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“Drayton Bird is a wise and wily direct marketer. People all over the world have been lucky enough to learn from him.”
About Commonsense Marketing and the people behind it
If you were able to meet and question the world’s top marketing experts and learn the secret of their success, what quality do you think they would all share?
In my experience, the answer is simple. They tend to know more. They study. And they don’t stop studying.
They didn’t get rich quick or rise to the top by accident. They did it the old-fashioned way, by working hard and knowing more.
They read books, listen to tapes, watch each other’s ideas, and study the people who shaped this business. Long ago geniuses like Claude Hopkins, Max Sackheim and John Caples … and more recent ones like David Ogilvy, Gene Schwartz, Joe Karbo, Bill Jayme and Rosser Reeves ...
I worked with many of these people – four of the last five names in fact, whilst I nearly joined the fifth, Reeves, as a creative director. They all had an insatiable thirst to know what worked and why – often in surprising places. For instance David Ogilvy first sent me Gary Halbert’s newsletters.
What does this mean for you?
I wrote a book, Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing, which Ogilvy said when it first came out 27 years ago was “Pure gold” and advised people to: “Read it and re-read it. It contains the knowledge of a lifetime.”
Since then that book has sold over 200,000 copies in 17 languages, and I have written three others. But you don’t need to read a book to pick my brains. I have built this site to house all my knowledge and the knowledge of others.
It really gives you the secrets of some of the world’s best marketing brains – much of it carefully stolen by me!
You’ll find plenty of free resources, books, videos and articles. You can sign up to receive 101 useful marketing ideas – and if you’re wondering how good they are, look to the left. You can also try my Commonsense Marketing Programme for 28 days to see if you like it.
In this programme you meet some of today’s greatest marketers – people I have worked with - so you can see what makes them tick and learn from their successes and their mistakes.
I do not believe you will find any course that can give you access to these people in this way. But in addition I shall teach you myself, every month, what I have learned in half a century. But even if you don’t join there’s lots of free stuff here to keep you occupied.
If you haven’t read it, the first thing to do is download and read your free copy of Claude Hopkins' Scientific Advertising. David Ogilvy said that nobody should be allowed to work in advertising until they had read this book seven times. I still have my copy on my desk - and I still read bits of it regularly. I refer to it constantly in my work and my speeches.
Finally, you can read about my colleagues behind this venture.
Regards
Drayton Bird
Drayton Bird
Drayton Bird has long been one of direct marketing’s best known teachers and authorities.
The Chartered Institute of Marketing named him, with others such as Tom Peters, Ted Levitt and Philip Kotler, one of the 50 individuals who have shaped modern marketing.
As one advertising agency head has commented, he “doesn’t just teach. He inspires you.”
He was the leading trainer for Ogilvy and Mather direct worldwide, later creating and conducting a special training course for American Express senior executives. He was named Teacher of the Year by the U.K. Institute of Direct Marketing. Click here to find more about him (a lot more)!
Crispin White
Crispin White has 27 years' experience in the U.K., Australia, Europe and USA. If you want to get the most done in the least time for least money he's your man.
Crispin began his career in a direct marketing agency before entering management consultancy. He worked with Gemini Consulting, AT Kearney eventually becoming Marketing Director of Management Consulting Group PLC.
Crispin's areas of expertise include building and developing effective international marketing strategies, marketing programmes and managing marketing teams that deliver a better return on investment.
Dottoressa Marta Caricato PhD
Marta graduated as a Doctor of Philosophy at Pisa University. After declining an invitation to join the faculty she went into marketing.
She became involved in on-line marketing and gaming just as it both really took off. The firm she worked with, Coral-Eurobet, became the largest in Europe.
She worked in every department, finally managing the International affiliate programme and customer database.
At Drayton Bird Associates, where she is Creative Director her work has never failed to win in tests in over in four years. She also works on strategy and planning and handles the agency’s largest client. Marta has spoken to audiences in the Ukraine, U.K., Slovenia, and Cuba.
Michael Carpenter
Involved in advertising and marketing since 1960, Michael is unusual for a financial man, as he spent his first 18 years in print, production and client handling to account director level before concentrating on finance.
He has run his own businesses including a mail order firm, and an Algarve holiday and property sales company and is the financial director of a leading international experiential firm.
So he has an unusual knowledge of both marketing and finance.
