Drayton bird biography

About the author.
So this is the autobiography of somebody who has done absolutely nothing heroic or remarkable, except have a glorious time rising to the top of a "profession".
Drayton Bird on the one thing you need to be a good copywriter, the 7 lessons he learned from David Ogilvy, the stripper who nearly killed him and more.

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“Drayton Bird knows more about direct marketing than anyone in the world.”
– David Ogilvy, founder of Ogilvy & Mather

“Drayton Bird is a wise and wily direct marketer. People all over the world have been lucky enough to learn from him.”
– Sir Martin Sorrell, founder of WPP

“Witty and practical, but never boring. A great book to read and re-read and one that I wish I had read earlier in my career.”
– Joe Sugarman. Copywriter, author, multi-millionaire pioneer of infomercials – at one time America’s largest single seller of electronic products

“Your books are among my most valued possessions, and easily among the greatest ever written on advertising, right up there with those by Caples, Ogilvy, Schwab, Reeves and Hopkins.”
– Gary Bencivenga, widely regarded before retirement as the world’s best direct marketing copywriter

“What a kick that was! I feel like I’ve just spent an hour with the Pope … you triggered so many great ideas and co

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In 2003, the Chartered Institute of Marketing named Drayton Bird one of 50 living individuals who have shaped today’s marketing. He has spoken in 53 countries for many organisations, and much of what he discusses derive from his work with many of the world’s greatest brands. These include American Express, Audi, Bentley, British Airways, Cisco, Deutsche Post, Ford, IBM, McKinsey, Mercedes, Microsoft, Nestle, Philips, Procter & Gamble, Toyota, Unilever, Visa and Volkswagen. In various capacities – mostly as a writer – 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. Drayton’s standing has long been widely recognised. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, was 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

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You DidWhat?

82 years of misadventure, mayhem - and millions

byDrayton Bird

How to make buckets of dosh, screw things up, lose the lot, shake with fear, talk your way out of it, live under a false name, behave appallingly, fall in and out of love - often with the wrong people, feel joy, shame, terror, misery, disbelief, skirt death a few times, have an endless stream of dreadful hangovers - and still be at it when I should be tucked up in bed with a nice warm drink.

If the idea of that little lot interests you, here’s a few snippets from my story.

• Three stabbings and two near funerals

Believe it or not, I have been stabbed or partially stabbed three times. And I damn nearly lost my life twice after two of them.

• Hiding from Hitler

In 1940, I trembled with fear in a bomb shelter. Was Hitler going to conquer Britain? It looked like it. Being scared like that is something hardly anyone nowadays can imagine, but I remember it vividly.

• Millions made and millions lost

I nev