3 posts tagged “creativity”
As every creative will agree, most of our best ideas remain as just that – ideas.
Cracking work, bang on brand, exciting, pushing boundaries, disruptive, intelligent, fascinating, thought-provoking, action-inducing but never get anywhere past the ‘no’ brigade. It never ceases to amaze me how many hurdles you have to jump through to produce work, let alone good work.
And how the hell does anything truly great get through? I believe it really only comes out of agencies who aren’t afraid to push back. And how many of those are there in this current climate?
See what you think to this. I’d be really interested in your thoughts. Submitted to both Shelter then St Mungo’s, I’ve had rejections from both even though it’s the offer of free work that’s cheap as chips to produce.
Strategy
Winter is coming. Life on the streets gets tougher and more dangerous. Whether it’s the elements that get you or the unsavoury characters who come out after dark, it becomes ever more difficult to survive out there. The trouble is few everyday people see where some have to spend the night because they’re generally gone by the morning. So, unless people are made aware of the hardship that some have to deal with night after night, they pass by oblivious.
Creative
A simple printed A3 or A2 sheet designed to look like a Police sign dramatically demonstrates that someone could have died there the previous night. The call to action is to donate to Shelter and help give a home to those who really need it. These can be stuck up wherever homeless people sleep rough. Very cheap to produce (perhaps just the price of a colour photocopy), they would be a very cost effective way to cover any city by the charity’s volunteers.
I’m going to go through my portfolio of gems that never were and post a few more here. Am I mad? Am I frustrated? Not any more. I’m really genuinely happy these days. I just fancy airing good thinking that passed by unnoticed, for whatever reason. Then again, perhaps it is all crap after all!
This article was written by Chris Catchpole. Go check out his impressive direct marketing portfolio
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
The Slovenian Direct Marketing Association are inviting marketers to attend the conference day entitled “C2C Marketing: Momentary niche or overall future” in Ljubljana, Slovenia on the 18th. of February 2009.
The conference is part of the highly interesting Promarket combining three days of trade-show with three days of presentations. On Wednesday 17th. of February participants can enjoy presentations fitting the overall theme “Mentality shifts in Sales” and on Friday 19th. the theme is “Who is creating public relations - sales, marketing, PR or customers?”. A highly interesting concept, which - I am sure - will attract a lot of people to this beautiful city.
Marketing speakers include
- Chris Catchpole, a highly respected direct marketing creative, United Kingdom
- Sandi Češko, Studio Moderna Group, Slovenia
- Hrabren Suknajić, Google, United Kingdom
- Michael Leander Nielsen, Denmark
