Drayton Bird

In November 2003 the Chartered Institute of Marketing named Drayton Bird one of 50 living individuals who have shaped today’s marketing, other names included Kotler, Peters and Levitt.

Advertising legend the late David Ogilvy said he “knows more about direct marketing than anyone in the world. His book about it is pure gold. His speeches are not only informative, but hilariously funny.”

Campaign named him one of the 50 most important individuals in UK advertising during the previous 25 years – “the only universally acknowledged point of creativity in the direct marketing world”. UK magazine Direct Response said his impact on UK direct marketing was “unlikely to be matched by any other individual”

Educator of the year. Direct Marketing Roll of Honour
In 1994 he was named one of the first six Fellows of the Institute of Direct Marketing; in 1997 he was voted Educator of the Year. In May 2001 the British Direct Marketing Association placed him on their Roll of Honour. In December 2003, most of the readers of Precision Marketing voted him leading direct marketing personality in the last 15 years.

Commonsense Direct Marketing published in 13 languages
His book, Commonsense Direct Marketing (1982) is in its fourth edition. Published in 13 languages, it is the best-selling British work on the subject. A reviewer of his book, How to Write Sales Letters That Sell! said, “The only book the subject should ever need. I just hope no one tries to do better.”

He has written over 1,000 columns for magazines in Europe, Australia, India, the UK and Malaysia and a compilation of his articles, Marketing Insights and Outrages.

He has worked with many of the world’s leading brands, including American Express, British Airways, Deutsche Post, Ford, Microsoft, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Philips, The Royal Mail, Unilever and Visa. He has also worked with major advertising agency groups, including Y & R, JWT, FCB and Leo Burnett.

Business schools, universities and management consultants he has worked with include Columbia University Business School, New York, INSEAD, The London Business School, ESIC (Madrid), IPADE (Mexico City), IPADE (Lima), Cap Gemini, McKinsey and A. T. Kearney.

In 1977, with two partners, he set up Trenear-Harvey, Bird & Watson, which became the UK’s largest DM agency and which he sold in l984 to Ogilvy and Mather. As international Vice-Chairman and Creative Director, he helped O & M Direct become the world’s largest direct marketing agency network, and was elected to the worldwide Ogilvy Group board.

Drayton Bird Associates
He now runs Drayton Bird Associates, who work with many firms on direct marketing and other marketing matters. He has interests in five other firms in the UK and Asia. He is also the founder of EADIM