DM Fundraising Across the Pond An American consultant goes one on one with British colleague John Watson

By Jim Hussey

Over the past decade, I have sought to learn more about direct-marketing techniques from across the ocean, and in my journeys I’ve had the privilege to meet John Watson, who many consider to be the dean of direct-response fundraising in the United Kingdom.

John’s clients have included some of the biggest nonprofit and commercial clients in his country. He sold his first company to Ogilvy and Mather in the 1970s, and his second agency, WWAV, became the largest direct-marketing agency in the country. He sold WWAV to Rapp Collins in the 1990s and, after a few years of what he refers to as “garden leave,” he has started again. His new agency is named Watson Phillips and Norman.