What can be learned from 100s of direct mail packs over the past 50 years?

Over 50 years, I’ve learned a lot about the things that work and the things that don’t. I’ve learned that copy, even in this digital world, is what makes the big difference (sometimes more than double). I’ve learned that ‘pretty’ is rarely successful. I’ve learned that what wins awards rarely wins response. I’ve learned that getting people to call, or click, or send in a coupon, is probably the hardest, most challenging task in advertising. And actually, the most enjoyable one too.

1966

I started in advertising at the age of 16 as a messenger boy in 1966 and learned my craft as a copywriter in various agencies.

1970^s

My first plunge into direct response was writing whole page ads for Scotcade in the 1970s where the joy of counting the coupons became addictive.

1980^s

I started an agency with Drayton Bird and then went on to found WWAV (now Rapp) in the early 1980s, where direct mail accounted for 80% of our business.

1990^s

It grew to become the largest DM agency in the UK (with 1000 staff), and had direct mail production, list broking and data at the core of its offering. I produced literally hundreds of direct mail packs across every sector of the business and developed a lot of the techniques of getting the right people to reply in the numbers that make it economic. I also discovered a lot of the things that don’t work. I wrote a text book - Successful Creativity in Direct Marketing - for what was then just the Institute of Direct Marketing, of which I was the founder Chair.

Today

Today I’m Chairman of another agency, WPN Chameleon, dedicated to getting results across all media, mainly digital and TV; but I specialise in traditional direct mail packs, and I think there are some clients who might want to talk directly to me about the kind of direct mail that I produce.