you honestly think it is good. Tell clients what you would do if you were in their shoes. Always put your …
Read More