Help from Mom

A lot of people ask me how I wound up being a DM copywriter. As most of the writers in the upper levels of copywriting didn't start out that way, I am a little strange in that I have been a copywriter since graduating from college. Here's how it started ...

When I was 15, my Mom brought home a book from the library called Ogilvy on Advertising. Most advertising/marketing pros know it well. She said, "Stephen, you should read this, I think you'd make a good copywriter." I did read and I was hooked! I loved seeing the salemanship ... the creativity. The art of selling!

Though I put everything from Lawyer to Marine Biologist to Mechanical Engineer on my college applications, I knew I really wanted to be a copywriter. I think I was the only freshman in my dorm who actually had a major picked out!

I graduated with a degree in advertising from BYU with the goal of being a big Madison Avenue creative genius, writing ads for Coke and Nike. And after banging on every ad agency door in Utah looking for a job, while being told "You're talented, but have no expeience, FINALLY Peter Harrison at Smith-Harrison Direct gave me a shot. Here's the caveat ...

"We are a DM agency. What do you know about direct marketing?" "Nothing," I truthfully told him. I ran to the campus library and found a book by Bob Stone, and read feverishly!

Alas, my education had been grossly neglected! In 4.5 years, never a single word was uttered about direct marketing.

Peter got me hooked on the common-sense world of measurable advertising! And I knew I could never go back to my former mode of thinking.

That was nearly 14 years ago. I have since written millions of words for hundreds of clients around the world.

Though hard, I do love what I do, and know I have a gift for copywriting.

Thanks, Mom!



Stephen Kimball
Freelance DM Copywriter
www.skcopywriting.com